Lab Report

Marco Dal Canto, Seth Nolan, 

Kylee Bourbon, Ben Fodor, 

Kela Moore Period 1 

 Seed Germination Lab Report 

 Introduction: For our experiment, we decided to test whether regular water or 100% concentrated coconut water made kale grow faster. Our hypothesis was that water would work better because if coconut water did make the plants grow faster, everyone would be using it instead of water.

 Methods: The first thing we had to do was collect our materials. This included 100% concentrated coconut water, water, soil, kale seeds, a ruler, a graduated cylinder, and 4 plastic cups (two for coconut water and two for regular water). To start our experiment, we first poked holes in the bottom of our cups to allow excess water to flow out. Then, we labeled each cup with what the plants would be watered with. We then filled the cups with soil, leaving about six centimeters of space between the soil and the rim of the cup. Then we planted ten kale seeds in each cup, about ⅓ of an inch below the soil. Since we weren’t in class every two days, our watering schedule wasn’t very consistent. We watered it for the first time on September 6th, then again on the 8th, again on the 12th, on the 13th, and finally, on the 15th. After every watering, we would record the measurements of the plants and a brief description.

 Results and Data Analysis: We didn’t start seeing growth until about the 6th day into our project. It also happened to be a Monday when we first noticed growth, meaning that the majority of the growth happened over the weekend. On this day, September 12th, we noticed that the plants watered with coconut water seemed to have a reddish tint and mold was collecting at the surface of the soil, creating a foul odor. The next day, we noticed more of a reddish tint at the roots of plant C2 (coconut 2). On the last day, September 15th, we noticed that none of our kale plants looked very strong, probably due to the lack of sunlight in the classroom. We also noticed that the plants watered with regular water had grown much more than the plants watered with coconut water. Below is a line graph showing our data. We decided to use a line graph because it made more sense considering we had four sets of data. The graph clearly shows that water worked better than coconut water.

Conclusion: Based on our results, we can conclude that water works better than 100% concentrated coconut water when growing kale. In fact, the water showed almost twice as much growth than the coconut water. The coconut water started to grow mold in our cup. Our plants didn’t get enough sunlight and they started to get too long to hold their weight and then ended up falling over. If we were to do this project again, we could have tried using different percent concentrated coconut waters. We would also take our plants home to make sure they are getting the correct amount of sunlight and that they get watered consistently.

  Hi my name is Seth, I live here in San Jose California. My whole life I've never grown a plant at all only watered them. On the other hand both my mom and dad have, but my dad grows plants more then my mom. I've never grown plants but have watched my dad grow all sorts of plants like tomatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers,and even pumpkins. Something I can do well is nurture, I take care of my dads plants by watering  them and making sure they have plenty of water each and every day. Im also very good at taking care of animals in the same way as plants. Hopefully this lab will show me how to grow plants better and show  how it all works, and so one day I can grow my own plants.

Hello everybody, I'm Ben Fodor.

I have very little experience with growing plants because there isn't really any space for a garden at my house and the thought of putting seeds in dirt isn't really entertaining or fun to me. However, growing fresh food would be more motivational because who doesn't enjoy food? I enjoy science and am curious to find out if coconut water actually affects the growth of plants.

Hi, I'm Kela Moore!

I've had some experience growing food before. My parents (especially my mom) have always liked the idea of growing some fresh fruits and veggies. I, however, have never been too fond of working in the sun to mix the dirt around, or of planting the little tomato plants in the soil and watering the every day. I do like being able to walk outside and pick some tomatoes for some fresh bruschetta or delicious BLT's, though. Food is always a good motivator. I love science and it has always been one of my favorite subjects. I hope that we find that coconut water is good for plants! If we do, that means that we can help a lot of people out!

Hi, my name is Marco Dal Canto.  I have been gardening for a long time.  When I was younger, my parents had me garden in our backyard.  With this, I learned how to take care and grow strawberries.  Then we took the strawberries and ate them. They were the best strawberries I had ever had.  Once we grew those I wanted to have my own garden.  Ever since then my family and I have had our own garden in our back yard.  With this project I will be able to learn how to grow plants better.  I hope that the experiment ends up working so then I can learn how to grow plants more efficiently.

My name is Kylee Bourbon. My whole life I have lived in San Jose, California. I have never grown food before, or grown anything for that matter. But I know my dad has. He used to grow a lot of our food a couple of years ago. We had a fairly large garden in our backyard. Even though he stopped, he still knows a lot about how to grow lots of different plants. Though I don't have experience with planting, I do know how to cook. I often cook dinner for my family. My parents taught me how to cook at a very young age. I hope throughout this project, I will learn how to grow my own food successfully so I can cook the food that I grow.

Story of the Seed