Whitley's Seed Story

Whitley learned that there are a vast number of ways to grow plants. It amazed her on how some plants grew and some plants didn't. It made her laugh how small it was and how others grew so big. It made her pause when she needed to find the materials for the project. Her biggest setback was finding the materials for her project. Her most helpful partner was Katie Inman, as she brought materials and worked hard.

Elijah's Seed Story

Brenden: What have you learned?
Elijah: Not to use to much fertilizer.

Brenden: What surprised or amazed you?
Elijah: How quickly plants die when to much fertilizer is used.

Brenden: What made you laugh?
Elijah: Looking back on how bad we did and an inside joke to blame Ryan for everything.

Brenden: What made you pause and think a little deeper?
Elijah: When they seriously messed up and killed the plants. 

Brenden: What has this project been for you?
Elijah: It was really stressful watching the plants not grow and watching them die, then having to figure out a new set of plants to grow.

Seth's seed story

What have you learned?
Seth has learned that seed will not grow in coconut water.

 What surprised or amazed you?
Seth was surprised how fast the plants developed.

 What made you laugh? 
He laughed because he could smell the coconut water from across the room. 

What made you pause and think a little deeper?
During the actual experiment when he had to resolve the problems that he ran into.

What questions do you have about things you observed or experienced in the garden?
When was the last time that the garden was looked over?

Marcus's seed story.

What have you learned?
Marcus has learned many things such as a faster and more reliable way for growing plants which is to put it in a little green house. Although Marcus has learned that if it is a small green house it will interrupt the plants. 


 What surprised or amazed you?
What has surprised Marcus is the fact that he can actually grow plants because he never knew how easy it was. 

 What made you laugh? 
Nothing made Marcus laugh but he had fun with the project. 

What made you pause and think a little deeper? 
The thing that made Marcus pause and think a little deeper is finding a solution to the problems with the plant. 

 What questions do you have about things you observed or experienced in the garden? 
Some questions he has are why were his plants smashed. Also if the plant would grow any more. 

Cell is like...

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xG7_qpEfA6wnQpLkKXXayrrLFsJIy-B6nERgggi-v6A/edit#slide=id.p

Link

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JQ_5npo5di6anSk4bAKosRL_zeQhk2ilRFHV_kkUTKE/edit

Introduction

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what the pH of grass is? Well, we bet you haven’t, but we sure have! We wanted to know the pH of grass, and other liquids as well. We decided to measure the grass’ pH, as far too many people did temperature and we didn’t want to do the substrate concentration. Our hypothesis is the pH of the Ripgut Brome grass is around 8, on the alkaline side of neutral. “What even is a pH?” You might ask. Well, a pH is a figure expressing the acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a logarithmic scale on which 7 is neutral, lower values are more acid, and higher values more alkaline. The pH is equal to -log10 c, where c is the hydrogen ion concentration in moles per liter. We would like to know the pH of different materials affect ripgut brome grass in the garden. The group, Bryce Magliari, Ben Fodor, Kela Moore, and JT Pappadakis. We are measuring the pH of the liquids using S/P ph Indicator Strips by Allegiance (a Cardinal Health company). We get the liquids out of the grass, either by crushing, or by cutting. We then hold out the pH pad, and the juices and liquids go on the 4 pads on the big pad. We then measure the pH levels on our scale.

5 ml of water for 2 grams of grass.

1 ml of extract=1 ml of pH liquid

pH of RG B grass: 8

pH of HCl 1: 2.2

pH of HCl 2: 4.2

pH of HCI 3: 6.0

pH of Distilled water: 7

pH of Na OH: 83

pH of Na OH 2: 11.3

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and our Plants

Some abiotic factors which my plant depends on for its survival are temperature, precipitation, soil, water, weather and etc. Some biotic factors that our plant depends on for survival are bacteria, grass, chickens, and bugs.

Our plant is in competition because there are other organisms that have the same niche in that habitat. The plants are competing for sunlight with grass and other groups plants.

Winners are determined by whose leaves and stems are bigger and who grows the fastest. Losers are the opposite. It is not always clear whos is a winner because being in competition, you still lose from fighting.

Another community interaction are plant is in would be parasitism. Parasitism affects each organism involved because the two plants work together to either benefit or one come out on top.

Some evidence of succession going on is the fact that plants and organisms are growing and living. The evidence supports more secondary than primary succession do to that plants have grown here before and they are going on soil not from fungises that turn into soil.

An ecological analysis of the garden and your plants.

