SAD, SALTY POT PLANTS
OVERVIEW
This online module is designed to get you to use the Internet, do an experiment and solve a problem. After doing this you should have a better idea about the problems farmers face with excess salt in their soils.
SCENARIO
You've been growing a set of special pot plants that you wanted to use for presents this Christmas. These little plants have been spoilt with perfect light, rich black compost and just the right amount of water. To help them out, you have regularly given them drinks of liquid fertiliser.For some reason, things have all gone very wrong. Your precious presents are starting to wilt and turn brown.
When asked, a visiting friend suggested you have loved your plants to death.
Your task is to predict the cause of the deaths and perform an experiment to test your hunch.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
- How would you grow plants to test the effects of fertiliser on their growth?
- How much fertiliser do plants need to grow?
- How do you prepare solutions of fertiliser that have different concentrations.
- Where, as well as the web, would you find information on mixing liquid fertilisers?
- How will you present your findings?
WHAT TO DO.
Research the background information on fertilisers and growing plants using the website links.
Look for information on diluting and using liquid fertilisers from other places.
Design and perform your experiment. Hints
Present your experimental findings using the experimental report scaffold provided as a guide.
EXTENSION
You have heard of the problem of soil salination and its destruction of large areas of Australian farmland. Using the website links provided and other resources such as library books etc, research this important environmental issue.Write an explanation that addresses these questions:
- What are the suspected causes of farmland salination and how does this relate to what you discovered about the death of your plants ?
- How could this problem affect you where you live?
Present your explanation using the explanation scaffold as a guide and include all new websites and references that you have found.