Final Reflection of SRP

Today I spent the day finalizing my SRP report. After recording all my results, I logged them into excel and created my graph. I used a line graph as this was the most useful way to present my data. Here is my results graph. 

Through my graph, it is evident that my hypothesis has been fulfilled. The plants in the acidic soil truly did grow the fastest. 
As I was reflecting over my SRP, there was no doubt that this experiment presented me with multiple problems. I was faced with the problem of the weather almost every day. These past two weeks happened to be the weeks that Sydney saw the most rainfall and storms in months. Though this did not affect the plants, I was unable to measure my plants at exactly 4:45 pm due to the heavy rainfall. I have learnt that to overcome this by conducting the SRP indoors. I was also faced with a lot of technical issues. My videos constantly decided not to work, my phone kept stopping in the middle of a recording and I forgot to take a picture of the materials before conducting my experiment. 

Nevertheless, this SRP has been an enjoyable and informative experience that I would certainly repeat. A special thanks to my father and cousin who tirelessly helped me in conducting my SRP. And of course to my sister who recorded my videos for me.

FINAL DAY!

Today is my final day of conducting my SRP.
I am ecstatic that my results coincided with my hypothesis and I sure am glad that my plants didn't die. Today, after recording my final measurements and recording myself as I measured my plants, I began to complete my SRP report. Prior to today, I had completed all parts of the report except past the results table. I spent the whole two weeks puzzled as to how I would set up my results table. I wasn't sure if I was able to create three tables and I didn't know what I should add into the table. I asked my brother to give me some tips as he is currently studying physics and chemistry and he informed me that I can have as many columns as I want in my results table. Here is a screenshot of how I ended up overcoming the problem and creating my table:

Here is a video of how I measured my plants throughout the SRP:

Here is a video showing the plants on day 15; the final day of my SRP:

Day 12 Reflection

My SRP is going very well. It is nearly the final day and so I need to start to complete my SRP report. I have been logging my measurements in my notepad and am going to accumulate them into my results table on the evening of day 15. I was faced with more problems in this SRP than I expected. Yesterday's weather was very worrying as it was raining very heavily. I was worried that this would  Thankfully, the plants didn't die and are still standing straight. I also faced a problem the day I was setting up my SRP. I placed my phone to record a time lapse of me setting up the SRP but my phone decided to stop recording and so the footage was deleted, also deleting my photo of the materials. I have learnt that from now on, I need to use a more trustworthy source to film my SRP. I am over the moon that my experiment supports my hypothesis and I will definitely tell my parents to invest in soil with a 5.5pH for the growth of their herb garden. Standby tomorrow for a collection of photos from my SRP so you can watch me conduct my experiment. 

My Background Research

I would like to dedicate this blog to explain a bit about my background research that I completed prior to generating my plan. I began my research on the 12th of February. I decided that I needed to come up with a unique idea that will present quantitative results and so, I made my way to my cousin's house who has a PhD in Science from the University of New South Wales. We spent four hours that night trying to come up with an idea. We were put off our countless ideas as they either were irrelevant or wouldn't present quantitative data. In our conversation, pH was mentioned and after sitting in silence, I decided on my problem. We quickly jotted down ideas and began our research. We used her year 11 biology, chemistry and physics textbooks to research and also turned to the internet. We searched four main aspects in order to draw to our hypothesis
- What effect does the soil pH have on plants?
- How and why do different soils affect plant growth differently
- Which soil pH will enhance the growth process of plants?
- Which plants grow fast in any form of weather?
After we collated our research, I was able to begin working on my plan. I spent a week after that, researching and brainstorming ideas before I decided on my experiment. My research concluded the following:
- Basil plants are fast growing plants that grow up to 12 inches per month
- Soil with a pH of between 5.5 and 7 allow plants to grow the fastest
- Acidic and neutral soils work better as they are more enriched with nutrients
Through this background research, I was able to conclude with a plan that was sufficient enough for me to conduct a whole SRP experiment on. Of course, my cousin helped out a lot and I'm very thankful and excited to complete my SRP. :) 

