Planting Science - Projects: The Breathtaking Botanists
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The Breathtaking Botanists

Project by group nsbuzzellwosspring2024


Info

Explore Three out of four of us have gardens at home so we have some background knowledge, and we also learned about plants in science. We know they function on multiple levels. They have systems like the shoot and root systems. The root system takes in water and allows the plant to use it for multiple...
Research Question How much salt can plants tolerate before they can no longer tolerate it? We wanted a way to save freshwater for other necessary things like drinking. If the plants can grow with salt water then we don't need to use fresh water to water the plants.
Predictions We think that the plants will be able to tolerate small amounts of salt in the water for a certain amount of time before they are not able to survive and grow. The salt may affect the plants but they will continue to grow. It may immediately mess with the growth and the survival of the plant....
Experimental Design Materials -Eight containers of buckwheat - about ten seeds per pot -Eight containers of radish - about ten seeds per pot -Grow lights to mimic sunlight -Salt -Water -Soil -Teaspoon -Pots -Liter bottle How It Will Work -Buckwheat will be spaced a few inches apart with a thin layer of...
Conclusion By conducting our experiments we now know that plants cannot tolerate much salt. Plants like buckwheat and radishes do not respond well to high amounts of salt. Plants do not use many salts in their life processes, and instead of helping, it can be harmful to them. We have collected heights that...
About this Project This group was able to summarize their findings in a way that made sense. I really liked that they made a connection between their findings and what they already know about the life processes that plants perform. Their graphs provide a nice visual to support their conclusions. -- Meghan...

Updates

Get to know your team’s scientist mentor, who will encourage and guide you through the scientific process of discovery. The more you share your ideas and research info, the more your mentor can help. You may also hear from a scientist mentor liaison who will be helping all the teams in your class.
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Monica Lewandowski
said

Your project is breathtaking!

Maggie
uploaded Buckwheat Graph-Maggie.jpg in project files
Maggie
uploaded Radish Graph-Maggie.jpg in project files
Maggie
uploaded Maggie - PlantingScience Journal 4.pdf in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

I am glad to read over any final conclusions.  That is ok about the graph, you can just explain that the plants died in your journal.  :)

It looks like the buckwheat was able to tolerate salt a little better than the radish.  Both the buckwheat and the radish plants did not tolerate the high salt very well!

Great job Team!

Lydia
said

Hi Dr. Monica!

    I think all of us have really enjoyed getting to work with you and you were amazing help with everything. We really appreciate the help and suggestions you've given us and you've made the project really fun. Thanks again for everything you've done and I hope that you enjoy your day! :)

Maggie
uploaded Radish Graph.jpg in project files
Maggie
said

Hi Dr. Monica, 

    We enjoyed completing and working on this experiment with you. We thank you so much for all of your help, tips, suggestions, and information. Hopefully we will be able to do something like this again in the future, and maybe even try something different with plants. Thanks again for everything! 

~Maggie from the Breathtaking Botanists

Summer
uploaded Summer - PlantingScience Journal 4.pdf in project files
Summer
said

Thank you for the suggestions on what to do with the graphs. Unfortunately with the website we used to create the graphs we would not be able to write dead when it suddenly dropped to zero. We tried to write dead and it didn't show up.

Lydia
uploaded Lydia - PlantingScience Journal 4.pdf in project files
Summer
uploaded graph.jpg in project files
Summer
uploaded graph 1.jpg in project files
Summer
updated the project info
Summer
said

Today we worked on our conclusion and uploading our graphs. As we end this project we are going to upload one more journal entry. Once we type our conclusion if you have any feedback we will be willing to hear and make changes. I wanted to thank you for helping us with this experiment and guiding us along the way.

Thank you, Summer

Lydia
updated the project info
Monica Lewandowski
said

Your teacher told the mentors that you are wrapping up!  I have had a great time being your mentor!

- Great work making the changes that I suggested.  That is a part of our work - getting feedback and making changes to improve our work.  Kudos to you!

- I have three more suggestions, hopefully minor:

1. On the graph labels, as you did with the tables, it would be helpful to add the concentration of salt so we know how much salt was added to your treatments. 

Control (0 tsp salt/ liter water)
Low (1 tsp salt /liter water)
Medium (3 tsp salt/liter water)
High (6 tsp salt/liter water)

2. On the graphs - For the plants that died, when the height plummets to 0, make a note either on the graph or in the graph caption, "Plants died."  Or add something like that, to indicate why the plant height is suddenly 0!

