Soil vs. Hydroponics

Purpose

To determine whether a bean plant grows faster and taller using a traditional soil planting method or hydroponic method.


Additional information

You may need an adult’s help preparing the hydroponic set up for the bean plant.


Sponsored Links


Required materials

  • Bean plant seeds
  • Four inexpensive plastic pots
  • One bag of potting soil
  • Two to four gallons of distilled water
  • Two peat pellets
  • Two potting nets for hydroponic growing
  • Ruler
  • Journal or logbook

Estimated Experiment Time

Two or more weeks


Step-By-Step Procedure

  • 1. Prepare two soil pots with potting soil. Plant bean plant seeds about ¼ to ½ inch into the soil and cover loosely with a sprinkling of soil on the top.
  • 2. Prepare the hydroponic growing pots by placing the seeds in a peat pellet and saturating with water to cause them to “puff up.” Make sure the bean plant seeds are covered by a little bit of peat before “planting.”
  • 3. Fill the other two pots with distilled water. Place the hydroponic potting nets on top of the pots, making sure that the water touches the nets. Place the peat pellets with the seeds inside the nets.
  • 4. Water the soil plants every three days or when the soil feels dry to the touch. For the hydroponic pots, sprinkle a little water on the peat pellet to keep the pellet moist. As the roots grow, they will grow down into the pot of water. Remember to keep the pot full!

Note

Give the plants plenty of sun and keep them in the same climate. Any variables between the soil and hydroponic plants can affect the experiment, so try to keep variables nonexistent or at a low.


Observation

Measure the hydroponic bean plants and the soil plants every three days or so. Determine a good schedule in which to measure the plants. Record in millimeters how tall the plants are getting and how quickly they are growing. Compile a chart of the results.


Result

Which method of growing the bean plants worked the best? Which produced the fastest growth? Which produced the tallest growth? Overall, which do you think was the better medium – soil or water? You will want to answer all the questions related to the different types of growth to effectively determine whether plants grow taller and faster in soil or hydroponic conditions.


Sponsored Links


Take a moment to visit our table of Periodic Elements page where you can get an in-depth view of all the elements, complete with the industry first side-by-side element comparisons!


Your email:
Your name:
Recipient email:
Recipient name:
Message:
 

Print this page   Bookmark this page  

Hide/View all projects Hide all projects Hide/View all projects

All Projects List

  • Accelerate Rusting
  • Acids And Bases
  • Additive Colors
  • Ant Microphotography
  • Apple Mummy
  • Balloon Rocket Car
  • Barney Banana
  • Bending Water
  • Bernoulli’s Principle
  • Blind Spot in Vision
  • Boiling Point of Water
  • Build an Electromagnet
  • Build an Inclinometer
  • Caffeine And Typing
  • Candle Race
  • Candy Molecules
  • Capillarity of Soils
  • Carbon in the Atmosphere
  • Checking vs. Savings
  • Chemical Metamorphosis
  • Clean Cleaners
  • Cleaning Oil Spills
  • Climbing Colors
  • Cloud Cover
  • CO2 & Photosynthesis
  • Collecting DNA
  • Colorful Celery
  • Coloring Matter in Food
  • Colors And Temperature
  • Composition of a Shell
  • Computer Passwords
  • Construct a Lung Model
  • Corrosiveness of Soda
  • Create a Heat Detector
  • Create Lightening
  • Cultivate Slime Molds
  • Cup of Lava
  • Dehydrated Potato
  • Desalinate Sea Water
  • Detergents and Plants
  • Dissolving in Liquids
  • Dissolving Solutes
  • Distillation of Water
  • Double Color Flower
  • Egg in a Bottle
  • Enzyme Activity
  • Eroding Away
  • Erosion Simulator
  • Evaportating Liquids
  • Expanding Soap
  • Exploding Ziploc
  • Extracting Starch
  • Fans And Body Temp
  • Fertilizer & Plants
  • Filtration of Water
  • Floating Ball Experiment
  • Floating Balloon
  • Fog Formation
  • Font and Memory
  • Food and Academics
  • Friction And Vibration
  • Fruit Battery Power
  • Full and Low Fat Foods
  • Galileo's Experiment
  • Gas To Liquid
  • Grape Juice & Cleaners
  • Gravity and Plants
  • Green Slime
  • Growing a Crystal
  • Growing Bread Mold
  • Growing Population
  • Haemoglobin Binding
  • Hard vs. Soft Water
  • Homemade Floam
  • Home-made Geodes
  • Home-Made Glue #1
  • Homemade Snowflakes
  • Home-made Stethoscope
  • Homemade Volcano
  • Homemade Windmill
  • Human Battery Power
  • Inertia of an Egg
  • Information and CD’s
  • Invisible Ink
  • Isolation of Bread Mold
  • Isolation of DNA
  • Jar Compass
  • Lemon Floaties
  • Levers And Force
  • Lift an Ice Cube
  • Light Colors and Plants
  • Long Lasting Bubbles
  • Magic Balloons
  • Magnified Light
  • Make a Compost Pile
  • Make a Fuse Model
  • Make a Parallel Circuit
  • Make An Elevator
  • Make Electric Circuits
  • Make Limestone
  • Make Objects Float
  • Make Static Electricity
  • Make your own sundial
  • Matchbox Guitar
  • Math and Gender
  • Mean, Median and Range
  • Measuring Air Pollution
  • Mentos Soda Volcano
  • Microbial Contaminants
  • Milky Plastic
  • Mini Greenhouse
  • Missing Reflection
  • Mixing With Water
  • Molls Experiment
  • Music and Plants
  • Musical Bottles
  • Nocturnal Plants
  • Ocean Life & Oil Spills
  • Ocean Temperature
  • Optical Mice
  • Oral Bacteria
  • Orange Water Volume
  • Organic vs. Inorganic
  • Osmosis
  • Oven Baked Ice Cream
  • Oxygen & Photosynthesis
  • Paper Bridge
  • Paper Marbling
  • Pascal’s Law
  • Play-Doh and Volume
  • Preserve Spider Webs
  • Pressure Volcano
  • Pulse Rates
  • Pythagorean Tuning
  • Refraction in Water
  • Rollercoasters & Loops
  • Rubber Bones
  • Rubber Heat Reaction
  • Rubbery Egg
  • Rust and Moisture
  • Search Engines
  • Secondary Colors
  • Seed Germination
  • Seed Germination II
  • Separate Salt And Pepper
  • Snappy Sounds
  • Soil Erosion
  • Soil vs. Hydroponics
  • Sound Waves
  • Spectrum through Water
  • Speed of Decomposition
  • Speed of Dissolving
  • Spore Prints
  • Star Observer
  • Static Electricity
  • Statistics and M&M’s
  • Stem-less Flowers
  • Super Strength Egg
  • Sweet Erosion
  • Temperature and CPUs
  • Thirsty Rocks
  • Tornado Demonstration
  • Translucent Egg
  • Transpiration in Plants
  • Typing and Speed
  • Vibrating Coin
  • Volcanic Gas
  • Water and Living Things
  • Water Displacement
  • Water Evaporation
  • Water pH
  • Your Planetary Age