Seed Growing Experiment

Back in April we planted some seeds for a seed growing experiment. We put some seeds in bags with moist cotton balls and some in cups of dirt. Then we placed them in windowsills that face the same direction so they would get about the same amount of light.

Then we made predictions about which seeds would grow the fastest. Most of the kids were skeptical that the seeds in the bags would even grow at all. In the end, I was the only one who guessed that the bag seeds would grow first, and all of the kids picked the cup seeds.

And they were right! The seeds in the cup sprouted first.

A little while later we noticed some sprouts in the bag seeds as well. We've been watching them grow all month, and today we took some time to document the results of our experiment.

First of all, not all of our seeds sprouted. One of the cups didn't sprout, and two of the bags didn't either. We don't know why the cup seed didn't sprout, but we hypothesized that the bag ones didn't because they had too much water. The seeds in those bags were moldy and very wet.

Writing about how the cotton balls were too wet for the seeds to grow in this bag.

One student chose to put lots of seeds in her bag, and it was cool to see all of the successful sunflower sprouts.

Another student had a couple long, little sprouts.

In the end, the plants in the cup got much bigger and looked healthier than the sprouts in the bag. Although many seeds were able to sprout in the cup, it was clear the bag was limiting their growth long term.

As a side note, the seeds that we used came from the sunflowers and pumpkins that we harvested in the fall! I planted some extra pumpkin seeds to make sure each student could take one home to keep growing. What a fun way to bring the year full circle.