3. Your project is important!  Salt in soils is a serious problem, in many areas due to agricultural practices (irrigation, fertilization) especially in areas that are hot and dry.  Salt tolerance will be very helpful for plants to survive and grow, because not many plants can survive high salt in soils (as you demonstrated in your project!).  Salt tolerant plants may be very important for our future food production.

********

Hope you are safe during any upcoming weather (we were under a tornado watch yesterday but fortunately all is ok here!).  And safe viewing during the eclipse.  I am in Columbus Ohio, and the Ohio State campus is near the path of totality, but not quite.  Some areas are in the path of totality so we are all getting prepared too!  

Thanks for being a great team and keep up the good work!

Dr. Monica

Lydia
updated the project info
Monica Lewandowski
said

Hi Breathtaking Botanists!  I'll take a look at your new uploads!

Lydia
uploaded Buckwheat Graph - Lydia.pdf in project files
Lydia
uploaded Radish Graph - Lydia.pdf in project files
Maggie
uploaded Maggie - PlantingScience Journal 3.pdf in project files
Summer
uploaded Summer - PlantingScience Journal 3.pdf in project files
Lydia
uploaded Lydia - PlantingScience Journal.pdf in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

Hi Breathtaking Botanists!  Glad to see you back - I think you got most of your data for your plants to make good conclusions anyway.  This happens!  We have also had delays and loss of plants due to weather, including loss of electricity and even tornado damage.

I don't have any questions, but here is an article that reflects the importance of salt tolerant plants for our future: "More effort is needed to bring salt-tolerant crops to the farmers who need them, argue researchers" (let me know if you cannot access the link)

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-effort-salt-tolerant-crops-farmers.html ;

Lydia
uploaded 4-1-24.jpg in project files
Summer
said

Hi Dr. Monica sorry we haven't been on, we ran into some problems at school and haven't been in school all last week except Monday. We are back now and might not be here later this week due to a snowstorm. Due to us not being in school all of our plants are dead. We are all working together to make graphs for our plants today.  If you have any questions please ask.

Summer and the Breathtaking Botanists

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hi Breathtaking Botanists,

The information from Maddox all sounds like a good description of what is happening.  Now you can think about how to use this information for farmers.  If a farm has soil with high salt content (which occurs in some areas), would you tell the farmer to plant radish or buckwheat, for example? 

Here is a website with some information on how soils get salty (below).  Essentially, there are natural sources, such as minerals in the soil and even small amounts in rain.  Human activities can include irrigation water (irrigation water contains some salts), and fertilizers that farmers use (the fertilizers also contain some salts).  Over time, all of these sources can lead to a build-up of salts, especially in dry areas where there is not much rain to "wash" the salts through the soil.

https://ucanr.edu/sites/Salinity/Salinity_Management/Salinity_Basics/Origin_of_soil_salinity_and_major_ions/ ;

Lydia
uploaded Lydia - PlantingScience Journal 3.pdf in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

Hi Maggie,

Do you mean, a graph for height of the plants over time?  To show changes over time, a line graph is good.  Time (days after germination) would be on the x-axis, and plant height would be on the y-axis.  I would suggest doing one graph for radish, and one graph for buckwheat, since the two plants are not really related.

Make note of the loss of electricity and heat in your observations.  That happens!  Do you think it affected the plants?  You may not be able to make any conclusions about the effect of the power loss, but you can think about possible impacts if there was evidence that the room got very cold. But if your control plants still look good, then it may not have gotten sooo cold that the plants are still able to survive. 

Great work Team!

Maddox
said

Hi Dr. Monica, 

Today we got our plants but we decided not to measure our plants. Also are plants starting dying even more because the power went out over the weekend. The radish and buckwheat control are both growing very very well. They are both green but the buckwheat control is not as floppy as radish. Radish medium and buckwheat medium are basically the same as the controls. There are a lot more plants than all of the other ones but the radish control is hanging over the [ot and the buckwheat is not as floppy. The radish and buckwheat medium are the same in a lot of ways too. The radishes are completely dead and there are no plants at all. Buckwheat has one plant that is turning black and is hanging over the pot and a lot of the seeds in that pot did not even grow at all. Buckwheat and radish high are the same. They are the same because they are both dead. Not a lot of the plants in those pots even sprouted at all so a lot of them were dead from the start of the project. A lot of our plants are dying,  the only ones that are doing really good are the controls and the lows are decent. But the controls are very tall and they are very green compared to all of the other plants. Then we cleaned up and we decided not to water the plants at all.

