Fertilizer+Frenzy

__Problem:__ What is the best type of fertilizer(s) and what is the percentage of each nutrient?

__Hypothesis:__ I think that the ‘Holland bulb booster’ will do the best because some of the information I got said that nitrogen does better and makes plants grow healthier and Holland has the most nitrogen.

__Helpful Info:__ - ([]) on fertilizer labels, there are 3 different nutrients: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium or potash (K). They are always listed in that order. Diagram: ([])

__Variable:__ **Manipulated:** When there is sunlight, which way the plants grow. **Responding:** How tall the plants, what day the plants appear. **Controlled:** The type of pot, the type of seed, how deep the seeds are, how many pots, where are the pots.

__Materials:__ -Seed -Soil -Sunlight -3 type of fertilizers (Schultz: Liquid Plant Food, Schultz: Cactus Liquid Plant Food, Holland Bulb Booster) -Space -CO2 -Oxygen -8 small plastic cups -8 lima beans -Ruler

__Procedure:__ 1. Gather materials (shown above) 2. Place the 8 cups on your table 3. In each cup, place 1/2 cup of soil. 4. In each cup, place 1 seed two cm down into the soil. 5. In two of the cups, put one cm of Schultz: Liquid Plant Food fertilizer on top. Label the FIRST cup “Schultz Trial 1” and the second cup, “Schultz Trial 2” 6. In two more of the cups, put one cm of Schultz: Cactus Liquid Plant Food fertilizer on top. Label the FIRST cup “Cactus Trial 1” and the second cup, “Cactus Trial 2” 7. In two more of the cups, put one cm of Holland Bulb Booster fertilizer on top. Label the FIRST cup “Holland Trial 1” and the second cup, “Holland Trial 2” 8. In the last two cups, put in no fertilizers and label the first one, “None Trial 1” and the second cup, ”None trial 2” 9. Place a ruler 3cm, in each cup, down the fertilizer/soil 10. Every second day, observe and make notes on the plants progress 11. Every day, give 5 teaspoons of water to each plant

__Observation:__ Day 1: The plant didn't germinate. We saw only dirt. It looks brown. Day 2: The plant didn't germinate. We saw only dirt. It looks brown. Day 3: The plant didn't germinate. We saw only dirt. It looks brown. Day 4: The plant didn't germinate. We saw only dirt. It looks brown.

NG=Not Germinated || Still nothing. I have notice the soil has shifted slightly, and Holland 2 has been show this tiny green root poking out, but that's all. I also noticed that the No Fertilizers ones are drying up faster if they don't get water. As in, if they don't get enough water, they'll be first to die.
 * || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19 || 20 ||
 * Holland 1 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Holland 2 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || 1 cm || 2 cm || 3 cm ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Plant liquid 1 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || 1 cm || 1 cm || 2 cm ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Plant liquid 2 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || 1 cm || 2 cm || 2 cm || 3 cm ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Cactus 1 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Cactus 2 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * None 1 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * None 2 || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG || NG ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   || 
 * October 15th evaluation:**

No quantitative data yet.

Progress. Yay! Holland 1: NG Holland 2: 1.2 cm Plant Liquid 1: 1.8 cm Plant Liquid 2: 0.9 cm Cactus 1: NG Cactus 2: NG No Fertilizers 1: NG No Fertilizers 2: NG Germination! Not much, but progress is progress, right? So far, the Shultz Liquid Plant Food seems to be winning. The highest plant so far is Plant Liquid 1 with a (whopping!) 1.8 cm. And to think there are groups with plants growing in the twenties of centimeters.
 * October 16th (the next day!)**

CHART ABOUT WHETHER THE PLANT HAS/HASN'T GERMINATED: N=no Y=yes D=dead/dying ** I think NF2 (No Fertilizers 2) is dying because somehow the little sprout fell off, so now there is nothing. It might re-grow.
 * __October 20th 2009__**
 * Today we observed that the plants had grown. The Liquid Plant Food one is still the tallest. 4 out of 8 of our plants have germinated and have grown above the soil, but I suspect one (the No Fertilizer 2) is dying.
 * Holland1 || N ||
 * Holland2 || Y ||
 * Liquid1 || Y ||
 * Liquid2 || Y ||
 * Cactus1 || N ||
 * Cactus2 || N ||
 * NF1 || N ||
 * NF2 || D ||

Our plants seem to be doing fine. Measurements: Plant food 1: 2 cm Plant food 2: 3 cm Holland 2: ? Holland 1: - Cactus 1 & 2: - NF 1 - NF 2 -
 * __October 28th 2009__**

Holland 2 seems to have some strange circumstances. 2 SPROUTS! It's mutilated. I don't know what is happening. My partner and I think it is just one sprout that didn't grow up, but did grow in a weird shape. Here are some other plants. The most awesomnest thing. No fertilizer 2 - which we thought was //dying// - Turned up this week at 12 cm! I KNOW! More to come. Fertilizer 2 has officially won, as it is the only one that has reached above 2 cm at 28 cm. The rest of the plants either died or didn't germinate. That was a pretty dumb experiment. But it was worth it. ** __Conclusion (working)__
 * __November 5th, 2009__
 * __November 16th 2009__**