SRP Article 2

Dear Blog,
I have now decided to show you what my second research article will be for my SRP. My first article looked at the importance of pH in soil and how to monitor it, so I decided that before I began my SRP, the next article should be about plant growth, and the environment which it is the most adaptable to. It is important to research this in order to develop what my controlled variables should be in order to ensure that the soil pH is what is affecting the growth of the plants. The name of the article is 

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GROWING BASIL

http://www.thekitchn.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-growing-basil-221272

Here is a summary of the article 

• Basil grows well in sunny environments
• Basil is sensitive to the cold
• Can be planted inside or outside but it needs to be exposed to a lot of sunlight
• When planting from seed, plant the basil 6 weeks before the end of winter
• If planting from a cutting, make sure the ground temperature is at least 21 degrees celsius
• Basil does well in well drained, moist soil with an acidic or neutral soil pH
• Give basil water when the soil is dry to the touch
• water the plant at the base rather than at the leaves.

This article allowed me to conclude on what my controlled variables were to be:

- The plants will all be grown in the backyard in a place exposed to sunlight

- All plants will receive 250mL of water per day, from the same water source

- All plants will be grown with the same amount of soil

- All plants will be grown in the same type of pot, being the same colour, size and shape

- The plants will be monitored over 15 days, being measured every second day at 4:30pm

Weekly Update

Dear Blog,
It has now been a week since I began my SRP and I couldn't be happier with the results I am receiving. So far, the acidic plants are not only growing the fastest, but they are looking the healthiest out of the three types of plants. 
Regarding my previous problem with the pH of the alkaline soil, it was solved in a day. The next day when I woke up, the pH of the alkaline soil was at a pH of 7.9, making it more alkaline and ready to go. I am facing a slight problem with these plants though. Due to the amount of lime, they are not as healthy as the other plants, and as they are growing the slowest, they are also looking unhealthy. They are still alive though and still standing up so there shouldn't be a problem as I will only be conducting this SRP for another 7 days. 

HERE ARE MY MEASUREMENTS OVER THE FIRST 7 DAYS:

Day 1:

Plant 1(7pH): 14cm    
Plant 2(7pH): 13cm
Plant 3(7pH): 13cm
Plant 4(5.5pH): 14.5cm
Plant 5(5.5pH): 14cm

Day 1 Alkaline Soil 

Plant 6(5.5pH): 12cm
Plant 7(7.9pH): 15cm
Plant 8(7.9pH): 14.5cm
Plant 9(7.9pH): 9.5cm

Day 3:

Plant 1(7pH): 14cm    

Plant 2(7pH): 13cm

Plant 3(7pH): 13cm

Plant 4(5.5pH): 14.5cm

Plant 5(5.5pH): 14cm

Plant 6(5.5pH): 12cm

Plant 7(7.9pH): 15cm

Plant 8(7.9pH): 14.5cm

Plant 9(7.9pH): 9.5cm

Day 5:

Day 7 Alkaline soil

Plant 1(7pH): 15cm            
Plant 2(7pH): 14cm 
Plant 3(7pH): 14cm
Plant 4(5.5pH): 15.5cm

Day 1 Acidic Soil

Plant 5(5.5pH): 16cm
Plant 6(5.5pH): 13.5cm 
Plant 7(7.9pH): 15.5cm
Plant 8(7.9pH): 14.5cm
Plant 9(7.9pH): 10cm 

Day 7:

Plant 1(7pH): 15.5cm            
Plant 2(7pH): 14.5cm
Plant 3(7pH): 14.3cm
Plant 4(5.5pH): 16.5cm
Plant 5(5.5pH): 17cm
Plant 6(5.5pH): 14.5cm
Plant 7(7.9pH): 16cm
Plant 8(7.9pH): 14.5cm
Plant 9(7.9pH): 10.5cm

Day 7 Acidic Soil 

Day 1 Neutral Soil

Day 7 Neutral Soil

Modifying My Timeline

In a previous blog, I laid out a timeline of my SRP. After that was posted, a few modifications have been made. 

Instead of buying all of my materials last Thursday, I was delayed and had to buy them on Saturday morning. This had an effect mainly on the time that I would measure each plant every second day. 

