Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi experts,

I have a question. My topic is on phytoremediation of pesticides using alfalfa seeds and cabbage seeds. I am trying to determine which plant better pytoremediates pesticides. They are grown hydrophonically in distilled water and rooted in cotton balls. How do you determine the degration of pesticides? I am using pH paper but I'm not sure if it will work. If using pH paper doesn't work then what should I use to test the degration? And how will I go about doing that? I'm confused. I checked online and it's really hard to find how you do this and wondering if anyone can help me.

Thank you very much,
- Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Hi experts,

I have a question. My topic is on phytoremediation of pesticides using alfalfa seeds and cabbage seeds. I am trying to determine which plant better pytoremediates pesticides. They are grown hydrophonically in distilled water and rooted in cotton balls. How do you determine the degration of pesticides? I am using pH paper but I'm not sure if it will work. If using pH paper doesn't work then what should I use to test the degration? And how will I go about doing that? I'm confused. I checked online and it's really hard to find how you do this and wondering if anyone can help me.

Thank you very much,
- Joanne

This depends very much on the type of pesticide. You should look for information about how the specific chemical in the pesticide you are using degrades.

Louise

Hi Joanne,

Did you have a reliable source that suggested using pH? I've never heard of that being done, and my expectation is that it will not work. If you see a change in pH, it could be a reaction related to pesticide degradation, or it could be a reaction that has nothing to do with pesticide degradation.

For most pesticides, I don't know of any cheap, simple analysis methods. Would it be possible for you to collaborate with a researcher at a local university?

Hello Experts,

Thank you so much for your advice and reply.
I actually don't have a reliable source and I just thought that it might work. It was actually my own idea . I don't think my science teacher knew either if it will work because I told her about my topic and thought it was fine. I don't think I can collaborate with a researcher at a local university because this is just for my middle school science fair
(grade 8 ). Also, I chose this topics because I thought that it interesting and fascinating and didn't think it would be this difficult.

My science teacher said that like only things like hydrogen atoms or something like that change the pH and that's it.

I guess I could look up at how the specific chemical in the pesticide degrades but it would kind of be hard for me to find that information.

thanks for helping me ,
- Joanne

Hi Joanne,
Your science teacher is right about the hydrogen ions. pH is really just a measurement of the concentration of hydrogen ions. You were on the right track thinking about measuring pH - many reactions do cause a change in pH. Unfortunately, most natural waters have so many different solutes (dissolved chemicals) that a change in pH alone will not help to determine exactly which solutes are reacting.

Because you are interested in pH, you could also explore the issue of plants' interactions with acid mine drainage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_mine_ ... d_wetlands
I expect this would be a more fruitful topic for you to explore given your resources.

Hi Chris,

Thank you thank you thankyou!
umm..well I actually already chose this project and doing the experiment and I think it is too late to choose another one. Maybe I can adapt it bye just changing the question? Mine is: which plant is better at phytoremediatiing pesticides; alfalfa or Cabbage? I used distilled water so will that be ok? because it has 0 minerals and things. It says on the bottle: OZONATED DISTILLED SPRING WATER.

I looked into the website about Acid mine drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD), you gave me and it is very interesting. You mean instead of pesticides I could reduce the acidity of these places like construction sites that are heavily polluted? I don't really get it but you mean like go to these places and collect samples?

I'm not sure if I have enough time to do that because this sci fair project is due early April.But that is such a COOL thing. I wish I discovered it earlier. I just LOVE science. It's my favourite subject.

- Joanne

Joanne,
You're welcome.
I wasn't trying to say that you should make any large change to your project. With a very small change in your procedure, you could adapt your project to study, for example, the ability of your plants to withstand acidic conditions (which would mimic the effects of acid mine drainage), or the ability of plants to raise the pH and to 'remediate' acidity. The only additional material you would need is some acid (such as dilute HCl) which would be added to the solution around the plant roots. Your procedure would be more or less the same, and I think you would have a better chance of getting an answer to your scientific question. Of course, it's your project and it's your decision to make.