 -Maddox and the Breathtaking Botanists

Maddox
said

Hi Dr. Monica, 

Today we got our plants but we decided not to measure our plants. Also are plants starting dying even more because the power went out over the weekend. The radish and buckwheat control are both growing very very well. They are both green but the buckwheat control is not as floppy as radish. Radish medium and buckwheat medium are basically the same as the controls. There are a lot more plants than all of the other ones but the radish control is hanging over the [ot and the buckwheat is not as floppy. The radish and buckwheat medium are the same in a lot of ways too. The radishes are completely dead and there are no plants at all. Buckwheat has one plant that is turning black and is hanging over the pot and a lot of the seeds in that pot did not even grow at all. Buckwheat and radish high are the same. They are the same because they are both dead. Not a lot of the plants in those pots even sprouted at all so a lot of them were dead from the start of the project. A lot of our plants are dying,  the only ones that are doing really good are the controls and the lows are decent. But the controls are very tall and they are very green compared to all of the other plants. Then we cleaned up and we decided not to water the plants at all.

 Maddox, The Breathtaking Botanist

 

 

 

 

 

Maggie
said

What type of graph should we do? Also over the weekend we lost power here so there was no electricity or heat.

Lydia
uploaded 3-25-24.jpg in project files
Maggie
uploaded Maggie - PlantingScience Journal 2.pdf in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

You are all doing great, thank you for responding to my suggestions and questions!  Good observations with your plants.

Why do some soils get "salty," or saline?  This can happen in or near salty water, such as the ocean.  However, there are some plants that grow near or even in the ocean!  Over time, these plants have adapted and evolved to a salty or ocean environment.

Salty soils can also happen in dry areas, with little or no rain.  Salts from fertilizers and other things may accumulate in the soil.  Without rain, the salts do not get "washed" through.  This is a particular concern when growing crop plants, because they don't grow well (as your research has demonstrated too!)  I grew up in California in the San Joaquin Valley, and the western part of the valley has problems with saline soils, here is a website artilcle; https://calag.ucanr.edu/Archive/?article=ca.v054n02p43 ;

Great work Breathtaking Botanists!

Summer
uploaded Summer - PlantingScience Journal 2.pdf in project files
Lydia
uploaded Lydia - PlantingScience Journal 2.pdf in project files
Lydia
uploaded 3-22-24.jpg in project files
Lydia
said

Hi Dr. Monica,

    Maddox was out on Thursday and today but will be back next Monday with the rest of us. We looked at the salt we used and it was sodium chloride. We looked at our plants and confirmed almost all of our plants in the high and low salt concentrations were dead. We watered all the controls, lows, and mediums but we drained the high salt water. We think a few of the mediums might still be alive. The plants look normal but the radishes have taken on a ruby red color on the bottom half of their stems. The stems on all of them are still very limp but they can support their own weight better than they could. Our plants have been in the sun but were taken out and are serving their turn on the counter so their condition may worsen over the weekend. Our journals are being uploaded today with a new photo so that should cover everything!

    -Lydia and the Breathtaking Botanists

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hello everyone and Happy Friday ☀️ 

Words of the day: Saline
Means: containing salt.  Saline soil is salty soil

Did you know . . . there are different kinds of salts?  The most common salt we are familiar with is sodium chloride, or table salt.  Check the container or ask your teacher, are you using sodium chloride?  You can use the term, sodium chloride, in your report!

Monica Lewandowski
said

You can really see some differences in the treatments!  Think about how the salt may be damaging the roots, as well as the stems and leaves.

Good work thinking about the seeds.  Some seeds are larger and may have a bit more stored food in the seed, and they grow more slowly.  Over time, people have also chosen seeds that grow quickly for our gardens and farms, too.  

