I like that you are narrowing in your thinking and ideas to a more specific question! This is how science works in research labs, too. We start with really general questions (like, how does heat impact plant growth?), and we get more and more specific until we have a testable question (for example, what is the growth of tomato started from seed and allowed to grow for 12 weeks at two different temperatures: the standard growth temperature and 5 degrees warmer?).

I think you have a great question, looking at how the growth material affects the impact of fertilizers. Will you water the seeds planted into the sand, clay, silt, or loam? And do you plan to just use one fertilizer, or will you test multiple fertilizers?

I suggest you pay attention to the ingredients of the fertilizers. You are correct that nitrogen in fertilizer is very important for plant growth. Phosphorus and potassium are the other two nutrients that are usually in plant fertilizers. The percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, are usually printed on the fertilizer bags (for example: 17-18-28 is 17%nitrogen, 18%phosphorus, and 28%potassium). I would suggest recording those values if you can from the fertilizers you select so you can refer back to the amount of each nutrient. I can't wait to see your experimental design! Please ask me any questions you have, and I will do my best to help.

Keep up the good work!

Hi Cole, Carter, Jack, and Nevyan! I am so excited to meet you and work with you on this project! I also love plants and gardening. I spend a lot of my free time out in my yard working on my garden. I am currently growing broccoli, collard greens, red raspberries, figs, blackberries, muscadine grapes, plums, and lots more! I love plants so much, I also work on plants for my job. I currently work at a university in a research lab where I study peaches. I am working to help peach trees when they get sick (plants can get sick, just like people!).

Thank you for sharing your two questions for your project! I think those are great questions. What types of seeds are you planning to grow? Will you apply the fertilizers to just one of the material types (e.g., just test your fertilizers with your seeds planted in dirt), or do you plant to test each material and fertilizer combination (e.g., dirt + grass clippings, clay + grass clippings, sand + grass clippings, dirt + weeds, clay + weeds, etc.)?

And do you have any ideas or predictions as to the fertilizer or material in which you think the plants will grow best? I'm really looking forward to your updates and the outcomes of your project! Please ask me any questions you have and I will be sure to do my best to answer.

It looks like you are getting some interesting results, and I think you did a great job taking pictures! Can you add labels to the photos so the treatments are clear? And that sounds like a fine way calculate averages with your data. Are you just counting the total number of germinated seeds compared to the total number of seeds you plated, or are you calculating your percentages per petri dish?

Great work on your project so far!!