I understand what you are saying about using distilled water, but even distilled water will have dissolved CO2 from the atmosphere, which reacts to form bicarbonate and affects the pH. Once you add fertilizer and put the water in contact with plant roots, your water will contain many different organic and inorganic molecules. The challenges I see are that (1) Phytoremediation of the pesticides might not cause noticeable changes in pH. Pesticides are designed to degrade in agricultural soils where large pH changes are not desirable. (2) If pH changes are measurable, without direct evidence that the pesticide is degrading (such as measurements of increasing concentrations of degradation products) it could be difficult to convince people that the pH changes result from phytoremediation as opposed to some other reaction in the presence of, or involving, the pesticide. Still, I appreciate your creativity in dreaming up this project, and bigger risks do sometimes involve bigger rewards. So, again, I'll be happy to continue to help regardless of how you proceed.

I'm glad you enjoyed the info about acid mine drainage.

Thank you Chris,

I like the idea about the hydrochloric acid thing but wouldn't it be kinda simmilar to what almost everyone in my whole school did last year with 'acid rain'? They tested how acid rain effects plants. I'm not sure if the HCI might kill it or not.

They are proven phytoremediators but not specifically for pesticides. They either phytoremediate some types of metals like lead. I thought that if they can tolerate the levels of lead, then they should tolerate the levels of pesticdes. I don't know about HCI.
Then my question will then be: Which plant better phytoremediates Hydrocloric acid. I still think it sounds good. Well the problem is where would I get HCI? I live in toronto and i'm not sure where I would be able to get them. I'll go ask my science teacher tommorow if she has any. Maybe she has some. Isn't HCI toxic? So would I have to wear gloves or something for it? I checked it up on Wikipedia and says it is Highly corrosive.

I hope I do a good job even though I only have one month left. I am keeping a log and starting on my brocheur.Everyone in our school has to do one- Mandatory. I won the science fair award last year in my school and I hope to win this year. Though last year I did an easier one : On soil erosion and how plants reduce soil erosion.

Thanks again,
- Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Thank you Chris,

I like the idea about the hydrochloric acid thing but wouldn't it be kinda simmilar to what almost everyone in my whole school did last year with 'acid rain'? They tested how acid rain effects plants. I'm not sure if the HCI might kill it or not.

They are proven phytoremediators but not specifically for pesticides. They either phytoremediate some types of metals like lead. I thought that if they can tolerate the levels of lead, then they should tolerate the levels of pesticdes. I don't know about HCI.
Then my question will then be: Which plant better phytoremediates Hydrocloric acid. I still think it sounds good. Well the problem is where would I get HCI? I live in toronto and i'm not sure where I would be able to get them. I'll go ask my science teacher tommorow if she has any. Maybe she has some. Isn't HCI toxic? So would I have to wear gloves or something for it? I checked it up on Wikipedia and says it is Highly corrosive.

I hope I do a good job even though I only have one month left. I am keeping a log and starting on my brocheur.Everyone in our school has to do one- Mandatory. I won the science fair award last year in my school and I hope to win this year. Though last year I did an easier one : On soil erosion and how plants reduce soil erosion.

Thanks again,
- Joanne

You will probably have to get HCl from your science teacher. Acid can be dangerous, depending on the concentration. You should wear gloves and goggles. If you can get acid, post back here and I will explain the safety requirements in detail.

Toxic and corrosive are not the same things. HCl isn't toxic- you have it in your stomach! Corrosive means it will eat holes in things/ dissolve things (including you at certain concentrations!)

What pH or acid concentration are the mines at?


Louise

Joanne, I did not realize that your school had done acid rain experiments last year. That is something to consider. If you want to pursue the acid mine drainage topic, it might be worth using a "simulated acid mine drainage" as opposed to a generic acid like HCl. This would make your experiment a bit more realistic and would distinguish it from the previous projects on acid rain.