Lydia
uploaded 3-18-24.jpg, 3-19-24.jpg in project files
Maggie
said

Hi Dr. Monica, 

    Today we expected to look at our plants on Wednesday instead of today, but we looked at our plants again today, and many of them have decreased a lot. Some of the plants have decreased due to the high amount of salt that they were given, and others are just dying in general. Instead of continuing to measure the plants with a ruler, we decided to measure them with a pipe-cleaner instead to be more careful with them. We are not going to water them because we watered them yesterday, and they do not need any today. The radish high plants and the buckwheat high plants are still not doing well, but they are still alive. Thanks for the information, and we were thinking that some seeds might germinate slower because they might typically start growing later in the year than other plants. If you have any recommendations we will gladly take them.

Thank you,

Maggie and the Breathtaking Botanists

Summer
said

Hi Dr.Monica, today we watered the plants with 1/4 cup of water. With being back in the sun the plants are looking better. Both the buckwheat and radish high have seemed to been dying each day, but they aren't dead yet. We are going to continue to have our plants in the sun. We won't check on them again until Wednesday. If you have any recommendations or questions pleases let us know.

Thank you,

Summer and the Breathtaking Botanists

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hello Breathtaking Botanists!  Nice work labeling the photos, and also the data tables with the concentrations of salt for Low, Medium and High!  Good observations, too.

Another interesting observation is that the buckwheat seeds germinate more slowly than the radish seeds.  Some seed, such as radish, do germinate quickly.  This helps the seedling to grow, produce leaves and start to make food (through photosynthesis).

However, some seeds may germinate more slowly. Can you think of some reasons why that might help the seeds survive?  I don't know if we can say there is a right or wrong answer, but it is something to think about.  (perhaps - if the seed grows quickly, and then there is bad weather or a drought, then it may have trouble surviving - but again, these are good things to think about!)

 

 

Maggie
uploaded Maggie - PlantingScience Journal 1.pdf in project files
Lydia
uploaded Lydia - PlantingScience Journal 1.pdf, 3-15-24.jpg in project files
Lydia
said

Hi Dr. Monica!

    We watered the plants today with 1/4 cup each of corresponding amounts of salt. They've been out of the sun for a while and they probably aren't responding well to the salt in the water. They're considerably droopy and their color isn't as healthy. They were put back in the sun and will stay there over the weekend. With no sun and salt in the water they weren't in any condition we weren't expecting. If you have any suggestions for our journals or ideas for the plants we'd love to hear them!

Lydia and the Breathtaking Botanists

Summer
uploaded Summer - PlantingScience Journal 1.pdf in project files
Summer
said

Hi Dr. Monica I just wanted to let you know that from now on we will only be on three times a week.

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    Thanks for letting me know! Hope all is growing well!

Monica Lewandowski
said

Interesting photos! The pots with no or a few seeds growing, what treatments are those?  The number of seeds that germinated per treatment is also another data table you can collect.  

It would also be helpful to label the photos, or include a caption underneath the photos, so we can tell what pots were treated with what concentrations.Low (1 tsp salt /liter water)

Medium (3 tsp salt/liter water)
High (6 tsp salt/liter water)

Your project looks very interesting!

Rebecca Buzzell
said

Hi Team,

I am not seeing a data table upload. I did see some of you have data tables in your journals. You can do one data table with both types of plants in it - just change the page justification to landscape. Your column heading should say what data you are collecting, with a unit of measurement - for example Control 1, avg height / cm and then just add the average height below. You don't need to rewrite cm and all other observations should go in your journal (qualitative observations). 

See me if you need any help. 

Keep up the good work!

Maddox
uploaded Maddox - PlantingScience Journal.pdf in project files
Maddox
said

Hi Dr. Monica,

    Our group has been working on measuring the plants. They are getting taller but they aren't doing well with the salt. They have been out of the sun for a few days but we aren't sure if it's the sun or salt. So today we got started with measuring to see if our plants needed water but it turns out we don't. So next we measured out the heights of all the plants. The radish control averaged out to 9.6. Radish low averaged out to the highest height with 9.8 . Radish medium averaged out to 8.4 and radish high averaged out to 5.8. Now buckwheat control was a average of 8.2. Buckwheat low averaged out to 7.5 and radish medium averaged to 7. Lastly buckwheat high was the lowest out of all of the plants with an averaged height of 4.5. Then the last thing we did was update our journals on what we did today.

-Maddox and the Breathtaking Botonists

Lydia
uploaded 3-13-24.jpg in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

It looks like you are seeing some differences in height!

Do you see any differences in the number of seeds that germinate in each treatment?

