Test fertilizers to see which one allows grass seed to grow best. Have you ever wondered whether a plant or seed needs anything except soil water and light to grow. Here is your chance to learn for yourself.
Go to your local garden store and pick up 5 pots soil and a fast growing seed like radishes. Also get some soil but make sure you purchase regular clay or top soil. You don’t want to get a soil that already has a fertilizer nutrient mixed into the dirt. Get a very small amount of these fertilizers:
12-12-12
Nitrogen fertilizer nutrients
Phosphorus fertilizer nutrients
Potassium fertilizer nutrients
You can also get some plastic bottoms for the pots but you can easily use a plastic container top like a cottage cheese or sour cream top.
When you get home with your supplies you will want to get started right away as the seeds need several days to a week to sproute.
Arrange the pots on a counter area what will be out of your way from everyday work but will allow for them to have adequate light water and be at the same temperature.
In each pot fill it 2/3 full with the dirt. You may want to put a rock in the bottom hole of the pot before you do this. This will keep the soil from running out when you water the seeds but won’t totally clog it up.
Sprinkle several seeds in each pot and then cover them with about another ¼ inch of soil.
On one pot sprinkle about 1 or 2 tsp 12-12-12 fertilizer. On another pot sprinkle nitrogen fertilizer nutrients and yet another put phosphorus fertilizer nutrients and on the 4th put potassium fertilizer nutrients. The last pot you will leave with no fertilizer at all.
Use a watering can for this if you can and put about an 1/8 cup of water on each pot. If you bought really big pots you will probably need ¼ cup of water.
Now leave the pots alone and water daily. Watch the pots every day and make a visual observation of any changes you notice. Use graph paper. You may also want to use some chalk and mark a number or letter on each pot to easily graph and plot the information.
Notice the color of the plants as they germinate and also note how fast they eash grow. What did you determine by this experiment. What nutrient caused the seeds to sprout the fastest? Which one grew the fastest and which one grew the tallest.
This is a great 7th or 8th grade science project for kids and also high school students.
Get more information on science projects at http://scienceprojects.fetching.us
Bindi Watts is a contributor to science projects