An ecological analysis of the garden and your plants.

Some abiotic factors that our plant depends on for survival would be the amount of water, sunlight, and warm weather it receives. Some biotic factors that affect our plant are slugs or snails that eat the leaves.

We know our plants are engaged in competition because it is trying to grow faster than the other plants in the garden. The plants are competing for sunlight, water, and nutrients from the ground. The competition are the other varieties of brassica in the garden.

Winners and losers are determined by which plants has progressed or grew more than others. It is not always clear who won or lost in this struggle. Many plants can look smaller or more undeveloped than others but function as efficiently. What makes the determination complicated is when a plant can not get as much nutrients than one that is.

Another type of interaction in our plants is a symbiotic relationship. This is a mutualism relationship between our plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria benefit both of the organisms. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria are able to convert nitrogen into ammonia that the plants are able to synthesize as proteins. The plant is able to return this favor by giving the bacteria a place to stay.

The evidence that the garden is in succession is that it went from being relatively empty to lush and green from the plants and grass. It seems more like secondary succession because there was already soil to start out with when we planted our brassica.

Biogeochemical Cycles and our Plants

Biogeochemical Cycles and our Plants

The changes in our plants that I have seen this week were that each of them grew 1-2 inches and are starting to sprout leaves. They are about 7 inches tall and have small green leaves that grow out from the sides of the plant.

Our plants have participated in the water cycle by soaking up rainwater and using it as nutrients to grow. The plants also release water into the soil which gives other organism nutrients. The plants roles in the water cycle relate to my observations for my plants this week because they grew a lot from all the rain we had.

Our plants participate in the movements of carbon in the biosphere by using a process called photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, a plant takes carbon out of the atmosphere and combines it with water to create energy for itself. Our plants role in the carbon cycle related to the changes we observed this week because our plants had large green leaves from photosynthesis.

Our plants participate in the movement of nitrogen in the atmosphere by taking nitrogen out of the air and use it in chlorophyll, making it an essential part of photosynthesis. Our plants role in the nitrogen cycle related to the changes we observed in our plant this week because it made the leaves green from the chlorophyll it made with the nitrogen.

Student Blog Post Assignment #4: An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and your Plants by Bryce Magliari

Student Blog Post Assignment #4: An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and your Plants by Bryce Magliari

1. Some abiotic factors are the soil that the brussels sprouts grow in, and the Sunlight that makes the plant grow. The last abiotic factor is the elevation, as it changes the plant's growth and development, though this is mostly just from the temperature. Water is also an abiotic factor, as it needs water to survive. A biotic factor is worms, as this churns the soil, making the soil more full of nutrients. The other biotic factor are other plants, as they are competition for the brussels sprouts.

2. I realized that our brussels sprouts were having competition, as other plants are invading its area. Mallow and ripgut are primarily trying to take over the area, as the brussels sprouts are surrounded by it. Mallow and ripgut are weeds that are prone to take over gardens and other plants. So, in our little square of space, the brussels sprouts, mallow, and ripgut, are fighting over the space.

3. The winners are determined by who grows the fastest and who covers the most land, and who survives. The losers are determined by the slowest growing, who covers the least amount of land, and in some circumstances, who dies. However, it isn't always clear when is there a winner or loser. It can be complicated, as there could be future variables, like the lifespan of the plant(s) and the species of plants.

4. Other interactions are the interactions to the seasons and animals. Species may thrive in the Summer, but not the Winter. So, many could grow in the Summer, but quickly die off in the Winter. Humans can pick up brussels sprouts and kill the plant, and snails can come and eat the plant. So, humans and animals can kill these animals easily. However, worms and chickens can help the plants. Worms churn the soil under the ground, and chickens mix the soil above the ground. Both help the plants grow much faster, and most likely couldn't survive very well without them (the worms are usually more important than the chickens, as there are more worms than chickens.

5. There are examples of this is the chickens, they move around the soil, mixing it as they look for food. If you look closely, the soil is more mixed than soil without chickens. Also, this is shown as plants die in the Winter every year. Also, humans pick flowers, vegetables and fruits from trees (like brussels sprouts) all the time. I believe this is a secondary succession, and not a primary succession. They start out with soil, so it can't be primary.

Biogeochemical Cycles and Our Plants

The changes in our plant that we have noticed was that they have grown at least one or 2 inches. Also there is some purple under the leaves and the plant is mostly green now. Another observation is that there may be two of the same plant.

