1. Fertilizer on a Mission

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. PROCEDURE

6. 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

7. Variables
MANIPULATED VARIABLE: Type of fertilizer RESPONDED VARIABLE: Growth of plant CONSTANT VARIABLES: soil, grass seeds, pots, water

8. 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!

9. Plant Growth Chart Type of Fertilizer TRIAL ONE TRIAL TWO THREE FOUR
FIVE
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
Powder
Tallest: 1.8cm
Blades:2
Tallest: 1.4cm
Blades:3
Tallest: 1.3cm
Blades:6
Tallest: 1.5cm
Blades:3.2
Solid
Tallest:
0.0cm
Blades:0
Tallest: 0.0cm
Tallest: 1.0cm
Blades:1
Tallest: 0.2cm
Blades:0.2

10. KEY:
= LIQUID
= POWDER
= SOLID

11. 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.