Fun with Phosphorus

Abstract The objective: My goal was to see if the amount of phosphorus in fertilizer affected plant growth. I was interested in this area because I love plants and gardening. I knew from the beginning that I would do something with plants and when my teacher suggested phosphorus I knew that that would be perfect. Methods/Materials To do this project take 20 red cups and put 1 cup of soil in each cup. Next put 3 radish seeds in each cup. Get 3 boxes of water soluble fertilizer. Each box should have a different amount of phosphorus. A low amount of phosphorus, a medium amount of phosphorus, and a high amount of phosphorus. Separate the 20 plants into 4 groups labled "Low","Medium","High", and "None".Water each plant everyday with tap water. Every 7 days water the plants with their water soluble fertilizer. Record observations everyday. Once each week measure the plants and record the growth of each plant.Repeat ths for 29 days. Results Resuls showed that the plants watered with a low amount of phosphorus grew more than any other plant group. The low group also bloomed quickest. The group that bloomed the 2nd most was the medium group. Then high, and last was the control group,or none. Conclusions/Discussion This project shows that plants watered with a low amount of phosphorus will grow more than plants watered with a medium or high amount of phosphorus. Also plants that had no added phosphorus grew the least so this shows that plants need added phosphorus for maximum growth. The science project tested if the amount of phosphorus in fertilizer affected plant growth.