Also note the number of moldy seeds per pot.  Remember that is also an interesting and important observation if seeds are infected with fungus.  This may not be due to the salt treatments, but important to record these observations.
ttps://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/damping/ ;  

Good work Breathtaking Botanists!

Maggie
uploaded Maggie - PlantingScience Journal.pdf in project files
Summer
uploaded Summer - PlantingScience Journal.pdf in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

Good job with your journal file.  You can also add:

In your tables, you can add the concentration of salt so we know how much salt was added to your treatments.  For example:

Control (0 tsp salt/ liter water)
Low (1 tsp salt /liter water)
Medium (3 tsp salt/liter water)
High (6 tsp salt/liter water)

------------------------

You can also count how many seeds germinated (grew) per pot.  If you added 10 seeds per pot, did all the seeds germinate?  However, if you are not sure you added exactly 10 seeds per pot, then just describe this as an observation.  For example, you can say whether not all the seeds germinated or not, and if the salt treatment seemed to make a difference in seed germination.  It is possible the seeds all germinated well in all the salt treatments, too.

___________________

Fungus Among Us

Be sure to describe the mold on the seeds, and how many seeds get moldy.  That is a good observation that the mold was on the stem where it had been on the soil (and wet).  It might have been what is called a damping off fungus.  There are several types of fungi (plural for fungus, and pronounced like fun ji with a long I)

It is likely that the mold was in the soil and developed on the seeds when the soil was watered.  Check out this website on damping off, and you will see that damping off is a common problem

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/damping/ ;

If the mold is spreading to other plants, I recommend removing the plants with the fungus and documenting that as seed loss of fungus.  (which is also good information to have!)  In my work, scientists try to figure out how to prevent fungus from killing the plants!

Monica Lewandowski
said

Great progress!  I will look at the journal file - 

Maggie
said

Hi Dr. Monica, 

    Since we last looked at our plants, they have sprouted lots. The radish plants have sprouted more than the buckwheat plants, and they are all a light green color. There is still one buckwheat plant that has not sprouted, and one that has made a lot more growth than the others. The farther down you look at the plants though, they become a darker green. We watered the plants 1/4 cup each, with the specific type of water they are supposed to be given. For example, we gave the 'Radish Low' plants 1/4 of the low salt solution. 

~Maggie and the Breathtaking Botanists

Lydia
uploaded 3-11-24 all.jpg in project files
Lydia
uploaded Lydia - PlantingScience Journal.pdf in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

Exciting!  Take notes on number of seeds germination, color, size and shape.  Way to grow!

Lydia
updated the project info
Lydia
uploaded radishes3-8-24.jpg in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

Happy Friday!

Monica Lewandowski
said

Thanks for uploading the photos!

Summer
uploaded IMG_0117.jpg in project files
Summer
uploaded IMG_1726 1.JPG in project files
Summer
uploaded IMG_0204.heic in project files
Monica Lewandowski
said

Hello!  What treatments did you decide to do?  That is, what amount of salt in water did you use, and how many buckwheat plants and how many radish plants are receiving the salt water treatments?  That information will be helpful in your Experimental Design.  You can also diagram this out, or put this into a table.  (let me know if you have questions about this) 

    Summer
    said

    Ok thank you

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hi, Breathtaking Botanists

    Summer
    said

    Hi

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hello Breathtaking Botanists!

That plan sounds very good.  I think you will want to closely observe the moisture level in the soil, and check to see if the plants get enough moisture, but not too much.  (kind of feel the soil, it should be moist but not heavy or soggy, if that makes sense :)

You can also do some online research about the buckwheat plant and the radish plant.  See if the scientific name is on the package, and if there is a variety name (this might be more common for the radishes).  See what types of growing conditions are best for the buckwheat and the radish.

Where is the radish and the buckwheat plant native to?  That might give you some clues about their ideal growing conditions, and how well the plants do or do not tolerate the salt.

Also, any information about the importance of radishes as a vegetable crop, and buckwheat as a food would also be helpful to know.

 

 

Lydia
said

Hi Dr. Monica,

    We got to the planting stage of the experiment and we noticed some of our ideas weren't doable. We decided with Mrs. Buzzell to cut out all the pieces about peas. That takes our pot count from 24 to 16. Having that many pots and plants wouldn't be ideal or manageable so we were lest with buckwheat and radishes, which we chose because they're more hardy plants. If you have any thoughts or opinions feel free to share. On a side note Maddox is back and we're all back from spring break. We'd be happy to hear from you soon!

