Wheat and radish planting experiment
Supplies needed:
Plastic paint tray liners (8 in width) with a mesh dam added to retain soil
(use adhesive silicone caulk to glue plastic window screen into the tray)
Miracle-Gro potting soil
Radish seeds (Carolina Biological)
Wheat seeds (Carolina Biological)
Measuring cups
Mixing Bowl
Spray bottle
Nitrate assay kits
Plastic test tubes (15 mL Falcon tubes)
1) Assay soil for nitrate:
Take a 15 mL plastic test tube, add 2 mL of soil and fill with water to the 14 mL mark, shake for 30 seconds, then set the tube upright for 10 minutes to have soil settle
Pour off the soil components that float, remove 5 mL from the tube and assay for nitrate according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Record the red color intensity (photo) and/or concentration from the reference strip in the kit
2) For each tray, mix 3 cups (0.7 L) Miracle-Gro Potting Soil with 7 ounces (210 mL) water in a bowl, mixing so the soil is evenly moistened into a mud pie
3) Place mud into the paint tray, shape into the space behind the mesh dam
4) Lay out 6 rows of seeds (wheat or radish), 6-8 seeds per row, push into soil approximately ¼ in. Leave a tray without seeds as a control!
5) Moisten the soil with spray bottle so the top layer is wet. Spray when needed to keep top layer moist
6) Incubate and illuminate at room temperature. After a week, the trays may have to be ‘thinned’ as germination of all the seeds may crowd the tray
7) Assay soil for nitrate after 5 days, 8 days and 14 days. After taking a soil sample, saturate the soil by slowly dribbling 120 – 200 mL or 4-7 ounces of water on the soli (mimicking a heavy rain), and assay 5 mL of the runoff water. Dribble water slowly until the soil begins to produce runoff, then stop and wait for the runoff to cease
Algal growth experiment
Supplies needed:
Eight (8) clear drinking water bottles, clean and empty
Miracle-Gro plant food solution (Fertilizer)
Tablespoon measure
Eyedropper
Light source
Water from nearshore Lake Erie (Sandusky Bay)
1) To prepare Miracle-Gro solution: add 1 level tablespoon of Miracle-Gro plant food powder to 1 quart of water, let dissolve
2) Add 250 mL of the water sample into each bottle
3) Label bottles: two bottles ‘control,’ two ‘1 drop,’ two ‘2 drops,’ and two bottles ‘5 drops.’
4) With an eyedropper, carefully add Miracle-Gro to the bottles: one drop in the ‘1 drop’ bottles, two drops in the ‘2 drop’ bottles, etc.
NOTE: the fertilizer solution is very potent. Four drops in a water bottle is enough to replicate a large dumping of fertilizer into Lake Erie. Ten drops give concentrations that would never happen in the lake. Do not add more than indicated, as the Miracle-Gro solution might actually become toxic to the algae
5) Incubate at room temperature near a window for 72 hours, observe growth periodically as ‘greening’ of the culture bottles
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