I need help to select and research an idea of ​​my science project

[SciB]

Hey Daniel,

Yeah that's a good plan to work with soil fungi instead of chemical fertilizers--its Nature's way!

I'm a really visual person--photographer, like to draw, etc--and I wish you would get hold of a decent microscope, at least 400x and binocular if you can get it. Soil fungi are everywhere and 80-90% of plants have them around or in their roots. Try to get the fine feeder roots because I think that's where the fungi hang out. You should google this procedure or go to youtube and try to get some instructions about how to see the mycorrhizae on plant roots.

Once you get some roots with fungi in them, you can try staining them with certain dyes that show up the fungal hyphae where they enter the root cells. This makes for great, colorful photos, and you can use your phone camera to take pix through the eyepiece of the microscope--you don't need a fancy camera.

Do you live somewhere with a warm climate? The temperature here in Maine is 31 now (10 pm) and gardening outside is done for this year. As long as you are far enough south to avoid a frost you should be able to do some fungal field work and get some samples to work with. Trees do have fungal symbionts but I think they might be a little tricky to locate because they live on the tiny feeder roots--not the big, fat roots.

Good luck with this project. Make it work!

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

Hi sybee!

Well, where I currently live there's usually a temperature of 29ºC.
I can collect samples of my grandmother's crops.

By the way, I think that the experimentation will be done like this:
- I'll take many seeds of beans,then I'll plant them in pairs to see how the mycorrhiza affects the soil and nearby crops. I'll classify each one according to the type of fungi that I've introduced in it and I'll take pictures every week as you said. I will also have two seeds with chemical fertilizer to compare.
What worries me is that none of the symbionts "marry" the guest
I will ask for a borrowed microscope from the school
Also:(Should I send you the pictures that I'll take?)

See you!

[SciB]

Oh, I was forgetting that you lived in one of the warmer spots on the planet--so no problem with old man winter there!

Granny's Garden! What a perfect spot for a project. Whenever you need help, you have an expert right there.

Your question of whether the fungi will decide to be friendly with the plants is the key to your success and I still think you should call the company and try to talk to tech support. They can give you the best info and probably tell you things about the fungi that would be very helpful. Most company people are willing to talk to students because they have young kids themselves and want to see you succeed in making a good science project.

I can help you with doing the staining for the mycorrhizae in the plant roots and taking pix w your phone. It is really neat to see the tiny fungal hyphae inside the plant cells and to think about all this chemistry and biology going on outside in the garden without being visible except through a microscope. I've always thought that the mushroom part of the fungus--the part that sticks up with the cap and makes the spores--was the coolest thing ever and I have a zillion photos of them. Then I learned about the part you don't see! The fungal mycelium can be huge!! Acres and acres and a thousand years old [google it!]. Some biologists call it the largest living organism in the world.

That's a little off-topic, but I can't help going on about fungi cuz they are so great!

You don't have to send me every pic, just upload some so I can see what the plants look like from time to time, and especially when you get some photos thru the scope.

Check in again soon

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

Heya!
I tried to call some companies, but they never took my call. The companies that I call are some of the Spanish-speaking that I found. I'm not sure about calling any English-speaking company because when I try to speak in this language I'm paralyzed.

I was always attracted to zoology, due to the hours I spent watching pet programs as a child, but since I started researching when I opened this thread, thanks to you I've researched a lot about cell biology and I'm starting to really like this branch! This is also a bit offtopic but anyway

I've seen that there are videos about making homemade inoculants when I was looking for what you told me, is it worth trying that?

See you!

[SciB]

OK--so what's Plan B? There's always gotta be a plan B--maybe also C and D

Hey, I'm glad you are getting interested in biology. The more you find out about it the more you are gonna see how way cool it is to learn about living things. Someday soon we [maybe Elon Musk] are gonna find some space life on Mars or maybe the moons of Saturn and astrobiology is going to become a reality.

I don't expect this extra-Earthian life is gonna have legs and antennas and carry phasers, at least I hope not, but it will be totally new and totally fascinating, and you might be one of the Martian colonists who finds it.

Oops! off-topic again, darn

So, you can go ahead and use the fungal inoculants that you can buy commercially and maybe you can dig up some mycelia out in the woods to use for comparison. Do some more reading online about the use of inoculants. I'm sure there's lots of info, but some of it could be pretty technical, so ask away when you need help. I don't know everything, but i am working on it.

Enjoy!

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

Regards!
At the moment I don't have anything new, just so you don't think I gave up hahaha .
I've been reading about inoculants, and the terms that I haven't understood I investigated them.
I couldn't get the microscope as you suggested, I don't know if that'll affect the plan.
I've noticed that on Youtube there are many videos about agriculture, that speak about the michorriza, fungi etc ... I'm investigating there now.