If you run a web search for "simulated acid mine drainage" "simulated mine drainage" or "artificial acid mine drainage" you will find some info. Most mixtures contain iron and sulfate. For example, you could use a mixture of dilute sulfuric acid and ferrous sulfate. More complicated recipes are also used. I suggest asking your science teacher for advice about how to proceed, because I expect he/she will know more about what is available to you and what is realistic for your experiment.

Here is some additional info that might be interesting to you:
"Acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the most severe
environmental problems facing the mining industry today.
In Canada, for example, many of the waterways around
mining sites are contaminated, often from mines that have
been closed for decades. Two provinces with the most
extensive metal mining base, Ontario and Quebec, have
over 2000 abandoned mine sites, and many of them do or
will generate an acid drainage"
From: Weixing Wang, Zhenghe Xu, and J. Finch, 1996. Fundamental Study of an Ambient Temperature Ferrite Process in the Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage. Environmental Science and Technology, Vol 30, Issue 8, pp 2604 - 2608.

ChrisG wrote:Joanne, I did not realize that your school had done acid rain experiments last year. That is something to consider. If you want to pursue the acid mine drainage topic, it might be worth using a "simulated acid mine drainage" as opposed to a generic acid like HCl. This would make your experiment a bit more realistic and would distinguish it from the previous projects on acid rain.

If you run a web search for "simulated acid mine drainage" "simulated mine drainage" or "artificial acid mine drainage" you will find some info. Most mixtures contain iron and sulfate. For example, you could use a mixture of dilute sulfuric acid and ferrous sulfate. More complicated recipes are also used. I suggest asking your science teacher for advice about how to proceed, because I expect he/she will know more about what is available to you and what is realistic for your experiment.

Here is some additional info that might be interesting to you:
"Acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the most severe
environmental problems facing the mining industry today.
In Canada, for example, many of the waterways around
mining sites are contaminated, often from mines that have
been closed for decades. Two provinces with the most
extensive metal mining base, Ontario and Quebec, have
over 2000 abandoned mine sites, and many of them do or
will generate an acid drainage"
From: Weixing Wang, Zhenghe Xu, and J. Finch, 1996. Fundamental Study of an Ambient Temperature Ferrite Process in the Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage. Environmental Science and Technology, Vol 30, Issue 8, pp 2604 - 2608.

I think this mixture idea is very good, and perhaps more likely to work too (since many plants remediate metals). I don't think the previous acid rain study is a deal breaker, you just need to be careful to explain how your project was different.

What were the results of the acid rain study and what was tested? This might provide you with some hints about how well your project will work.

Some plants actually like acid soil- I found a list at:
http://www.plantideas.com/alpine/alpinlist.html

I don't know how avaible these are, but it might be worth seeing if you could find one of them. Wintergreen might be commonly availible, but it might be expensive to purchase multiple plants. It is more like a bush than a plant. Still, since it loves acidic soil, it might be a winner in remediation of acid waste. Many orchids are on the list. They are probable very expensive to buy, so you probably want to avoid them.

Louise

Hi,
I think the pH of acid mines depend on the concentration and what it is made up of. There is like a variety.Like it can be pH of 3 or lower.

Here are some website I found that were kinda confusing:
http://www.epa.gov/aml/tech/biotreat.pdf
http://www.chemcollective.org/AMD/
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/availa ... ed/etd.pdf
This is what it said for the 3rd one ^:

Simulated Acid Mine Drainage
For purposes of this study, typical AMD was defined as having the composition
shown in Table 2.1 which is based on the results of a USEPA survey of acid-producing
coal mine waters (USEPA, 1976). Where appropriate, total iron concentration was varied
from 1 mM to 10 mM (56 to 558 mg L-1).
Constituent Molarity mg L-1
Iron (ferrous) 0.010 558
Aluminum 0.002 54
Calcium 0.002 80
Magnesium 0.001 24
Sodium 0.0075 175
Potassium 0.0005 20
Ammonium (as N) 0.0005 7
Sulfate 0.025 2400
Phosphate (as P) 0.0005 16
Table 2.1. Simulated AMD (after adjustment to pH 2.3 with H2SO4).