Working diligently,

Lydia and the Breathtaking Botonists

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hi Breathtaking Botanists -

That sounds great!  Have fun with the project, and remember, whatever happens is all part of the project.  Note things like size, color, structure and anything else.  Also remember there might be interesting things going on in the roots and inside the leaves that we cannot see.  Great work everyone!

Lydia
updated the project info
Maggie
updated the project info
Summer
said

Hi Dr. Monica, we are back from break. Today we will be working on and starting to plant are plants. We have everyone with us today. We have all created journals that we will be filling out every time we make new observations. I am pretty sure that we will be sharing our journals with you eventually.

Rebecca Buzzell
said

Hi Team! Please post to let your mentor know what you did today in class with your project, and be sure to upload the photos (in the files tab) you took after planting. Your pots should be clearly labeled - this will make it a lot easier for you when it is time to collect data and write down your observations in your journals.

You can use the triple beam balances if your mentor wants your group to measure in grams vs teaspoons. 

Keep up the good work!

Summer
said

Thank you for your feedback Dr.Monica, when we get back to school that is what we will do.

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    You're welcome!

    Also, I am surprised that 1 tsp of salt weighs about 6 grams!

Maggie
updated the project info
Maggie
updated the project info
Lydia
updated the project info
Summer
updated the project info
Lydia
said

    Hi Dr. Monica!

    We did a lot of talking and discussing with Mrs. Buzzell and we made a lot of progress on developing our experiment. We decided to do low, medium, and high concentrations of salt in the water. When we do that it would show us which ones were surviving the best. We wanted to use a liter or two liter bottle for the water and were thinking a teaspoon for the low amount of salt. We were wondering if you had any thoughts on levels of water or salt. We don't want to immediately kill the plants so we wanted to start super low and work our way up.

Thanks again,

Lydia and the Breathtaking Botonists

    Summer
    said

    We will also have some control plants that are just watered with tap water.

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    That all sounds great!  I agree with your control, just tap water (no added salt).

    The Low, Medium and High concentrations of salt also sound like a good plan.  Since this is a research project, we will learn together!

    The Low concentration, 1 tsp per liter, sounds good.  From a Google search, 1 tsp is 6 grams of salt.  So, this treatment is 6 grams of salt per liter of water.

    I just did a quick Search, and from this website (https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/sea-water), ocean water is 33-37 grams per liter.  I should add, this is not necessarily ALL sodium chloride (table salt), there are different kinds of salts!  But it is a good comparison

    So, you could do 6 tsp of salt per liter of water (6 grams per teaspoon x 6 teaspoons = 36).  This could be your Medium or High concentration, you can decide!  But if you do not want to immediately kill the plants, perhaps you could do:

    Control: 0 tsp alt per 1 liter of water

    Low: 1 tsp salt per 1 liter of water

    Medium: 3 tsp salt per 1 liter of water

    High: 6 tsp salt per 1 liter of water (similar to ocean water)

    Does this make sense?

    Good work Team!

Lydia
updated the project info
Summer
updated the project info
Lydia
said

Hi Dr. Monica!

    Over the past few days Maggie, Summer, and I have been developing our questions and doing some research. Unfortunately, Maddox is still out and won't be back this week. Next week all of us will be out and will not be working on this project. Our current question is how much salt can plants tolerate before they start to die. We've decided to use multiple types of seeds to see if the ability to adapt to levels of salt is specific to one plant. We chose peas, buckwheat, and radishes. There will be plants of all three types in the control and experiment sections. We had a few conversions on how much salt is in seawater, which was our base because we needed less. We predict that plants will be able to tolerate small amounts of salt and after the levels of salt start to become higher the plants will die. We're planning to let the experimental plants grow to a little bigger than a sprout so we have a chance to see what happens to them. This is some information we gathered about how to grow and take care of the plants we chose.

Peas

They require 6-8 hours of sunlight per day.

They're planted at a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch below the surface

They're planted 2 to 3 inches apart

Buckwheat

They require 6+ hours of sunlight per day

They're planted at a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch below the surface

They're planted 3 to 4 inches apart

Radishes

They require 6+ hours of sunlight per day

They're planted at a depth of 1/2 to 1/4 inch below the surface

They planted 1 to 12 inches apart

They require 1 inch of water per week.

