RyanCarmona

Ms.Auble
APBiologyP1
1September2015
TomatoExperiment
TheEffectofFertilizerTreatmentonTomatoPlants
Introduction:
ThepurposeofthisTomatoExperimentistofindouttheeffectofcertainfertilizer
treatmentontomatoplants.Nowtomatoplantsareedibleredfruitsandtheyareverydifficultto
growbecausetheyneedextensivecare.Tomatoplantsneedwaterdailybecausetheydryout
fairlyquicklyandtheyneedtobeoutinthesunfor67hourstogroweffectively.Toproperly
growtomatoplantstheyneedtobeplantedafootdeepandtwofeetseparately.Inthis
experimenttheindependentvariableistheplantheightandthedependentvariableisthecertain
fertilizersthatwereusedwhichwereorganicfertilizerandsyntheticfertilizer.Thenthe
experimentalgroupsweretwoplantspartoftheorganicfertilizerandthreeplantspartofthe
syntheticfertilizer,whilethecontrolledgroupwasoneplantthathadnofertilizer.Ifbothorganic
andsyntheticfertilizersareusedtogrowtomatoplants,thentheywillgrowalotmorethan
plantsthathadnofertilizer.Specificallyorganicplantswillgrowthemostoutofthethreeover
syntheticplantsandtheplantwithnofertilizer.
MaterialandMethods:
MaterialsthatwereusedinthisTomatoExperimentwere10Heirloomseedlings,atray,a
pot,adivider,syntheticfertilizer,organicfertilizer,soil,mulch,andwater.Theprocessofthis

experimentbeganwithatraywith10Heirloomseedlingsthatwereprovidedbyaninstructor.
Secondly,water(46ounces)thenneedstobeaddedtoeachseedlinginthetraydailywaitingfor
ittogerminate.Aftergerminationandaftergrowingoutofthetray,theplantsthenneedtobe
transferredtopotwiththedifferentfertilizers.Inaperfectworldyouwouldliketoseparateeach
experimentalgroupandcontrolledgrouptodifferentpotsbutifyoujusthaveone,adividercan
becreated.Placeacoupleplantspreferablytwoeachintothesyntheticandorganicfertilizera
footdeepandseparateeachplantbytwofeet.Onceagainthesearethebestwayspossibleto
growtomatoplantsbutifyouwanttotrysomethingdifferent,byallmeansgoaheadandtry
somethingnew.Soonceyouhaveseparatedyourplantsintodifferentfertilizersandleftonewith
nofertilizer,coveritwithmulchasthiswillpreservemoisturesinceitbecomesdryveryquickly.
Nextcontinuetowateryourplantsdailyandtrackyourdataeachweekinhopesthatfruitwill
bare.Datathatcanbecollectedisheightofplants,numberofleaves,andhealthofplantsina
scaleof15.Datashouldbecollectedattheendofeachweekbymeasuringheightin
centimeters,countingeachleave,andscalingthehealthoftheplantbyaneyetest.
Results:

OrganicFertilizer

SyntheticFertilizer

Controlled

Week2

1.8cm

1.6cm

.9cm

Week3

3.5cm

2.83cm

2cm

Week4

4.5cm

4.1cm

2.6cm

Week5

5.1cm

4.9cm

3.1cm

Week6

7.1cm

6.4cm

3.8cm

Week7

8.5cm

8.2cm

4.4cm

Week8

9.2cm

9.5cm

5cm

Week9

10cm

10.2cm

6.3cm

Week10

11cm

12cm

7.9cm

Week11

13cm

14cm

9cm

Conclusion:
Afterelevenweeksoftheexperiment,itcanbeconcludedthatsyntheticfertilizeristhe
bestfertilizertreatmentfortomatoplants.Inthebeginningoftheexperimentitlookedlike
organicwasthebestfertilizerbutittookadipintheendthatgavesyntheticfertilizerachanceto
surpassit.Syntheticfertilizeristhebestbecauseafterelevenweekstheaveragegrowthofplants
was14centimeterswhiletheplantswithorganicfertilizerwas12centimeters.Asexpected,the

controlledplantwithnofertilizerdidtheworstoutofthethreeanditcanbedeterminedthat
fertilizeristhebestroutefortomatoplants.Thisissobecausefertilizerprovidesnutrientsfor
plants.Asofresult,thehypothesiswasincorrectbecauseorganicfertilizerdidnotprovidethe
bestmethodfortomatoplants,syntheticdid.Errorsthatoccurredduringtheexperimentwere
thattheplantswerenotseparatedbytwofeet,therewasnotanequalamountofsunlighttoeach
plantdaily,andthattherewasnotanexactequalamountofwatergiventotheplants.Nexttime
forabetter,effectiveexperimentplantsshouldbeseparatedbytwofeetandpreciseamounts
shouldbegiven.Overallitwasafun,informalexperimentontomatoplants.
References:
StartingTomatoesFromSeeds|TomatoGardeningGuru.PlanetNaturalRSS.Web.28June.
2015<
http://www.planetnatural.com/tomatogardeningguru/startingseed
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HeirloomTomatoSeedStartingTip.HeirloomTomatoSeedStartingTip.28June.2015
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http://www.heirloomtomatoes.bizland.com/seedstarting.htm
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HowtoStartHeirloomTomatoandPepperSeedsforBestGermination.TomatoHeadquarters.
20March.2012.28June.2015.
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http://tomatoheadquarters.com/tomatoesfarm/howtostartheirloomtomatoandpepper
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