Seed Germination Lab
By The Cool Kohlrabi Kids (Abel Spackman, Maya Lewis, Samuel Albert)
Purpose- The purpose of the lab is to determine whether mixing different materials with soil that is growing Kohlrabi will affect its germination rate.
Hypothesis- If goldfish is mixed with soil growing Kohlrabi, than the germination rate will be higher than the other soil mixes.
Materials-
- Foxfarm Soil
- 30 Kohlrabi seeds
- Crushed Cheddar Goldfish
- Crushed Honey Maid Graham Crackers
- Up and Up Hand Sanitizer
- No. 2 Pencil Shavings
- Five plastic cups
Procedure-
- Put ¾ cup of soil in all six cups.
- Mix goldfish with soil in one cup, crushed grahams in another, hand soap in another, and pencil shavings in another leaving one cup with just soil.
- Plant six Kohlrabi seeds in each cup spread out and ½ inch deep.
- Water plants with 30mL daily for five days and take data on germination rate of the Kohlrabi on that fifth day.
- Water with 30mL for two more days and take data on the germination rate once more on the seventh day.
- From this data create a bar graph of the data so that it is easy to compare the results from each of the soil mixes.
Seed Germination Lab Data
9/5/17
Soil
|
Goldfish + Soil
|
Crushed Graham Crackers + Soil
|
Pencil Sharpenings + Soil
|
Hand Sanitizer + Soil
| |
Number of of Germinated Seeds
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
9/7/17
Soil
|
Goldfish + Soil
|
Crushed Graham Crackers + Soil
|
Pencil Sharpenings + Soil
|
Hand Sanitizer + Soil
| |
Number of Germinated Seeds
|
4
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
Number of Kohlrabi Seeds Germinated
Different Types Of Soils
Qualitative Data-
When looking at the soils and plants over many days, there were some observations made that seemed irregular. The hand soap with soil was always very wet every day. It was quite irregular considering the fact that the rest of the soils were all very dry. Also, although the Kohlrabi growing in nothing but soil produced the highest germination rate, the tallest plant by far was growing in the goldfish soil mix. Also, in the hand soap soil mixture, it seemed as though the hand soap was almost like a layer in the middle of the soil preventing the germination and growth of the Kohlrabi.
Lab Report -
Introduction
Over the discussion to find an experiment to conduct, the idea of adding items into the soil arose. The idea was if goldfish, graham crackers, pencil shavings, and hand soap were put in different cups of the same type of soil and then were all compared with just soil, then the given plants, Kohlrabi, would be tested to see which combination would have the highest germination rate. Therefore, a hypothesis was produced. If goldfish is mixed with soil growing Kohlrabi, than the germination rate will be higher than all of the other mixes of soil.
Methods
To recreate the experiment is an easy process but must be done correctly and with precision. First, put ¾ cup of soil in all six of the cups. Then, mix the goldfish with the soil in one cup, crushed grahams in another, hand soap in another, and pencil shavings in another leaving one cup with just soil. After that, plant six Kohlrabi seeds in each cup and make sure that they are spread out and ½ inch deep. Over the next five days, water the plants with 30mL daily and take data on germination rate of the Kohlrabi on that fifth day. Lastly, water the Kohlrabi with 30mL for two more days and take data on germination once more on the seventh day.
Results and Data Analysis
As of 9/7/17, the final results were in showing that the soil with nothing mixed with it ended up having the highest germination rate of 66.6%. The hand soap produced the lowest germination rate of 0%. The graham cracker soil and the pencil shavings soil ended up with a 50% germination rate, while the goldfish soil ended up with a 33.3% germination rate. To show this, making a bar graph was the most efficient choice because it’s somewhat tracking the change over time but it is mostly a good choice because it is easy to compare the the results from each plant when it is a bar graph. Also, the first date is not important to the lab, it is simply showing the change over time.
Conclusions
As shown in the results, it was obvious that adding some of the items into the soil did not help the germination rate get higher. The items simply interfered with the germination of the Kohlrabi and in the end, the results proved it with the Kohlrabi growing in soil had the highest germination rate. From this further experiments could easily be made. Instead of something in the soil that would interfere with the germination, perhaps adding something into the water the Kohlrabi receives would help it. From this experiment it is quite obvious that having things in the soil that do not mix in well or do not decompose simply do not help. That would be the optimum choice of a follow-up experiment.