Our plants participate in the water cycle which is the movement of water in the biosphere by taking the water and moving down the leaves and into the roots and eventually into the soil. This relates to what we observed because it rained last weekend so water went down the leaves and into the soil of the plants which helped it grow.

Our plants participate in the carbon and nitrogen cycle by taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen. Also they absorb energy and transfer it into the soil. Our plant has a role in this because it takes in the carbon dioxide and energy to help the soil and plants next to it and the oxygen for the animals and people around it.

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and your Plants

Some abiotic factors are water, sunlight, weather, and temperature. Some of the biotic factor are animals that eat the seeds or other plants that compete with it.

To know if my plant is engaged in competition if there are other plants very close to it or if it is not growing as fast as it should. The plants are competing for anything they need, such as sunlight or water. The competition is other any plants in a close vicinity that need the same thing.

The winners would be the plants that overcome the other plants and get more of the things it needs to survive then the plant it was competing with. The losers would be the plant that gets less water or sunlight then the other plant it was competing with. It is not always so clear because sometimes you can’t tell until later or if the difference is not by a huge margin.

Some interactions in which my groups plants are the other animals that would eat it and the rain that could flood the plant.

There is some evidence because it has grown a little and it looks like there may be two plants of the same kind.  Also all the other plants seem to be growing very quickly which is good.

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and your Plants

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and your Plants

An of the abotic factors that that the plants need is water. A biotic factor that plants rely on is other plant transporting water through the soil allowing them to accrue water.
Plants are engaged in completion because they have to use power for there soil space so they can keep growing.
The winners are the plants that are bigger and better and the losers are the plant that die off and don't leave an effect on the earth.
Plants also interact because they help out each other by producing seed ling sthat later grow into bigger plants that grow the population.
You know that there is secession in the garden because all of the plants are growing very quickly and filling up the planter box.

Student Blog Post Assignment #3: Biogeochemical Cycles and Your Plants by Bryce Magliari

Student Blog Post Assignment #3: Biogeochemical Cycles and Your Plants by Bryce Magliari

1. I have noticed that my brussels sprouts have grown quite a bit in the last week. It has 2 major leaves that go inwards, like it is cupping inwards. They have a very shiny tint of green, and have lots of veins in the leaves. There are many leaves connecting from the stem, so it has grown to be more like a bush of brussels sprouts. The plant is just mostly just sprout from one stock. The plant also has grown to 5 inches tall!

2. Our plants participate in the water cycle when they take water from the soil, and using it in the process know as photosynthesis. However, some of the water evaporates from the leaves, and this process is known as "transpiration" instead. This correlates to the changes we noticed this week, because since the leaves had gotten bigger, more water can evaporate out. Since the root system has likely gotten stronger alongside the plant, it should take in more water.

3. Our plants participate in the carbon cycle by taking Carbon Dioxide out of the atmosphere to use in photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process that plants use to create energy (sugar, for example) for themselves. After that happens, when an animal eats the plant, they end up breaking down the molecules and what is left of the Carbon Dioxide. The plants in the carbon cycle show the fact that the plants have in fact grown. If they hadn't done a carbon cycle, they wouldn't produce energy, and wouldn't have grown at all!

4. The brussels sprouts participate with the nitrogen by needing a constant stream of nitrogen to survive. Plants also use nitrogen by absorbing nitrate and ammonium ions. The plants have gotten stronger from the nitrogen, and the plants grow much taller and bigger. The stem and the leaves are much bigger now thanks to nitrogen. Nitrogen is also important in chlorophyll and photosynthesis. Without nitrogen, the plants can't grow very taller and wouldn't be green. So, the brussels sprouts are green and growing thanks to nitrogen.

Biogeochemical Cycles and our Plants

                       Biogeochemical Cycles and our Plants

Ever since the the plant the been planted outdoors the growth rate has increased dramatically. The cups were holding back how much the plant could grow.

Plants take in then water then spread it throughout the soil so that other plants can also take in the water.                                                       

Plants that die and are buried may turn into fossil fuels made of carbon like coal and oil over millions of years. When humans burn fossil fuels, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Rain water dissolves and nitrogen enters the soil, which plants then absorb by drawing in water through the roots.

Biogeochemical Cycles and Our Plants

The changes in our plant that I see is that the leaves are getting stronger, thicker, and more green while under our leave is purple. The appearance of our plant is small but mighty.

Our plants participate in the movement of water in our biosphere by soaking the water from the rain into our plants roots and releasing the water into the soil to finish multiple cycles. Our plants role in the water cycle changed my observation of our plants because, the rain and water on the top of the plants showed me that the leaves are strong.