 

We couldn't find much information about watering the sprouts besides radishes. Many of the conversions were weird and way to large to convert down. We'd love it if you could point us in the right direction about sources to look at or ways to word questions to get the answers we want. We're currently working on the experimental design and materials list.

Thanks again,

Lydia & The Breathtaking Botonists

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    Great work!

    Do you mean, are you looking for information on how much salt to use to make the salt solutions?
    Do you have a balance to weigh salt?  If not, you can measure out the salt to a specified amount of water.  (for example, a tablespoon in liter of water).

    Measure the amount of salt water you add to each plant. I hesitate to say, until you do the experiment, that you should add the same amount of saltwater to each type of plant, because some plants may grow faster and use more water than smaller plants.  And, you would not want the plant to die because of lack of water or too much water.  

    However, I would suggest trying to provide the same amount of water to each plant type, as much as possible.  Write down any observations you notice about the plants - plant size, color what the leaves look like - and compare to your control plants (no salt).  This should be interesting!

Summer
updated the project info
Summer
said

We are in eastern standard

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    Thanks, I am in Eastern Standard Time too!

    Your teacher had indicated to find out how to address your mentors - You can call me Dr. Monica

Monica Lewandowski
said

If a seed/small plant is exposed to increasing dosages of salt with water, will it be able to withstand ocean water once it is fully grown?

Hello!  This is an interesting question - in other words, will the plant be able to adapt to salt water?  You could certainly test this.   I don't know the answer to this question, and it would depend on the type of plant you are using.  You could test different concentrations of salt, from no salt to higher levels of salt.  Then, you can make observations on seed germination, rate of growth, size, etc.   You can do some online research to see what concentrations of salt might be toxic to the plants.  Let me know if you would like some guidelines on how much salt to use.

Do you know what kind of seed you will use?

The wateruse.org website indicates "Most plants will typically suffer injury if sodium exceeds 70 milligrams per liter in water . . . "   However, it says "most" plants, so you could test this statement with your chosen seed type.  You could try concentrations lowers than 70 milligrams per liter in water, and even higher than 70 milligrams per liter.

Source:  (https://watereuse.org/salinity-management/le/le_5.html#:~:text=Most%20plants%20will%20typically%20suffer,from%20a%20saturated%20soil%20paste.)

This is important because some soils used for farming become more salty (saline) because of poor irrigation, or build-up of salts in the soil over time.

It is important for plant life because some plants are naturally adapted for more salty conditions (e.g. near the ocean, or in/near salty water).

Have fun planning your experiment!

Dr. Monica

Maddox
said

How often are you online and how often will we hear from you?

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    I will try to be on every day from now on - thank you for letting me know what time you will be on.  What time zone are you in? :)

Shan (PS Coordinator)
joined the project
Meghan Britton
said

Hello teams! I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. I am Meghan, and I am the PlantingScience liaison for your teams! I work with your teacher and the mentors to make sure that everything is going smoothly. You may see me post from time to time, so now hopefully you will know who I am when you see my name.

A little bit about me- I am a graduate student at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. I am interested in studying how the locations of plants influence the behavior of the organisms that interact with them. Aside from that, I like to read, play board games, and spend time with my family.

I see a lot of great work and conversation happening, and I can't wait to see how your projects turn out :)

Summer
updated the project info
Rebecca Buzzell
said

Hi Team,

When you are thinking of your research questions, remember that we are focusing on seed germination / plant growth. When you are ready to start your experimental design, we have a variety of seeds you can work with: ryegrass, radish, pearl millet, pea, onion, buckwheat and corn. 

How would you test the research ideas that your group has been talking about? See what your mentor thinks about your ideas. What real world problems are you thinking about that relate to your questions?

Your mentor shared a lot of information with you - did you have any questions or comments?

Keep up the good work! 

Meghan Britton
joined the project
Lydia
said

Hi Monica, Summer, Maddox, and I have been working on some possible research questions and we've narrowed it down to a few.

If a seed/small plant is exposed to increasing dosages of salt with water, will it be able to withstand ocean water once it is fully grown?

We'd like to know what you think of this, any new ideas, and modifiers to the existing one. Maggie hasn't been able to join us for a few days but we're planning to catch her up to speed when she is back with us.

