Draft 2 Organic vs. Chemical Fertilizers

This topic submitted by Tami, Noelle, Dani, and Mike (Polarist20@netscape.net, Kujanenm@muohio.edu) at 11:21 am on 10/18/01. Additions were last made on Friday, April 19, 2002. Section: Cummins

Abstract
In our study we will be conducting a test with chemical and organic fertlizers. We hope to find out which fertilizer is better for plant growth and which fertilizer is better for the soil/environment. We feel this study plays a large role in the present ever-changing ecosystem because of the widespread use of fertilizer in today's society. Not only is fertilzer used for large crop farms, but also for the smaller private gardens.
These are the questions we will be researching:

1. Which plant will grow faster? The plant that contains the
chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer, or no fertilizer.
2. Which plant will die sooner?
3. Which plant will produce more beans?
4. Which plant grows taller?
5. Which plant seems healthier (greener, produces more beans,
healthier leaves)?
6. Which fertilizer is cost effective?
7. Which fertilizer is better at producing food for humans?
8. Which is a fertilizer for farming crops?

Introduction:
For our first hypothesis, we predict that the chemical fertilizer will have a more positive benefit to the plant than organic or no fertilizer, but have a more damaging effect to the environment. For our second hypothesis, we predict that the chemical fertilizer will produce a better bean plant.
We plan to determine which plant will be a better producing bean plant. We also hope to determine if chemical fertilizer, organic fertilizer or no fertilizer is better for the plant. We know we wanted to do a project that allowed us to use the green house. Tami Boyer, having worked in landscaping company over the summer, came up with idea of testing fertilizers. We decided to a research project on fertilizers because we wanted to find out the damaging effects fertilizers have on the environment. After deciding to do the project,we wanted to find out which find our fertilizer would produce and not have severe damaging effects on the environment.

Relevance Of Research

After scouring the Internet we found that a number of other people have done comparisons between chemical and organic fertilizers; however, most of these comparisons have been done concerning lawn care and personal plant growth. The results from our experiment will hopefully reflect a larger scale of plant growth and cultivation, say in a farming community. Additionally, as on the site www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG5774.html, many of these comparisons do not even give a clear answer as to which type of fertilizer would be more beneficial to the plant and the environment. This site in particular said that the effect of chemical fertilizer on the PH level of the soil was low. However, even if the effect was small it might cause problems in a large agricultural community. In addition, runoffs from excess chemicals could cause water problems. However, the book Nitrates: An Environmental Assessment by the Panel on Nitrates of the Coordinating Committee for Scientific and Technical Assessments of Environmental Pollutants says “Where watershed terrain and precipitation patterns make it feasible to contain runoff, storage and treatment of nutrient-enriched effluents from agricultural lands may be a viable control strategy.” A lab group from last year did a different experiment with bean plants. The Bean Daddies, as they were called, experimented with chemical and organic soil and different types of water. Their results showed that organically grown beans are not only healthier and produce more leaves but they require less water. Also, according to the book Organic Materials and Soil Productivity by W. Flaig, et.al. “It is of agricultural significance in those favored localities where animal husbandry is closely associated with crop production. Waste or accumulation of manure occurs in those areas where this relation does not exist.” If we get similar results to the Bean Daddies’ and find that organic fertilizers yield a better crop than chemical fertilizers then hopefully people will want to put this manure to use instead of letting it go to waste.
Our project has pertinence, on a potentially global scale, to farming and agricultural efficiency and health. The information that we will gather by the end of the project will prove the effectiveness of a popular chemical fertilizer and a popular organic fertilizer in the healthiness and size of bean plants. We will also learn from the information that we plan to gather the effect that each of these fertilizers will have on the soil and the surrounding environment. Tests on PH levels of the soil will be done in order to test the practicality of reusing the soil many times. This would reveal whether chemical fertilizers or organic fertilizers are more fit for continuous planting in farming communities. Another factor to be taken into account is the effect that the chemicals will have if they run off into water resources and the effect that these chemicals will have on the population that draws from these resources. Whichever fertilizer is better for the environment will mean fewer droughts and a consistency in crop totals. In addition, the overall healthiness and production of plants will have an effect in deciding which fertilizer is better for the environment. These two factors, healthiness of the plant and effect of the fertilizer on the environment, will have a significant bearing on deciding what type of fertilizer will be more effective for use in the ecosystem. However, the results from this lab will only make known the effectiveness of these fertilizers on bean plants. Nevertheless, the results of this experiment could still hold importance in the agricultural community, as beans are a common and significant resource.

Related Journal Links:
Organic Farming for Sustainable Agricultural Production
/cgi-bin/sciserv.pl?collection=journals&journal=09246460&issue=v10i0002&article=177_offsaptrapee

Biological and chemical properties of arable soils affected by long-term organic and inorganic fertilizer applications
/cgi-bin/sciserv.pl?collection=journals&journal=01782762&issue=v29i0003&article=300_bacpoaloaifa

Systematic method for rating soil quality of conventional, organic, and integrated apple orchards in Washington State
/cgi-bin/sciserv.pl?collection=journals&journal=01678809&issue=v80i1-2&article=29_smfrsqiaoiws

Materials and Methods

The experiment will take place inside the greenhouse. A partially shaded spot was selected as the testing location. Three flats containing 24 plants each will be placed in this location. Each flat will contain the same exact kind of beans as well as the same type of potting soil. Each bean plant will be given a number. Flat A will be the control group where no fertilizer will be used. Bean one through 24 will be part of this flat. Flat B will contain chemical fertilizer (plants 25 though 48) while flat C will be exposed to organic fertilizer (plants 49 though 50). Miracle Grow will be the chemical fertilizer that will be used. It is a metro mix 360 series and contains horticultural vermiculite, Canadian sphagnum, beat moss, processed bark ash, and washed sand Each flat will be watered on a daily base with distilled water. The organic fertilizer simply consists of horse manure. After the plants have been potted a time period of two to three weeks will be allotted before any fertilizer will be added. After this time has passed, equal amounts of the corresponding fertilizer will be administered at the same time to flat B and C. The plants will be placed into larger containers in order to ensure there will be no constriction of growth. On this day the plants will be observed for the first time. The height (in inches), width (in inches), health, color, and bean count of each plant will be observed and recorded. The health will be rated on a scale from one to seven; seven being the healthiest, one the weakest. After this point the plants will be visited weekly and the previous observations will be recorded again. This process will continue until a conclusion has been reached and the experiment is complete. At the end of the experiment the pH level of the soil in each flat will be tested to determine the affect the fertilizers had on the soil. This experiment is statistically sound because enough specimens have been planted in order to achieve an accurate result. In addition, the use of control group will enable one to see if the fertilizer is truly having an affect. The class will be involved in the rating of the plants’ health as well as other observations. These observations can be objective and it is good to get various opinions. In addition the class will not be told which flat contains which fertilizer and therefor will be asked to speculate which flat is which forming a hypothesis of their own. As a result members of the class will hopefully be intrigued and want to view the beans’ progress to see if their assumptions were correct. This experiment provides a hands on method way to learn.