That is really complicated and also, I don't think I need that much.
You were right Chris, that there was alot of sulfuric acid and other mixtures and then it gets complicated. I think I'll stick to your mixture. It seems easier. But if you think about it, hydrochloric acid thing is still ok. Last year, they just wanted to see if a plant died because of acid rain.

What happened last year was that people just basically had two groups:One control with no acid and one with acid. It was obvious that the group with the acid would die. They didn't use any special plants -just like bean plants or something.

What's sad is that even if I had enough time to change my plants, I couldn't because most of my local flower shops have none of those plants. They are available in the summer though. That's why winter is a bad time to grow plants.

I read on the website that some plants do like acidic soil and you are right. But I guess I have to stick to my alfalfa and cabbage plants even thought they are looking slow to grow. The good side is that the alfalfa plants are starting to grow more leaves. Bu the bad news is that the cabbage isn't as hardy, a tiny bit yellow or black in the edges.

I was supposed to buy fertiliser, but I really didn't have time . I am going to get the tommorow for sure. [/url] What's worse is that I forgot to talk to my science teacher today...because I was talking to my art/math teacher about hydrogenated fat and forgot.

I am still working on my brocheur. I think it will be interesting to intergrade the acid mine drainage with phytoremediation. It will be really interesting because- as the article you posted- said that there are alot of acid mine drainage in Ontario. This is getting cooler the more I think about. I'm doing research triplefold like crazy.

- Thanks so much
Joanne

Hi,

Ok. I got the fertiliser yesterday and the clerk recommended this fertiliser called plant-gro. It is an aquatic plant fertiliser but it would still work. The dilution for this is 5mL for 37.8 L so I decided to put 0.05mL for 378 mL because I don't really need that much water; only 60 mL of water for each watering. I did a bit more research and I found out that my plants were partially waterlogged, so I washed some tiny pebbles and lined that on the bottom of the cup. So that the excess water will leak onto that and I also put a straw in the cup for oxygen for the roots. I then covered the bottom of the cup with alumium foil to protect the roots from light.
Does this sound ok?

Thanks so much
- Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Hi,

Ok. I got the fertiliser yesterday and the clerk recommended this fertiliser called plant-gro. It is an aquatic plant fertiliser but it would still work. The dilution for this is 5mL for 37.8 L so I decided to put 0.05mL for 378 mL because I don't really need that much water; only 60 mL of water for each watering. I did a bit more research and I found out that my plants were partially waterlogged, so I washed some tiny pebbles and lined that on the bottom of the cup. So that the excess water will leak onto that and I also put a straw in the cup for oxygen for the roots. I then covered the bottom of the cup with alumium foil to protect the roots from light.
Does this sound ok?

Thanks so much
- Joanne

I think this sounds good. Hopefully this will make the cabbage healthier.

Do you have time to grow radish plant? I found that they liked acidic soil. Cabbages like basic soil, so I am afraid they will die! The alfalfa likes neutral soil, so it might also have problems.

Here is another website that looked very good. It is from nasa.
http://soil.gsfc.nasa.gov/soil_pH/plant_pH.htm

It may be that if you fertilize the plants, they will survive better in the acid mixture, since it says "If the soil solution is too acidic plants cannot utilize N, P, K and other nutrients they need." So maybe if you are giving them extra nuitrients from the fertilizer, they will grow okay in acid.

Louise

Hi Louise,

Thanks again!
This all makes sense now because the alfalfa plants are growing very healthily and then cabbage plants- not so good. They have become wilted and break as soon as I touch it. They also look mushy. So I think I will grow radish seeds because they grow much faster. But radish seeds aren't known to phytoremediate. Actually---you know what, they do!
I just looked at a few websites and it says they phytoremediate metals like copper sulfate.

