Draft 3 The Effects of Rooting Mediums on Plant Growth

This topic submitted by Shane Gring, Eric Six ( gringsd@muohio.edu, sixke@muohio.ed ) on 10/21/05. [Section: McCollum]

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

The Effects of Rooting Medium on Plant Growth
Shane Gring and Eric Six

INTRODUCTION:

Prior to this class, our group had never heard of hydroponics and had no idea what the word meant. So when a classmate suggested the idea, we were intrigued and decided to further investigate. After reviewing some of the journal articles found on the King Library website, we determined that we wanted to test a variety of mediums to determine which is most effective for growth. We researched specialized hydroponics sites for the best mediums and found professionally produced products and decided to test their growth claims. We also wanted to choose a topic that was applicable to the real world and can be reproduced by just about anyone. We decided to test the growth of the plant because soil plays a large role in the size and health of a plant because of its important nutrients and since we are removing the soil and replacing it with a new medium, we were curious to see their effects. The things that we hope to accomplish from this experiment is that we want to show farmers alternate ways to grow to grow their crops because in many cases farmers experience trouble with the land where they farm their crops. Farmers experience a broad range of problems from flooding, drought, depleted soil and insects and hydroponics may be a solution for these types of issues. It also offers a solution from soil born diseases, weed growth, and as a result labor is greatly reduced. (John Vivian, P36) In addition, hobbyist growers can use our results to home grow their own vegetables and flowers. Our findings can help in selecting a rooting medium and can use our experiment designs and methods for their own use.

Using the concept of hydroponics, what rooting medium will produce the greatest plant growth? Hydroponics is a planting strategy that involves using rooting medium other than soil to grow plants. This method for planting is used in many areas where crop growth would other wise be unfavorable or unsuitable. The rooting mediums that will be tested for this experiment include Cocopeat, Rockwool, sawdust, sand, and gravel. The tulip was chosen for our experiment because it was highly recommended for indoor forcing and we needed a plant with a solitary stem and leaves so that we could easily measure. We also wanted to have a bulb plant so that we could easily keep track of it in the cups and maintain an equal water level.

We believe that the greatest plant growth will result on average from the plants grown in the Rockwool medium. Rockwool is made of igneous rock (lava) and is said to be one of the best growing mediums available for hydroponics.

We feel that the Cocopeat and Rockwool will produce the best growth because they are professionally produced mediums. The other mediums will be used to explore other more cost efficient planting options. These mediums should produce respectable growth, but we believe that they wonÕt compare to that of the Cocopeat and Rockwool.
The Cocopeat is made from the short fibers (2mm or less) and dust left over from the production of coconut husks as manufactured products, such as brushes and twine. This Òwaste productÓ was discovered to have superior structural stability, water absorption ability, and drain ability. (Coir Dust, A Viable Alternative to Peat Moss web site) As for the Rockwood, it is a medium made from basalt rock and chalk and is melted at 1600 C into lava. From there it is placed in a chamber, which turns it into a cotton candy style material. Rockwool is effective because it is has near-zero absorption capacity for water allowing the plant to receive the majority of the water. (Greentree Hydroponics website) As for the medium of sawdust, we feel that although it is an organic material, it will not be as successful as the other mediums because it will become water logged easily and will retain too much of the nutrient water. The medium of gravel has its pros and cons so we are not sure of its ultimate outcome. The gravel allows for the bulb to be exposed to the water at a constant rate, because the small rocks wont absorb the water, but the drawback it that the gravel does not allow for the small roots to take hold. As for the sand, we believe that it will be mildly successful because plants have the ability to grow in the desert and with the right nutrients the tulips should grow well.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Journal Articles:

1) Andersson, Bertil and Noren, Hanna, and Svensson, Per. ÒA convenient and versatile hydroponic cultivation system for Arabidopsis thaliana.Ó Physiologia Planetarium. Revised March 2004. P343-348.

This article contains information about a plant called Arabidopsis and how it was used in a hydroponics experiment using growth gel as a medium. It includes the methods used by these particular scientists, and results they found. Interestingly, the growth gel produced better results than the sterilized soil.

2) Vivian, John. ÒTotal-control, Indoor gardening with modern hydroponics.Ó Mother Earth News. Oct/Nov 1998. P36-46.

This article describes how to pick different mediums for a hydroponics experiment, and points out the best solutions. It also describes the materials and the best ways to use them through a series of pages. It also gives the dangers of not growing plants with hydroponics, such as bugs and other pests.

