Fertilizer on a Mission

Question• Do seeds grow better in liquid, solid, or powdered fertilizer?

purpose• The purpose of our investigation

is to determine if grass seeds grow better with liquid, solid, or powdered fertilizer? This is important because when you use fertilizer, you should use the one that grows seeds the fastest.

Hypothesis• I hypothesize that the powdered

fertilizer would help seeds grow the best. I believe this because the powdered fertilizer will be absorbed more quickly by the seeds. Liquid would be too runny and would make the seed drown. The solid would be too hard and the seed would not be able to come out of the solid fertilizer because the solid would be covering the seed.

PROCEDURE

Materials• Three sets of 5 seed starting plant pots• Solid fertilizer – Miracle Gro Plant Food

Spikes• Liquid fertilizer – Schultz Plant Food Plus• Powdered fertilizer – Miracle Gro All

Purpose Plant Food• 1 TBSP measuring spoon• Bermuda Grass Seed – 30 tsp.• Water

VariablesMANIPULATED VARIABLE: Type of fertilizer

RESPONDED VARIABLE: Growth of plant

CONSTANT VARIABLES: soil, grass seeds, pots, water

DIRECTIONS• Gather materials• Fill 3 sets of 5 cups of seed growing plant pots• Label pots with the names of the fertilizer that was used on

the seeds• Place ¼ tsp grass seed in each pot• Using directions on package, mix liquid fertilizer with water• Using directions on package, mix powder fertilizer with

water• Place 1 solid plant stick into pot and label• Water daily, using 1 tbsp. in each cup of all three sets of

plants• Monitor the pots daily for growth measure the height of the

grass in each pot. Record.• Calculate the average growth for all solid, liquid, powdered

fertilizer plants!

Plant Growth ChartType of Fertilizer

TRIAL ONE TRIAL TWO

TRIALTHREE

TRIALFOUR

TRIALFIVE

AVERAGE

Liquid Tallest: 2.0cm

Blades: 15

Tallest: 1.6cm

Blades:8

Tallest: 1.9cm

Blades:9

Tallest: 1.7cm

Blades:12

Tallest: 2.3cm

Blades:7

Tallest: 1.9cm

Blades:8

Powder Tallest: 1.8cm

Blades:2

Tallest: 1.4cm

Blades:3

Tallest: 1.3cm

Blades:6

Tallest: 1.7cm

Blades:2

Tallest: 1.3cm

Blades:3

Tallest: 1.5cm

Blades:3.2

Solid Tallest:0.0cm

Blades:0

Tallest: 0.0cm

Blades:0

Tallest: 0.0cm

Blades:0

Tallest: 0.0cm

Blades:0

Tallest: 1.0cm

Blades:1

Tallest: 0.2cm

Blades:0.2

KEY:

= LIQUID

= POWDER

= SOLID

Conclusion• My hypothesis was incorrect, seeds

grow better with liquid fertilizer. The liquid fertilizer average was 1.9 cm and produced 8 blades of grass. The powdered fertilizer average was 1.5cm and produced 3.2 blades of grass. The solid fertilizer average was 0.2 cm and produced 0.2 blades of grass. If I could do this project again what I would do differently is, I would use a different plant, or grass type to see if I got the same results.