Well it is possible I can sprout and grow radish seeds. They are known to grow really fast. Then I better run to the store now. The problem is that is may not be a controlled experiment because then the radish seeds will be smaller than the alfalfa when I put the acid.

please reply fast,

- Joanne

Thanks for the link. I checked the pH of the fertiliser and is was 5. I

Starfruit wrote:Hi Louise,

Thanks again!
This all makes sense now because the alfalfa plants are growing very healthily and then cabbage plants- not so good. They have become wilted and break as soon as I touch it. They also look mushy. So I think I will grow radish seeds because they grow much faster. But radish seeds aren't known to phytoremediate. Actually---you know what, they do!
I just looked at a few websites and it says they phytoremediate metals like copper sulfate.

Well it is possible I can sprout and grow radish seeds. They are known to grow really fast. Then I better run to the store now. The problem is that is may not be a controlled experiment because then the radish seeds will be smaller than the alfalfa when I put the acid.

please reply fast,

- Joanne

Thanks for the link. I checked the pH of the fertiliser and is was 5. I

I think it is okay. Since they grow faster... just note this in your experiment. Time from planting seeds is a controlled variable, but I am not sure how important it is. If a plant takes 30 days to mature, and another type takes 65, is it a fair comparision if they are tested at 30 days, since one is mature, and the other not?

If you are looking at mine waste you have two problems-
1) remediate the metals (like iron)
2) remediate the acid

Since many plants that remediate metal may not survive acid, this becomes a very complicated problem- this is why I think it is important to have some acid- happy plants!

Louise

Good news,

Today I asked my science teacher about changing to radish and she said it's ok. Radish seeds grow fast, so it should be ok. She agreed with me that cabbage plants aren't that great because they require certain temperature and also they are hard to grow and are slow. So I'm going to get the radish seeds and germinate them today.

The bad news is that she (my science teacher) does not have hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid. That's because she doesn't have the facilities and can't keep that acid anywhere even if she can order it. Also, I'm not working on this project at school, but in my home. So do you have any suggestions for other alternatives that aren't that strong. It doesn't need to be simulated, maybe just a bit on the safer side but still suitable.

If a plant takes 30 days to mature, and another type takes 65, is it a fair comparision if they are tested at 30 days, since one is mature, and the other not?

If you are looking at mine waste you have two problems-
1) remediate the metals (like iron)
2) remediate the acid

Since many plants that remediate metal may not survive acid, this becomes a very complicated problem- this is why I think it is important to have some acid- happy plants!

Louise

It's true that the days to mature may be different but then I'll just compare it to its own group, not to other plants. The differences between the plants - what the pH was in the beginning and then at the invtervals. But where would my controlled part be? In the beginning I thought of just having a cup with cotton balls and fertiliser for the cotrol but then it now seems unnecessary.

I think remediate the acid is easier. So I will do that. Because I don't have the facilities to measure the metals. I don't want to make this project too complicated.

Thank you so much,
- Joanne

Well, easy to obtain acids are vinegar (5% acetic acid) which has a pH of about 2.8, or lemon juice which has a pH of 2.4. Not as acidic as sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, but still quite acidic.

Starfruit wrote:Good news,

Today I asked my science teacher about changing to radish and she said it's ok. Radish seeds grow fast, so it should be ok. She agreed with me that cabbage plants aren't that great because they require certain temperature and also they are hard to grow and are slow. So I'm going to get the radish seeds and germinate them today.

The bad news is that she (my science teacher) does not have hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid. That's because she doesn't have the facilities and can't keep that acid anywhere even if she can order it. Also, I'm not working on this project at school, but in my home. So do you have any suggestions for other alternatives that aren't that strong. It doesn't need to be simulated, maybe just a bit on the safer side but still suitable.

If a plant takes 30 days to mature, and another type takes 65, is it a fair comparision if they are tested at 30 days, since one is mature, and the other not?

If you are looking at mine waste you have two problems-
1) remediate the metals (like iron)
2) remediate the acid

Since many plants that remediate metal may not survive acid, this becomes a very complicated problem- this is why I think it is important to have some acid- happy plants!

Louise

It's true that the days to mature may be different but then I'll just compare it to its own group, not to other plants. The differences between the plants - what the pH was in the beginning and then at the invtervals. But where would my controlled part be? In the beginning I thought of just having a cup with cotton balls and fertiliser for the cotrol but then it now seems unnecessary.