3) Kim, S. and Madrid, A. and Olofsdotter, M. and Park, S. and Yang, S. ÒEvaluation of rice allelopathy in hydroponics.Ó Weed Research. Feb 2005. P74-79.

This article is about

4) Qu, R.L, Li, D., Du, R., Qu, R. ÒLead Uptake by Roots of Four Turf grass Species in Hydroponic Cultures.Ó Hort Science Vol. 38 Issue 4(2003): P623-627.

This article discussed the ways in which turf grass absorbs lead through its roots in a controlled environment. These plants were grown by the use of hydroponics so we got ideas from their experiment on how we should set our lab up.

5) Padrick, Roy C. ÒA Different Approach.Ó American Vegetable Grower Vol. 52 Issue 8 (2004): P8-9.

This article gives an example of a hydroponics farm by a vegetable grower in Florida. It explains some of the difficulties with growing crops by way of hydroponics and some of the successes that the farm has experienced since switching to hydroponics.

6) Hunter, Jennifer. ÒGrowing High-Tech Tomatoes.Ó MacleanÕs Vol. 113 Issue 32 (2000): P28.

This article reports on a company called BC Hot House in Canada that uses hydroponics for growing tomatoes. This is an example of the practicality of hydroponics and how it is being used in a real world setting.

7) Martin, Monica del Pilar Uribe. ÒTime for Utopia.Ó New Internationalist Issue 357 (2003): P16.

This article explains the ideas of an activist who wants to develop alternative technology for the needs of communities in Colombia. He suggests the creation of a hydroponics greenhouse to feed the community members and that is where we found that hydroponics could work in a greenhouse rather that having to store them in our rooms.

8) Hydroponics: The revolution that wasnÕt.Ó Mother Earth News, Issue 166 (1998): P36-38.
This article identifies the locations where hydroponics is most widely used but it is also critical of hydroponics and identifies its weaknesses. The author argues that organic growing is more advantageous than hydroponics. We chose this article because we wanted to read about a different perspective on hydroponics.

9) Echikson, William, Dallas, Sandra. ÒInvasion of the Hydroponic Endive.Ó Business Week, Issue 3519 (1997): P26.

This article shows an example of a group of Belgian farmers who have turned the industry of endive by the use of Hydroponic farming. The medium that these farmers used was water. Hydroponics has cut costs and increased growth and has improved the farmerÕs products as a whole. They refer to it as Òculinary gold.Ó

10) ÒDirt free VegetablesÓ Popular Mechanics, Vol. 180 Issue 8 (2003): P16.

A British Columbia scientist has designed a new rooting medium that is a new way of looking at hydroponics. His design includes a network of interlocking plastic pins that provide an anchor for plants to put down roots.

11) Haggas, Carol. ÒHydroponics: Soil less Gardening Explained.Ó Booklist, Vol. 99, Issue 21 (2003), P1855.

This book and its reviews provided us with some of our most basic ideas and gave us our initial ideas about hydroponics.

12) Huttner, Diana, Bar-zvi, Dudy. ÒAn Improved, Simple, Hydroponic Method for Growing Arabidopsis thaliana.Ó Plant Molecular Biology Reporter, Vol. 21 Issue 1 (2003): P59

This article reports on information found on improved and simplified Rockwool hydroponics systems. This article inspired us to use the medium of Rockwool for our lab project.

Web Research:

1) ÒRockwool.Ó Greentree Hydroponics. October 1, 2005. This article further explained the manufacturing of the growing medium, Rockwool. It explained RockwoolÕs history and its advantages and benefits.

2) Meerow, Alan W. ÒCoir Dust, A Viable Alternative to Peat Moss.Ó October 1, 2005
< http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/Environmental/Media_Nutrition/COIR%20potential.htm>

This article introduced us to the rooting medium of Cocopeat. We learned of its history and how it is such a good hydroponics medium.

3) ÒHydroponics is NOT new.Ó Growco Indoor Garden Supply. October 1, 2005
< http://www.4hydroponics.com/hydroponics/hydro_lesson.htm>

This site explained the history of hydroponics and gave examples of how to set up a hydroponics system.

4) ÒEcoenterprises.Ó Ecogrow. October 1, 2005 < http://www.ecogrow.com/>

This is the site where we will be buying our supplies: Cocopeat, Rockwool, and nutrients. This site also offers suggestions and tips to growing your plants.

