Coffee Eggshells Fertilizing Red Clover and Barley An

Coffee & Eggshells: Fertilizing Red Clover (and Barley) An experiment conducted by the Rambling Roses, Stephen Ledbetter Angel Gros Willow Sells and Autumn Merrill

Hypothesis: We were curious about the effects of using eggshells and coffee as plant fertilizer. We naturally assumed that using a mixture of both coffee and eggshells would lead to the most growth in plants. Why? We assumed that the fertilizer would enrich the soil with nitrogen, which helps with plant growth. We also thought acidity of the coffee might affect plant growth.

Methods: In order to properly measure the effects of the fertilizer upon plants, we decided to try the experiment with multiple plants (in order to have a general statement about plants, not simply one type of plant). We also wanted to see if the mix of both coffee and eggshells was the best fertilizer for the plant (rather than just coffee or just eggshells) And of course, we had to have a control.

Supplies: 8 plastic cups (as pots) Provided soil (145. 80 g per pot) 40 Red Clover seeds 40 Barley seeds Eggshells (67. 23 g total) Coffee (67. 23 g total) String & Ruler Additional Useful Supplies: Labeling Marker Mortar and Pestle Water (and petri dishes) Sunlight

Procedures: First, we soaked the seeds over night in plain tap water (red clover seeds all had swelled and the radical for most seeds was visible and barley seed coats softened) We then proceeded to grind the eggshells with the mortar and pestle (attempting to grind the eggshells into as similar a consistency to the coffee as possible) While the eggshells and coffee were being carefully measured, holes were punched in the bottoms of the cups (for water drainage)

Procedures (cont. ): We evenly mixed soil and fertilizer for two cups each in amounts given on the following slide. We had pots for: Control Coffee Eggshells Coffee & Eggshells 10 seeds were added to each cup.

Soil Mixtures We had eight pots, as in the following diagram: Control Eggshells Coffee & Eggshells Red Clover 145 g of soil 10 RC seeds 22. 27 g of eggshells soil 10 RC seeds 22. 41 g of coffee soil 10 RC seeds 11. 06 g of coffee 11. 06 g of eggshells soil 10 RC seeds Barley 145 g of soil 10 B seeds 22. 7 g of eggshells 10 B seeds 22. 41 g of coffee 10 B seeds 11. 06 g of coffee 11. 06 g of eggshells 10 B seeds All pots were placed together in the same windowsill and were watered the same amount at the same time.

Data: The barley seeds, which mostly did not sprout when soaked in water, and never broke soil, unfortunately leaving us only with the red clover. We began measuring the height of the stalk, from soil up to the highest point. Those measurements were taken every weekday from February the 25 th to March 13 th. The following values for each day are the average growth that occurred within the pot, as there were multiple seeds and therefore plants with a variety of heights.

Red Clover Height (in mm)

Red Clover Leaf Width (in mm)

Observations: Over the entire period of time, plants within the coffee, eggshell and soil mix exhibited the most growth- every single day. This includes both measured height and width of leaves. The eggshell and soil mixture seemed to do better than the control. The coffee and soil mixture seemed to do worse than the control.

Conclusion: As shown in observations of the data, the coffee and eggshell fertilizer led to the best growth in the red clover plants. The coffee provides acidity, which red clover plants do well with, and nitrogen, which all plants like. The eggshells add calcium. When the experiment was ended we pulled out the barley seeds from their pots and found only five had germinated, possibly a cause of being planted too far beneath the soil.