I think remediate the acid is easier. So I will do that. Because I don't have the facilities to measure the metals. I don't want to make this project too complicated.

Thank you so much,
- Joanne

I think control plants with just water and fertilizer are fine. You can also comment on the appearance of the plant. Say, the radish plants with just water grow 5 inches over the course of the experiment, but the radish plants with acid only grow 2 inches and leaves fall off then that is an important observation in addition to the pH change.

Louise

I agree with the suggestions from Louise and zzzdoc.
When you start treating the plants, you might want to first apply a very dilute solution with near-neutral pH, and then, in subsequent applications, use less dilute (more acidic) applications. It would be a shame if all your plants died after the first application.

Thank you so much for your help everyone!

I read this yesterday and then I germinated the radish seeds. In consultation with my science teacher, I decided to use the lemon juice because it is more acidic. Also, I'm going to remove the cotton balls and the gravel and just dangle the plants from the top with a cardboard.

I have problems attaching the image that I created so that you can see it. Do you know how to? it says Img on top^ but then how do I do the html code thing?

The problem is that I can't just start with lower concentrations and then put higher concentrations because then it wouldn't be consistent. I have to see the change in pH because of phytoremediation. Maybe I could water different concentrations everyday and they when I have a quite high concentration, then I can just stop there and then leave it like that. What that what you meant ChrisG?

Oh yeah I decided to split the plants into 6 groups of 4. Three groups for control, three for experimental. Same for the Alfalfa. Because I realized that the radish will be fully grown in three weeks

Do you think all this sounds ok?

Thanks in advance,

- Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Thank you so much for your help everyone!
[snip]
The problem is that I can't just start with lower concentrations and then put higher concentrations because then it wouldn't be consistent. I have to see the change in pH because of phytoremediation. Maybe I could water different concentrations everyday and they when I have a quite high concentration, then I can just stop there and then leave it like that. What that what you meant ChrisG?
- Joanne

Yes, I think this is what Chris meant. That way, if on day 5 your plants look very bad, you could stay at that concentration and not go any higher.

I think everything sounds great. I don't know to attach pictures either. I will try to upload a picture of a radish plant that I found from purdue.



Okay, that works, but the trick is the pciture already has to be on the internet. You cannot put a picture from your computer here.

If you need to send us a picture, you can send it to the sciencebuddies email, and ask them to email it to me and/or ChrisG.

Louise

Yes, Louise is right - that's what I meant.

Hello!

Ok Thanks for your help, I'm going to talk to my science teacher a bit more about that. I think this will be great. I'll email the picture tommorow but it is only a diagram of my plant and how it will look like when I put it in the cup with the cardboard. It's just that I thought my explanation was too foggy. Tommorrow I'm going to get my dad to buy the lemon and then I'm going to filter out the pulp using filter paper and the strainer.

Thanks alot

-Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Hello!

Ok Thanks for your help, I'm going to talk to my science teacher a bit more about that. I think this will be great. I'll email the picture tommorow but it is only a diagram of my plant and how it will look like when I put it in the cup with the cardboard. It's just that I thought my explanation was too foggy. Tommorrow I'm going to get my dad to buy the lemon and then I'm going to filter out the pulp using filter paper and the strainer.

Thanks alot

-Joanne

It may be better just to buy a bottle of lemon juice. That way, you will have plenty, and it will all have the same acidity. With real lemon, the sourness (acidity) is different in each lemon.

Louise

Hello!

Thanks for your advice.
I wanted to buy the kind of bottled lemon juice but then my science teacher suggested that I should use lemons because they are 'real'. Some types of lemon juice bought commercially might contain artificial ingredients and preservatives. My plants might not be able to process the articicial ingredients or preservatives, that might be in it. My friend says that I should get a bunch of lemons and squish all the juice out and put it in one bottle and shake it all around so it would have the same acidity level. But buying a bottle of lemon juice is much easier.