5) Schidt, James C., Gerber, John M., ÒGrowing Plants Without Soil.Ó Hydroponics as a Hobby.Ó October 1, 2005 http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~vista/html_pubs/hydro/hydrotoc.html

This site offers many tips about watering and offers advice about mediums and nutrient solutions.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Research Design:
Our experiment will consist of the analysis of 5 different rooting mediums and their effect on plant growth. Each rooting medium will have 5 different testing cups, for a total of 25 testing cups. Each will contain the rooting medium and one seed. We will water each of the plants with a mixture of water and a special nutrient solution that will supply the plant with the vitamins and minerals that are normally found in soil. Our lab will take place in the greenhouse of Boyd Hall and will be exposed to the sunlight during daylight hours. The plants will be watered twice a day because the plants need to be in a moist environment in order to promote growth. We will water the plants during the mid morning hours (10-12 am) and at mid afternoon (4-6 pm). We will add just enough water to the bottom of each cup so that it reaches the bottom of the bulb, the level of the water of the cup will be at 2 inches. We have to be very careful with our watering methods so that the bulb is not submerged in the water and begins to rot so we will empty the water from the cups before every new watering cycle. This lab will last for a total of 28 days and we will record the height of the plant every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so that we have 9 measurements for each plant. We will keep a weekly tab on the height of the plants as well as the length of the leaves and record them in our data table. We are also taking note of the initial weight of the bulb and once the project is finished, the dried weight of the plant. We will compare the differences in the weights and decide if this factor had any affect on the results.

Materials:
25 tulip bulbs
Greenhouse
25 cups
Cocopeat
Rockwool
Sawdust
Sand
Gravel
Ecogrow Standard Powered Nutrient
Water
Measuring Cups

Method:
1) Buy tulip bulbs, cups, rooting mediums, and Ecogrow nutrient
2) Measure weight of each bulb and record.
3) Number cups with type of medium and corresponding number.
4) Plant one bulb in each cup with 5 bulbs per rooting medium. Adding 2 inches of medium first, then the bulb with its tip up, and finally add medium to black line in cup.
5) Organize in greenhouse by medium
6) Water plant with nutrients twice a day
7) Continue for 28 days, measuring height on stem and length of leaves every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
8) Record results
9) Conclude results, refute or support hypothesis, and finish report

Research Timeline:
¥ Week of October 17: Order nutrients, Rockwool, and Cocopeat online, purchase remainder of supplies at Home Depot
¥ Week of October 24: Plant seeds in pots with medium, organize and water
¥ Week of October 31: Observe and record results
¥ Week of November 7: Observe and record results
¥ Week of November 14: Observe and record results
¥ Week of November 21: Analyze and interpret results
¥ Week of November 28: Create charts and compose first draft of final report
¥ Week of December 5: Finalize report

Data Table:
Numbered Plants Height Measurements of Tulips
Day 1 Ð Oct 24 Day 2 Ð Oct 26 Day 3 Ð Oct 28 Day 4 Ð Oct 31 Day 5 Ð Nov 2 Day 6 Ð Nov 4 Day 7 Ð Nov 7 Day 8 Ð Nov 9 Day 9 Ð Nov 11
Cocopeat - 1
2
3
4
5
Rock Wool - 6
7
8
9
10
Saw Dust - 11
12
13
14
15
Sand - 16
17
18
19
20
Gravel - 21
22
23
24
25

Numbered Plants Average Length of Plant Leaves
Day 1 Ð Oct 24 Day 2 Ð Oct 26 Day 3 Ð Oct 28 Day 4 Ð Oct 31 Day 5 Ð Nov 2 Day 6 Ð Nov 4 Day 7 Ð Nov 7 Day 8 Ð Nov 9 Day 9 Ð Nov 11
Cocopeat Ð 1
2
3
4
5
Rockwool Ð 6
7
8
9
10
Sawdust Ð 11
12
13
14
15
Sand Ð 16
17
18
19
20
Gravel Ð 21
22
23
24
25

Numbered Plants Initial Bulb Weight Final Plant Weight (Dried)
October 20 November 15
Cocopeat Ð 1
2
3
4
5
Rockwool Ð 6
7
8
9
10
Sawdust Ð 11
12
13
14
15
Sand Ð 16
17
18
19
20
Gravel Ð 21
22
23
24
25