Research Page for Sisters Middle School, Team 3
The Sprouts

Thr 5/26/05 10:53 AM - T3: The first and second uploads of our journal are complete.
Tue 6/7/2005 2:30 PM - Dr. M. Sundberg: "Sprouts" It sounds like your experiment is not living up to your name - - maybe you should be the "stinkers!" Seriously, what you describe does sound like you have a major problem with bacteria growing. This, in fact, is the single biggest problem most people have with their houseplants. They water them and water them but the plants start to wilt anyway. The more the plants are watered, the more they wilt! Within a few days the plants are dead and if you carefully pull them out of the soil you will see that the roots are slimy, frequently black, easily pull apart, and STINK! Overwatering kills the root cells (plant cells need oxygen for respiration just like animal cells do) and once the cells die, bacteria take over and begin decomposing the roots. Sounds like the initial soaking you gave your oats was too much and the cells died (essentially suffocated) and the bacteria took over. At least this is my hypothesis. What could you do to test this hypothesis? Dr. Marsh Sundberg
Tue 6/7/2005 5:30 PM - Dr. M. Sundberg: I enjoyed following your research and wish you luck in your future experiments.