Week 2

Thursday

February 21, 2008

12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

I began be re-weighing each group after realizing that I had forgotten to zero the scale when I was weighing them the previous week. Then I numbered each group according to weight.

Group 1: 214.5 g

Group 2: 213.1 g

Group 3: 213.1 g

Group 4: 213.0 g

Group 5: 212.0 g

Group 6: 211.3 g

Group 7: 211.3 g

Group 8: 211.0 g

I then washed out eight pots, and covered the holes on the bottom with three layers of wet paper towels. This would prevent sand from leaking out through the holes. Next I added 5 cm of sand to the pots, then arranged ten bulbs on the sand. After that, I added fifteen more cm of sand on top of that, so the pot would measure 20 cm of sand. Then the pots were watered until water dripped out the bottom.

Next I labeled each pot according to the treatment that it would receive and dated the label with today's date. Group one would be placed outside and would receive light. Group two would be placed outside, but would not be able to receive light. Group three would be placed in the greenhouse and would receive light. Group four would also be placed in the greenhouse but would not be able to receive light. Group five would be placed in heat would would be able to receive light. Group six would be placed in heat but would not be able to receive light. Group seven would be given a cold treatment, but would be able to receive light. Group eight would be given a cold treatment and would not be able to receive light.

Groups one and two were placed outside, but were not heeled in to the soil yet or covered from light for the sake of time. Groups three and four were placed on a bench in the greenhouse, but were not covered from light yet. Groups five and six were placed on a heat pad set to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but were not covered from light yet. Group seven was placed in a lighted cold chamber that was set to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and Group eight was placed into an unlit cold chamber at the same temperature.

I hypothesized that the groups that were outside would be the most successful, and that the plants in the growth chamber would be least successful. I thought this because in the past, the bulbs that I plant outside come back every year, while the plants I keep inside might have a small flower; then after flowering, the bulb will rot. I was not sure what to expect from the bulbs in the greenhouse, but I did not expect them to be as successful as the bulbs outside because of the significantly warmer temperature. I hypothesized that the plants that were exposed to light would be more successful than the plants that are not exposed to light, based on the common knowledge that plants require light for photosynthesis, and photosynthesis is essential for the success of the plant.

The kind of pot that contain the experiments.

Damp paper towel was placed along the bottom of the pots to prevent sand from flowing out the drainage holes.

The sand used for the experiments.

The pots were filled with sand up to 5 cm.

10 bulbs were then placed on the 5 cm of sand, and then were covered with more sand until the pot was completely filled.

There were 8 tests with 10 bulbs in each test.