Maddox
said

We are on every single day except for the weekends, from 12:30 to 1:35 pm.

Summer
said

We are interested in seeing how much salt water a growing plant can tolerate before it stops growing, and will it have an effect on how it grows, looks, and functions. But we aren't sure if that is a good topic for us to research and study about, or if there is something you are interested about that we should research.

    Monica Lewandowski
    said

    How interesting!  What kinds of things would you "do" to the plant?  Do you mean, like lack of water, or temperature?  (how cold it can tolerate?)  

Monica Lewandowski
said

Hello Breathtaking Botanists: Maggie, Maddox, Summer and Lydia!

It is great to meet all of you, and I'm excited to be mentoring this project with you. It sounds like you are involved in different activities, which is wonderful.  I am at Ohio State and I love people, plants and animals.  I like photography and doing creative things.

I'm originally from California and I grew up on a small raisin grape farm in Kingsburg, CA (the home of Sun Maid raisins :).  I like watching my favorite sports teams - I follow Ohio State, Los Angeles teams, and Cleveland teams.

Growing up on a farm, I got into this area because I wanted to continue working with plants and find ways to grow healthy plants for our food supply and our environment.

Plants get diseases like humans and animals - bacteria, viruses, parasites and a lot of fungal diseases (think of rotting and decaying plants).  Today, chestnut blight is a fungal disease and kills chestnut trees - so sadly,  big chestnut trees are no longer found in North American forests.  There are also serious bacterial diseases infecting oranges in Florida and around the U.S. that are threatening the survival of the orange juice industry in the U.S.  The Irish Potato famine is associated with a fungal-like disease of potatoes.  I think every food crop has disease and insect challenges, but we try to find ways to manage them naturally, without pesticides if possible.

How do plants get their color?  Plants may have pigments (color) in them and many have a function - for example, the green chlorophyll in plants helps capture sunlight so the plants can make food (sugars) through the process of . . .  photosynthesis!

In the autumn, as some trees start to go into a more dormant state for the winter, the chlorophyll will start to break down, and we may also see red, yellow and orange pigments in the leaves.  (the pigments were probably already there in the leaves, but hard to see with the green color so dominant)

The bright colors of flowers may attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators to help spread pollen to make new seeds.  The pigments may help the plant survive and reproduce to make more flowers and seeds, and so the ability to make these colors is passed on through genes through the generations.  

I tried to answer your questions but let me know if you have more questions.  We love questions!

Monica Lewandowski
joined the project
Summer
said

How did you get into this study.

Summer
said

What types of diseases do plants get.

Maddox
said

How do plants get there color

Maddox
said

I can't wait to get rollin on the project 

 

Maddox
said

I am so excited to see you Monica cant wait to get rolling on this project!!!!

Summer
said

Hi Monica we are excited to work with you.

Rebecca Buzzell
joined the project
Summer
said

Hi my name is Summer. I have many animals including ducks. I love playing volleyball and going on runs for some fresh air and silence. I enjoy hanging out with my friends and having sleepovers with them. I am very excited to do this project with you and I can't wait to meet you.

Maggie
updated the project info
Lydia
said

Hi, I'm Lydia! I've worked in an active garden doing things like planting, watering, picking, getting rid of pests, working with compost, and mixing things like fertilizer. I enjoy figuring out why things work the way they do and I play volleyball. I'm looking forward to engineering the experiments and investigations.

Summer
updated the project info
Maddox
said

Hi my name is Maddox my hobbies are rollerblading playing with my friends and dogs. I play hockey year round and have 3 games on the weekends.  I also have three practices a week, I have three dogs and I am in 7th grade.

Maggie
said

Hi, my name is Maggie. I am in seventh grade, and some of my favorite hobbies include playing lacrosse, playing other sports for fun, art, and learning at school. I am very excited to start off this project, and meet our mentor. 

Maggie
said

Hi, my name is Maggie. I am in seventh grade, and some of my favorite hobbies include playing lacrosse, playing other sports for fun, art, and learning at school. I am very excited to start off this project, and meet our mentor. 

Summer
replaced project picture
Summer
updated the project info
Maddox
joined the project
Maggie
joined the project
Summer
joined the project
Lydia
joined the project

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NSF_Logo.jpg This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #2010556 and #1502892. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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