Our plants role participation in the carbon and nitrogen cycle is absorbing energy in the form of light. Our plants both transfers energy to the soil or to other animals through photosynthesis. Our plants role changed my observation because it made me see that our plants, even though they’re small, participate and work with the environment.

Method

Method: We put 9 cups outside to grow with brussels sprouts in soil in them. 3 have green cups on top, 3 have pink cups on top, and 3 have no cups on top for a control. We water and measure them every time we are in that class.

The Report-Colored Cups on Brussels Sprouts Germination

Colored Cups on Brussels Sprouts Germination
For a few weeks, we have been doing our germination project. The project was to see how tall the selected plants will grow in a few weeks (this is also our first project of the year). There are 8 groups in total, and we are team 7! In our project, we are doing a brussels sprout experiment where colored cups are placed over seeds to see if the colored light made will grow faster. Originally, we were going to use colored saran wrap and poke holes in them. However, Mr. Bursch did not have saran wrap. When we all went to the stores, they had run out of colored saran wrap. So, we had to improvise. Instead of putting colored saran wrap on top of the cups, we put colored cups (that Anthony so thankfully provided) on the brussels sprouts and poked holes in those. We were wondering where to put the plants, and Brendan came up with the idea to put the cups in a cardboard box. We then agreed to put holes on the bottom of the cups to let out excess water. We put 3 pink cups on, 3 green cups on, and 3 without cups for a control. Everyday, we took off the top colored cup. Brendan then measured the height of the plant with a ruler. Afterwards, Hunter then wrote down all the information that we had received. Then, we put the cups back on and used the tape on them. Because he is the tallest, Scott put them back on the shelves when we finished. We lastly decided that Bryce would make the blog and make the first post. He then added the other 4 people onto the blog. Hunter, Scott, and Anthony were admins, and Bryce gave Brendan Authorship (which made Bryce admin). We decided that we needed to measure the plants in classes, as that were On the first day of checking them, the pink cups were 1,” 0,” and 2,” the green cups were 0,” 3,” and 2,” and lastly the control cups were 1,” 1.5,” and 1.75.” On the second day of checking the plants, the pink cups were 2.25,” 3,” and 3.75,” the green cups were 0,” 4,” and 3,” and the cup with no lid was 3,” 4,” and 4.” On the last day of checking them before Mr. Bursch took the plants, the pink cups were 3.75,” 4,” and 3.75,” the green cups were 1.5,” and 4.5,” and lastly the cups without a lid were 3,” 4,” and 4.” The plants were shamrock green, but it seemed that the smaller ones were of a bit lighter green color. Also, some got so big that they flopped over! This proved our hypothesis to be correct. We predicted that the plants with the green cups would grow the most. We would have pictures, but Mr. Bursch sadly took the plants to a better place to be grown. He took them to be outside to grow more, however a week later, we planted one of ours in the garden, so we can see how big it'll grow there. We planted our biggest plant, at 4.5 inches, which is crazy! When we looked at our results, it showed that the cups without anything and pink cups were around the same height, however green is slightly bigger by an inch at the most. However, it also has the smallest sprout at 1.” So, it seems like pink and no cups are basically the same, and green cups can either stunt the growth, or make the plant grow faster. The first day, the mode was 1 inch,the second day was 3 inches, and the third day 3.75 inches and 4 inches (it is a tie at 2 plants). The mean for the first day was 1.361 inches, the second day was 2.6 inches, and the third day was 3.6 inches. The median on the first day was 1.5 inches, the second day was 3 inches, and the third day was 4 inches. The range for the first day was 3 inches, the second day was 4 inches, and the third day was 3.5 inches. The smallest one we ever grew was 1 inch, and the biggest plant was 4.5 inches. Out of the 4 types of cups, the pink cups seemed to of grown the tallest of them all. The final height of the pink cup plants combined were 11.5 inches, the green cups were 9.5 inches, and the cups without tops (the control) were 11 inches tall. We later wondered, what will happen if others use this experiment? We also wondered if the future experiments will have relatively the same results, or what if they have very different results? We also thought, "what if future studies put a lot more money into the project, to build it on a bigger scale?" However, those questions can be solved in the future. For now, let's just hope our experiment was sufficient for the time being, and that our brussels sprouts grow!


