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Vegetable Competition
Competition between the five teams (light, water, temperature,
oxygen and soil) began Tuesday, February 1, 2005.
On that date, each five-student team received the same supplies; announced
its team goal and sowed vegetable seed. Teams have the choice of
growing carrots, radishes and turnips or any combination of the three.
 Each
team identified between one and three goals for the competition and devised a
plan for achieving it.
Weekly classroom activities, lead by three to four Master
Gardeners each week, have been designed to introduce students to plant growth
habits and to give the seventh graders experience manipulating various factors
like moisture and light.
John Bichon, Carolyn Roof,
Cindy Glisson (teacher) and Sally Wilkins address the class.
| January 27, 2005 |
Guest Speaker, John Bichon, Master Gardener, Certified Arborist
This class combined review of the begonia and bulb projects as well as
general discussion of the vegetable competition and the how-tos of
growing carrots, radishes and turnips. |
| January 27, 2005 |
Submitted by the oxygen group:
Today, John Bichon came to our class to teach us about growing
vegetables. To grow the most vegetables, you need to put a variety of
seeds in each plexi-glass container. You do so because your soil will
not be sucking up the same nutrients and the nutrients cannot be
absorbed by the other plants as well. Another reason many seeds should
be planted is because there is a chance some will die. But, if you
plant too many, the different seeds will begin to push each other out of
the plexi-glass.
To grow the largest plant we were told to put only a few seeds in one
container, bury the seeds about 1/4 inch deep. If you bury them deeper
they won't sprout or get enough sunlight. The soil also needs to be
loose and not compacted. It needs a lot of light but not direct light.
If you give the plants too much direct light they will burn and die. Mr.
Bichon also discussed calcium nitrate. For example, in the fertilizer
10-10-10, the first number stands for Nitrogen. This promotes top growth
of the plants. The second number stands for Phosphate (Phosphorous)
which is a chemical needed for strong blooms. Last but not least, Potash
(Potassium) is a fertilizer needed to promote the growth of roots in a
plant. Each of these chemicals will be needed to promote continual
growth of the plants.
One final topic
discussed in class today was the sterilizing of the potting medium. To
sterilize the medium it must be heated at 150-160 degrees for an hour in
an oven. After the seeds are baked, they must sit for 2 days before
planting. |
| February 1, 2005 |
Planting Day
Class began with each team identifying up to
three goals. Master Gardeners John Bichon, Sally Watkins, Shirley
Edwards and Carol Ullerich then planted a total of 5 containers which
will serve as controls for this experiment. The Master Gardeners
sowed some seed using furrows and used a broadcast method for other
seeds. Following a brief question and answer period with
discussion of manure as a potential fertilizer and the timing of a
fertilizer program, the planting frenzy began!
Each team announced up to three
competition goals. Each team then received three specially constructed plexi-glass
containers, a small amount of clean gravel, 1/4 teaspoon of seed for
each vegetable they chose to grow, and 1/4 teaspoon of moisture
crystals. Pro-Mix with a biofungicide was selected as the potting
medium. Because of prior problems with mold, the potting medium
was moistened the eve before competition.
Competition seeds
include:
radishes:
White Chinese (Celestial); White Icicle; and Cherry Belle
carrots:
Chantenay Red Cored
turnips:
Purple Top White Globe
Carrot Purple Dragon is being grown as a class project. |
| February 1, 2005 |
parts submitted by the water, oxygen, and light
group:
 Today we are getting started with the competition of growing
vegetables. The same guest speaker from last week came to assist in
class. We learned how to fill the plexi-glass containers. Each team was
given 3 containers. Each group chose a goal to grow either the most
vegetables or the largest vegetables.
The water group chose to grow the biggest and the largest amount of
carrots. The oxygen group chose to grow the most radishes. The
temperature group chose to grow the biggest and tastiest carrots. The
light group chose to grow the biggest turnips and radishes and the most
turnips. The soil group chose to grow the most carrots and the biggest
radishes. The control group is growing the most carrots and radishes.
Once goals were chosen each group was given three plexi-glass grow
containers, Pro-mix mixed with a biofungicide, gravel, and seeds. Gravel
was placed in the bottom of each plexiglass container about an inch
thick. Then Pro-mix was placed atop the gravel. Seeds were sown about
1/4 of an inch under the top layer of soil. |
| February 3, 2005 |
Sprouts appear. The plexi-glass
containers allow students to view germination and root development from
all sides.
|
| February 4, 2005 |
 Plexi-glass
containers were specially crafted for the competition. The
containers allow students to observe root development from all
sides. Each team received three containers and could plant them as
they saw fit. |
| February 10, 2005 |
Master Gardeners returned to the classroom today to see sprouts
aplenty. Some seedlings are approaching 2" in height. The
height of the grow lights was adjusted today because the seedlings were
bumping the lights to the point that some sprouts have become burned.
Good root development was observed. A fertilizer program and
thinning of the sprouts were discussed. |
| Our sprouts on
February 10. Now that true leaves have emerged we will begin
fertilizing and thinning. |
 |
| February 10, 2005
(teacher entry) |
Today students discussed how we could
improve the vegetable experiment with the assistance of the Master
Gardeners. Vegetables began sprouting 2 days after they were planted.
