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Unit 3. Part (B). Experiment 5 Seed Germination Plant seeds, germinate and grow in the same container Set up a bucket or tub grower as shown in Experiment 1. The seeds should be placed at the same depth they would be planted in soil. Seed packets indicate seed depth placement. Water gently with root nutrient water for growing roots and watch for the sprouts to appear. After the plants are well established, 4-6" tall, discontinue using root nutrient water and begin using a grow nutrient solution. Continue using grow nutrient water until the plant reaches maximum growth. Then discontinue grow nutrient and begin using bloom nutrient solution. Observe and record data about your plant, including illustrations Watch and wait to see when your plants will begin to appear through the surface of the growing media. At the end of the first week, gently use your finger to find one seed and gently brush the growing media aside to observe the plants condition. Note what findings you observed, draw an illustration of the seed at this stage, and gently replace the seed back in the growing media, gently recovering it with growing media. Each week make the same inspection to observe and record data about the plant's condition. Once the plant has germinated and broken through the growing media, draw an illustration of its appearance, and again remove gently from the growing media to observe root growth. Continue weekly observations and data recording during the entire life cycle of the plant. DATA RECORD SHEET Inspect, observe and record data about the plant's condition. Once the plant has germinated and broken through the growing media, include an illustration of its appearance. Date Planted: ___________ Date Germinated:____________
Drawing a Graph Now we draw a graph. Our graph will use Cartesian Coordinates, named after Rene Des Cartes.  Rene was lying on his bed one day watching a fly walk around a wall. Rene started to think about how he would describe the fly's position on the wall. Rene set up a point on the wall that would be the starting point. He drew imaginary lines, one along the floor, another along the edge of the wall. So what he had was this: 
Rene called the bottom line, going left to right, the x line or x axis (pronounced aks is). He called the line running top to bottom the y axis. Then, to describe the fly's position he made each line look like a ruler, with markers labeled with inches. 
Now he could describe the position of the fly. It is at 6 inches on the x axis and 2 inches on the y. He writes this (6,2) and calls it the Cartesian coordinates of the fly's position. 
In this experiment, we draw two graphs. The first is a drawing graph, where the plant is redrawn for each week, with the height of the plant about the number of inches on y. Notice that the bottom line of the graph (the x axis) is labeled with weeks, and the top to bottom line (the y axis) is labeled in inches. 
Once the plant graph is completed you can take a pencil and put a dot on the top of each plant. If you look over to the left, that should be how high the plant was on that week. Draw a second graph. In this graph, you draw a point for each week, across from the height of the plant. Once those points are on the graph you draw a line between the points.
This line graph is what scientists use to predict the growth of the other plants. So you can now guess how tall another plant will be in any week. Question: If you plant another plant can you predict how tall the plant will be in the third week? Answer:______________inches. Revised: 1 May 2016 | ||||||||