I set up my SRP at 3pm on Saturday and so I wasn't able to measure my plants until 4:30pm. In order to increase the accuracy of this experiment, I will now be required to measure the plants at 4:30pm every second day.

I have concluded that this SRP will go for  15 days, ending on the 18th of March. This will allow time to gather my results into the final results table and complete my graph in order to finish my SRP. I will record on every second day, beginning on day 1 and ending on day 15. 

I have already made two measurements from day 1 and day 3 and there has been no growth recorded yet. Let's keep our fingers crossed that my SRP will show promising results!

SRP Article 1

Today, I have decided to present one of the articles that I have used and has significantly helped me with my SRP. 

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/soil-ph-zm0z14amzkin

This article is titled:

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOIL pH

The article addresses the issue regarding the acidity of soil in a garden. It provides information about which pH of soil is the most useful. I have discovered from this article that alkaline soil is not beneficial for a plant as it loses all its nutrients and will not be suitable to grow a plant in. This backs up my hypothesis that the acidic soil will lead the basil to grow faster. 


This article informs on how to raise and lower the pH of different soils and how to test the different pH levels of soil. It suggests using organic substances and powdered sulfur to lower the pH and soil lime to raise the pH of soil. This is handy as my SRP revolves around having soil of different pH levels and it is important to know in case my soils are of the same original pH. 

HERE IS A SUMMARY OF POINTS:

- The pH describes the relative acidity or alkalinity of your soil's makeup

- Soil pH impacts beneficial fungi and bacteria in the soil

- 0 pH is the most acidic

- 7 pH is neutral

- 14 pH is the most alkaline

- most food crops prefer a pH of 6.0 to 6.5

- A pH of 7.0 is actually 10 times less acidic than a pH of 6.0

- Raising the organic matter content of soil will usually move the pH of both acidic and alkaline soils towards the neutral range

- to raise the pH of soil, use lime

- You can't apply the right amount of lime without knowing the initial pH 

Tame high pH soil with organic matter an powdered sulfur in order to lower the pH

Setting Up My SRP

Dear Blog,
Yesterday was the day I was long anticipating. I finally managed to set up my SRP. I went to Bunnings warehouse yesterday and I was able to find all my necessities for the SRP.... Except for alkaline soil. This posed a problem at first, but due to my previous research, I was able to come up with an alternative. My research concluded that in order to raise the pH levels of a soil, the substance that needs to be added is called lime. This comes in the form of either powder or liquid. The lime is usually used in order to correct an acidic soil but adding excess amounts results in achieving alkalinity. This is shown in an article called 

RAISING LOW SOIL pH

This article explains that in order to raise the pH of soil, you should add lime but it should be mixed into the soil as it is a low soluble substance, meaning if it is just placed on the surface, it won't be saturated into the whole pot. 

My dad and I began to set up the SRP at 3:00 pm and it took a long and tiring two hours to set up. Before we began to place the soil into the pots, we had to test the pH of the different soils. We were able to locate a pH probe that tests the pH level of soil. The acidic soil was measuring in at 5.5 pH, the neutral soil is a 7 pH and the alkaline soil has been gradually increasing from 7. It is currently at 7.5 and continues to increase. The problem with the lime is it doesn't provide an immediate effect, rather it gradually increases the pH over a week. Nevertheless, it is still reading at a pH that is higher than neutral, providing alkaline properties. 

We then removed the basil that we bought from their pots and washed away the soil that they were originally in. Whilst my dad was doing this, I was measuring three metric cups of the neutral soil into three different pots. Dad then placed the plants into the pots and I added another three metric cups of soil, followed by one cup of water. We continued this for all the 9 plants. This is shown in the video below. 

I then continued on to label all my 9 pots. On the label, I wrote the number of the plant (1-9) and the type of soil that was in the pot. I then took an initial measurement of each of the plants and added it into my results table. This all took place in our garage. Once it was finished, we moved them to the backyard and placed them in the same spot, exposed to the same amount of sunlight and rainfall. I will continue to measure these every second day for the next 15 days. Lets hope my SRP works!!!