Payal's conclusion

Throughout this month long experiment, I learned how much soil really matters. I learned how much work goes into growing certain crops and figuring out what is needed for each different type of crop. Through this experience I realized how dynamic soil can be and how much goes into soil.  I realized that there is different type of soil need for different types of crops. I never knew that pH and the amount of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium had to be known to grow a certain type of crop. There is a lot of experimentation that goes into specializing soil for a certain crop. I think what others should know about soil is that in reality, soil is a very important thing. It is not just "dirt" that you step on and toss around. I think people should know that soil is the reason we have food, and that soil does a lot for humans. This experiment really shed some light on how important soil is and how much hard work goes into specializing soil for each different crop.

Controlled Expirment

Although we were supposed to plant lettuce seeds, instead by mistake we added bean seeds. The first week after we planted the seeds, there had been no change. Every day we would look at our control cup and variable cup and neither of them had any sprouting. Each day we added about 10 mL more water and then on the following Monday we added about 30 mL more water. Then when we went back to check our cups on Wednesday our beans had sprouted and grown. The growth rate of the "variable" cup, which had the remediation done to it, was a bit larger than the growth rate of the control cup. We know this because the plant in the variable cup was larger, meaning it had grown quicker. Also the variable cup had a darker green color than the control cup plant. They both had the same number of leaves: 4. The survival rate was higher for the variable cup because by Friday the crop in the control cup had began dying.

variable cup (remediated) on the last day

(control cup) on the last day

Remediation

Because we had a pH of 8 we added a couple drops of the acidifier to neutralize the soil because through the pH test we found out that we had a pH of 8 and wanted the soil to be more acidic to be able to support the seeds better. We also added some inorganic fertilizer because our soil did not consist of any living organisms. We also added 30 mL of water because although our soil was extremely moist and had water, we found out that for the type of plant we were making, our soil had to consist of mainly water. The expected outcome of our remediation procedure is that our seeds will sprout and grow without any issues.

*Richy adding water to our remediated soil*

Salinization Lab

Seven bags were made with five beans in each.  The bags contained 0g of salt, .5g, 1g, 2g, 3g, 4g, or 5g. The bags had a paper towel folded inside of them, wet with the salt solution.  The seeds were watched for five day to see if they would sprout or not.  Here are the results after five days:

The 0g solution had two beans sprout.

The .5g solution had no beans sprout.

The 1g solution had no beans sprout.

The 3g solution had no beans sprout.

The 4g solution had no beans sprout.

The 5g solution had no beans sprout.

The only beans that grew had no salt in their solution.  This concludes that beans cannot grow in soil with a salt content.  

Percent Organic Matter

We put our soil in a drying over over night that was between 90 and 95 degrees. The next day we filled 3/4 of a crucible and put it on a ring stand the next day and heated it for 30 minutes. After we shut off the burner and allowed the crucible to cool we recorded the mass. The mass of the soil before heating it was 6.7 grams and after the 30 minutes the soil was about 4.3 grams. This means that our soil had 2.4 grams of organic matter. We found that by subtracting 4.3 from 6.7. It is not necessary to measure the mass of the soil alone because the weight of the crucible will not change depending on heat. It will still stay the same. Three reasons why it is important to have organic materials in soil is because it improves soil structure, it increases water holding capacity and it holds organisms.

Soil Fertility Analysis

We did the pH test by filling our test tube with a pH indicator. Then we added three spoons of our soil (.50 grams each). We then mixed the test tube for a minute and allowed it to sit for ten minutes. Then we matched the color of our soil with the pH Color Chart. Our soil's pH was 8. Then we did a Nitrogen test by filling the test tube with nitrogen extracting solution Then we put two spoons mixed it for a minute,removed the cap and waited for the soil to settle. Then we used a piper to transfer the clear liquid in our test tube to another clean test tube. Then we added two spoons of nitrogen indicator power to the clear liquid and mixed it. After we waited a while we were able to see our soil had nitrogen. We did the same steps for phosphorus and potassium except we used a different indicator and color chart for each.

We had low nitrogen, our potassium and phosphorus were high. The idea pH range for the plants to grow are about 6.5. Yes the plants seemed  healthy, this is because we had a good amount of nutrients and our pH was almost perfect meaning the plants growing and that soil should be healthy.

Burlese Funnel Test

In this lab, we made a large funnel using a 2 liter bottle.  We put ethanol in the bottom of the bottle and filled the top funnel part with soil.  A heat lamp was placed above the soil to drive organisms down into the ethanol.  The ethanol was then studied to count and draw the organisms within it.  

Our ethanol had no organisms in it