Now, only a week later, several vegetable sprouts are growing INTO the
lights. We repositioned the lights higher above the plants for better
growing. Each group determined which type of fertilizer they wanted to
use on their plants which included 10-10-10, cow manure tea, Miracle
Grow or a combination of two. Toward the end of class students made new
plant propagated terrariums by using Pro-mix, zip-locked bags, coleus
and Kalanchoe plants. |
| February 10, 2005 |
Student Entry:
Today we made new terrariums with 3 different flowers: Coleus, kalanchoe,
and rex begonias. The new terrariums were made with plastic bags,
Pro-mix, sand and plants. The vegetables were watered.
Student Entry:
We have realized that we had a problem with our plants. They are growing
into the lights and some of the leaves are getting burned by the lights.
Each team came up with a new growing plan to assist in the problem. The
water team will keep their plants under light. The temperature and light
teams are going to do the same thing. The oxygen team is going to fix
the lights. The soil team is going to keep their plants under a
reptilian light. Each team is deciding which fertilizer to use for next
week.
Student Entry:
Master Gardeners came and talked about the new growth we have in our
vegetable containers. The problem is that the plants are getting too
high and touching the light which is burning the plants. Students were
asked to come up with a solution to this problem. We were asked to
identify a mystery plant-kalanchoe, a coleus, and a rex begonia.
We reworked the terrarium plants. We put dirt in storage bags and placed
plants in them after dipping each plant in a root hormone. We sprinkled
the new terrariums with water and sealed the bag. We were told not to
open and disturb the bags or the plants could die.
|
| February 11, 2005 |
Now that true leaves have emerged it is
time to begin a fertilization program. Each team has selected the
formula it will use.
Soil - Miracle Gro
Oxygen - 10-10-10/Miracle Gro
Temp - 10-10-10/ and/or possibly 20-10-10
Light - Miracle Gro/manure
Water - Miracle Gro - 10-10-10 |
| February 16, 2005 |
Each team received one tablespoon of
Miracle Gro today. It is their responsibility to determine how
best to use it. Two containers of Miracle Gro were prepared
according to label directions (1/2 tsp to 2 qts water to be used every
7-14 days) for general use by all teams. Teams wishing to use a
more diluted formula will have to determine the appropriate ratio that
will provide sufficient nutrients without burning the sprouts.
Most teams are experiencing excellent seed germination. Thus, it
is time to thin the sprouts. Sacrificing even one seedling is
tough but ultimately it will enable the remaining sprouts to grow
unfettered. The remainder of today's class was devoted to an
introduction to orchids lead by PAMGA President Phyllis Petcoff.
|
| March 2, 2005 |
Healthy-looking foliage and lots of it, but
still no visible radishes, turnips or carrots. This has been a
conundrum for us. We have reduced the amount of light being
received by the plants. Initially, they were receiving 16 hours of
light under Gro-Lights on a timer. We have reduced the light to
only 9 hours now. We have also increased the distance between the
lights and the sprouts thinking the soil may be too warm. The soil
temp is about 70 degrees and these cool weather crops may like a crisper
temperature. There was also concern that some of the soil may be
drying out too quickly. The plants continue to be watered on a
daily basis. The students have again been urged to thin their
sprouts. Each week more seedlings are removed but there is still tremendous crowding. |
| March 2, 2005 |
Student entry
Today was a review day. We had about 2 of
our propagation projects take roots. We found out our mystery plant was
a forsythia which is a shrub. Also it can multiply fast by the
roots running. We also talked about a resurrection fern which is an
epiphyte, but it's not an orchid or a parasite. The appearance of
the plant depends on moisture and then when a lot of moisture is added
it will automatically start looking better.
The bulb plants looked really good or
really bad. The Narcissus Thalia has either had too much or too little
water and some are starting to mold and are in bad shape. The Narcissus
Ziva has bloomed and now has so much foliage it is starting to drop but
is very healthy. The tulips are on their way and looking good. The Mount
Hood daffodils, on the other hand, are the same as the Thalias. They are
starting to mold. The irises are looking good but they're a little dry
because of too little water plus they are soaking up a lot of water.
We also went over our goals and reviewed what all we've done in the
past. We're basically trying to catch up since we are going at
such a fast pace. Lastly our vegetables should be ready by spring
break. |
| March 10, 2005 |
We continue monitoring progress and
remain befuddled at the lack of vegetable production. Again, the
foliage is lush and green but we are not seeing below soil development.
We have spotted the emergence of one radish. This is of the Cherry
Belle variety and should have been ready for harvest on February 23.
After fertilizing the veggies there was
"show and tell" of volunteer grapevines of various sizes. Next
week's assignment is two-fold: identify a branch from a fruit tree and
define the word "apiary." The remainder of today's class was
devoted to a presentation on weather by Pat Spoden with the National
Weather Service. |
| March 29, 2005 |
Judging of radishes and turnips.
Results. |
| March 30, 2005 |
An infestation of aphids was noticed
today, mostly on the radishes and turnips. We doused the infected
plants with a mixture of water and liquid hand soap since that was all
we had and segregated the carrots that appeared to be clean. |
| March 31, 2005 |
Insecticidal soap was provided to try to
curb the aphids. |
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Purchase
Area Master Gardener Association