I looked at my radish seeds that were germinated in the paper towels and it seems that they have stained the paper towels. I don't know if they will germinate. I'll check today.

Thank you

- Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Hello!

Thanks for your advice.
I wanted to buy the kind of bottled lemon juice but then my science teacher suggested that I should use lemons because they are 'real'. Some types of lemon juice bought commercially might contain artificial ingredients and preservatives. My plants might not be able to process the articicial ingredients or preservatives, that might be in it. My friend says that I should get a bunch of lemons and squish all the juice out and put it in one bottle and shake it all around so it would have the same acidity level. But buying a bottle of lemon juice is much easier.

I looked at my radish seeds that were germinated in the paper towels and it seems that they have stained the paper towels. I don't know if they will germinate. I'll check today.

Thank you

- Joanne

Your teacher is right, all bottles of lemon juice have preservatives. Your friends advice is a great idea too, if you want "pure" lemon juice. Just store it in the fridge so it won't go bad. If you do use bottled juice, you just have to remember that there are other chemicals in there, and they may influence the results. Generally, the amount of preservative is only a few percent. Using fresh lemons is more controlled, since you only have lemon juice.


Louise

Hello

Thank you so much. Using my second method of phytoremediation, some of my alfalfa plants have wilted and died. It was when the roots of the plants were dangled into the nutrient solution, while the plant was held up on the cardboard.I was wondering if you knew if distilled water cause the plants to die. Maybe because the distilled water has no minerals at all. I checked the pH of tap water and it is neutral so I don't think it matters that much if I used tap water instead of distilled water.

something else is that my radish plants aren't germinating. I planted them on Monday and I don't know what is the problem. My friend gave them to be and it might be expired. Do you think I have enough time to buy a new pack?

I am currently working on my science fair board -everything except the results and i'm done half of the informational brocheur.

This is getting me worried, the science fair is due early april. But I guess it's ok if my hypothesis doesn't work out? Should I change my new question to: Does radish plants phytoremediate citric acid? Sine the variables are too much and also the alfafla might not do well in the acid.

Thank you so much

- Joanne

Starfruit wrote:Hello

Thank you so much. Using my second method of phytoremediation, some of my alfalfa plants have wilted and died. It was when the roots of the plants were dangled into the nutrient solution, while the plant was held up on the cardboard.I was wondering if you knew if distilled water cause the plants to die. Maybe because the distilled water has no minerals at all. I checked the pH of tap water and it is neutral so I don't think it matters that much if I used tap water instead of distilled water.

The roots are delicate so they may have gotten damaged when you hung them? I don't think tap vs. distilled is a problem, but usually people recommend distilled because tap water has chloring which can hurt the plants.

something else is that my radish plants aren't germinating. I planted them on Monday and I don't know what is the problem. My friend gave them to be and it might be expired. Do you think I have enough time to buy a new pack?

Yes, some radishes will grow very fast- check the package and look for the shortest number of days (like 21). Sunlight (or a lamp) might help them grow better. For example- summer variety of radish have radishes in 3 weeks (21 days). Other kinds of radish can take 2 months (65 days)!
You should have sprouting in three days... Here are some nice pictures and instructions. (I think this is how you are doing this already)
http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-1 ... --,00.html

This is getting me worried, the science fair is due early april. But I guess it's ok if my hypothesis doesn't work out? Should I change my new question to: Does radish plants phytoremediate citric acid? Sine the variables are too much and also the alfafla might not do well in the acid.

It is fine if your hypothesis doesn't work out! Most of the time my hypotheses are wrong. The important thing is that you understand what happened, and can come up with a new experiment. If you were a full-time scientist, you would do the new experiment- as a science fair student, you should just be able to tell the judges what you would do in the future if you were to continue.

But don't give up! I think the new radishes will be fine. And I think you should try to email us the picture of your hanging plants, so we can see if something looks wrong. Also, were the roots in water, or water with fertiliser?

Louise

http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-12 ... --,00.html

My tag was broken. Hopefully it is fixed.

Louise