Key: Green=green cups, pink=pink cups, black=no top cup (control)

Cups Days	Pink 1	Pink   2	Pink   3	Green 1	Green 2	Green 3	Control 1	Control 2	Control 3
Day 1	1’’	0’’	2’’	0’’	3’’	2’’	1’’	1.5’’	1.75’’
Day 2	2.25’’	3’’	3.75’’	0’’	4’’	3’’	2’’	2.5’’	3.5’’
Day 3	3.75’’	4’’	3.75’’	1’’	5’’	4.5’’	3’’	4’’	4’’

Our group planted the brussels sprouts in class Friday. When we came to class Monday we collected this data.
Clear : 1", 1.5", 1.75"

Green: 0", 3",  2"

Pink: 1", 0", 2"\

Most are looking healthy, but a few are not growing at all.

Kurt Brussels and the Brussels bros.

 Our group is doing an experiment on the germination of Brussels` sprouts. Our experiment is comprised of the growth of Brussels sprouts under certain colors of light to either speed up or slow down the growth of the plants. We are using a pink and a green plastic cup to grow the plants in, our control plant did not have a cup over the plant at all to allow all colors of sun light. There is a total of nine plants; three pink, three green, and three control. We know this experiment will go well while growing Brussels sprouts.

Brief Bio

My name is Anthony DiGirolamo and I have lived in San Jose, California my whole life. In elementary school we grew snow peas and beets. I remember having to dig down and plant the seed and to put a stick so it grows the right way. Also watering the plant and making sure it gets sunlight. A person in my life that knows a lot about plants and gardening is my grandma because she loves to garden and she knows about all types of plants. Sometimes we go to the Branham high school flea market because she finds plants that I have no idea what they are.

Brief bio

My name is Scott Hetrick I am 13 years old and I have lived in San Jose, California my entire life. In elementary school we had a class garden and we grew snow peas, lettuce, beats, and a couple more that I do not remember. I remember having to water daily and color a stick to know where we planted the seeds. My grandma is always growing something new her favorites are tomato and roses. When she goes on a trip I have to water all of them so if I do a bad job I am in a lot of trouble and I will get the grandma texture that everyone gets and terrible after.

Brief Bio

My name is Hunter Sandahl. I was born in April 17, 2002 in Seattle, Washington before I moved to San Jose, California in 2012.

I used to be part of a school garden before I moved to California. In the garden we grew potatoes and green beans. We would work in the garden every day at school during recess and grew lots of crops that we later picked and brought home for ourselves. I remember that it took a lot of work to properly grow the vegetables to be prepared to pick and eat.

I think that my mom knows a lot about gardening because she used to grow vegetables with my dad. These crops included chile peppers, jalapenos, rose mary, and lettuce. I think both my parents know a lot about horticulture because they maintain all the plants around our house aside from the food that they grew.

Brief Bio

My name is Brenden Schriver. I was born in 2002 in San Jose, California. My mom, sister, and grandparents live in Los Banos, California. The rest of my family lives in San Jose.

I used to garden a lot, my grandpa used to work at a farm and my great grandma used to grow all her food from scratch in her garden. I have a green thumb for growing tomatoes. Otherwise i am not a very good or experienced gardener. I used to grow tomatoes a lot, and I remember my great grandma and grandma used to pick all three hundred or so plants between both houses, then we all used to make spaghetti sauce.

The person in my life that used to grow her own food and make it from scratch was my great grandma. She used to grow any type of food you can grow in her small garden. Up until a month before she passed away she still grew tomatoes, basil, onions, garlic and all the other ingredients needed to make sauce and she jarred almost two-hundred jars of spaghetti sauce.

Brief Bio

Bryce Magliari

Hi,

my name is Bryce. I live and was born in 2002 in San Jose, California. I've gardened before, but that was in elementary school. My grandpa lives near Los Angeles however, and some of my dad's cousins live in Montana. We visit my grandpa, but not my cousins in Montana.

I grew carrots with my dad at my house when I was 7. My dad helped me grow my carrots as he is great at farming. He adds fertilizer and grew our lawn back by himself when it died in the Summer. I don't know much about farming, but I try my hardest. At my elementary school, we grew onions, beets, carrots, and lettuce. I remembered it was easy, but then again, we had a lot of teachers helping! I liked the carrots and lettuce, but not the onions and beets.

9/4
Hi everyone. We are doing a project for Mr. Bursch at WGHS to have a germination project. Our project will be about if different colored light will affect the growth of brussel sprouts. We are calling it, "The Colored Light Experiment." So stayed tuned for more info!