See you later!

[SciB]

Hi Dan. I was wondering what you were up to--living in dirt with fungus. It really is a crazy interesting subject the more you learn about it. Just to think all this is going on under our feet all the time and we didn't know it.

You NEED that microscope. Maybe you could do a Kickstarter video and get people to buy one for your school. There are some really nice used ones that are certified to work and decent new ones can be had for $500. Your school has to have microscopes!

There's always plan B--turn your smartphone into a microscope. Yes, you can do that. There are several ways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqQI_3vCl7U

and if you don't feel like making it yourself, there's one available from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Nurugo-Micro-Mag ... B01K07NJUK

You need to be able to get up close and personal with your fungus, so try this and let me know how you make out.

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

In fact, learning about this has aroused my curiosity about fungi, I like the images of how they look under the microscope.

On the other hand, obtaining the microscope has been complicated. I tried to borrow one from the lab and they didn't give it to me :T (I can take the samples where I have fungi, but accessing the lab is complicated and would take a long time).
I tried to put together a microscope on my own, but It didn't even reach the magnification x100 ;_;
Due to the currency difference between Dollar and the currency of my country, that microscope from amazon is at a considerable price.
But it's not time to give up now, I'll see if any of the biology teachers have a microscope that can lend me.

See you!

[SciB]

Good work, Daniel!
You are persistent and can think of ways around a problem. Keep looking and keep talking to people.
A 100X scope can be usable provided the camera has good resolution--at least 12 MP. If you have a good, sharp image you can always enlarge it.

Let me know if you have tech questions.

You can always start some fungus now and photograph it later. I don't know how much you can see with a hand lens or with the phone camera close-up lens, but at least you could be getting some information about the soil fungi. And of course--keep doing the reading, watch youtube videos and record everything in an e-notebook--with illustrations. The more you can do now, the less you have to do later.

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

Hey!

I was wondering, is a good idea try that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4crxK1oPYTA

How old does have to be my "Michorrizae builder?

[SciB]

Hey Dan--you're still on track. That video looks like a good way to get the fungus to the roots quickly. If you can buy a bunch of plants already potted up and grown that would save time. I don't know how long it takes the fungus to colonize the roots, but if you keep the soil temperature at least 24C (75F) it should attach pretty quickly and start feeding the plant.

Starting the plants yourself would be better because then you can choose the exact type of soil. Commercial soil sometimes has added fertilizer which could hide the effect of the fungus.

Nothing is simple in science--but that's part of what makes it fun. You have to take time to think out all the angles and possibilities. For example, you want to see the effect of one fungus on one plant so you have to make sure this is what you have in your experiment. When you buy the mycorrhizal product make sure it tells you exactly what it contains, otherwise call the company and tell them you are doing a science project and need to know everything that's in their product.

Keep me posted on what you are doing so I can make suggestions if necessary. I'm curious about what is going to happen and I want you to succeed in making a winning project so keep me posted, ok.

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

Hey!
By the way, it turns out that the first part of the contest that only consists in sending a summary of the project is the one that is in camaino. To present the project I have until the end of April.

The truth is I'm stuck in this, what I want to do is plant different types of plants, two of each type, one with fertilizer and one without fertilizer.

I could not get a probiotic, so maybe I will usea compost :I

[SciB]

Daniel--you need fungi! Compost is old stuff. The mycorrhizae is the future, along with plant gene engineering. So, stick with your original plan. We can make it work.

You have more time now so maybe you could isolate some soil fungus yourself. Do you live in an area where there are woods and fields? Weeds have fungi, trees have fungi, shrubs have fungi. You just need to get some and test it. Get as powerful a hand lens as you can, like 10X or 20X, or get a close-up lens for your phone camera. You need to be able to see the mycorrhizae associated with plant roots.

I would just go out into a field, dig up a plant carefully so as not to disturb the roots, bring it back to the lab (your kitchen or whatever) and then examine the roots to see if there's anything that looks like it could be fungal hyphae around them. You won't know until you try. Maybe you will get lucky and find a plant that has a big healthy fungal symbiote. Just keep digging and looking.

Let me know what you find.

You could also try and get a commercial fungal product by calling the company and asking them for a sample for your science project. There are some kind people who will help a student, because they remember how it was when they were in your place.

Good luck!

Sybee

[Daniel3012]

Greetings!

Okay, now that I sent a message to several companies about the samples of inoculants, I got a magnifying glass x10 and I'm trying to get a webcam, which, I saw, you can make a pretty good microscope with that.

What exactly is the process to "extract" the fungi?

[Daniel3012]

By the way, I have never done any online purchase before, so I don't if this is a trap https://www.ebay.com/itm/3E1B-Microscop ... SwDAdb48Hj what do you think?