Guillermo Polo

10/31/16
AP Environmental Science

Ecological Bottle?!?
Introduction: Organic fertilizers are those such as manure or bone meal, on the other
hand inorganic fertilizers are those such as ammonium sulfate or ammonium
phosphate, inorganic fertilizers are also known as commercial or synthetic fertilizers.
Inorganic fertilizer is not better than organic fertilizer, and organic fertilizer is not better
than inorganic fertilizer, which fertilizer to choose depends on personal preference.
Usually inorganic fertilizers contain that are already concentrated for plants, while
organic fertilizers contain much more nutrients but in low concentrations and many of
those nutrients have to be converted into inorganic forms.
Organic fertilizers are known to have many more nutrients compared to the nutrients
inorganic fertilizers have. Although these nutrients that the organic fertilizer are very
broad, they are usually in low concentrations, which means that they have to be
converted into inorganic forms by soil bacteria and fungi before the plants can take
them up. The bacteria and fungi have to decompose the organic fertilizer before the
plant can take the nutrients up, which means that the nutrients are released slowly.
Organic fertilizers do come with their advantages such as, reducing soil crusting,
improving water movement in the soil, adding structure to the soil, and they are
beneficial to microbes which makes the soil easier to work on. Now, since the organic
fertilizers provide less nutrients pound for pound and are less concentrated they cost
more. Organic fertilizers are great but also come with their disadvantages, mostly
organic fertilizer is used in growing plants at a slow pace.

Guillermo Polo
10/31/16
AP Environmental Science

Inorganic fertilizers contain less nutrients than an organic fertilizer, but they are
concentrated and ready for a plant to take them up. . Inorganic fertilizers can be such as
manure, compost, or bone meal. The nutrients that an inorganic fertilizer usually has are
Nitrate, Phosphorus, Potassium, also some sulfur. Just like organic, inorganic fertilizers
come with their disadvantages, one is that since the nutrients such as nitrate are
already concentrated and ready for the plant to take up, they are quickly lost in the soil
which means that many applications of this fertilizer may be needed.
Savonen, Carol. "Here's the Scoop on Chemical and Organic Fertilizers." Home. Oregon State
University, 30 Apr. 2008. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

Experimental Design:
Problem Question: Will seed germination rates vary depending on the type of
fertilizers we mix with the soil?
Hypothesis: : If we use both, inorganic and organic, for two separate seed
groups, then the group with the inorganic fertilizer will germinate faster
because they will receive nutrients quicker than the group with organic
fertilizer and control group due to nutrient concentration.
Independent variable: Type of seeds and amount of water/sunlight the groups
receive
Dependent variable: The rate of seed germination and type of fertilizer
Control Group: Seeds without any type of fertilizer

Guillermo Polo
10/31/16
AP Environmental Science

Experimental Group: Seeds with inorganic fertilizer and seeds with organic
fertilizer
Materials and Method
The materials we will need are four plastic 2-liter bottles, inorganic and organic
fertilizers, the organic fertilizer will be Bone Meal, seeds, soil, pipe cleaner, and water.
We will set it up by cutting two bottles of the four in half, the bottom halves of the cut
bottles will hold water, the whole bottles will contain soil, seeds, and one of the two
fertilizers we have. The pipe cleaner will basically be in between the water and the soil,
creating an artificial water cycle.
Data Chart:

Conclusion:

Guillermo Polo
10/31/16
AP Environmental Science

In the end, we concluded that our hypothesis was right; the use of the inorganic fertilizer
was more successful than using the organic fertilizer. Since the inorganic fertilizer
already had the nutrients ready for consumption by the plant, it took less time for the
plant to grow. The organic fertilizer processes the nutrients the plants needs slowly;
meaning that in order to see growth, an extended amount of time is necessary. The use
of inorganic fertilizers is more effective when wanting to grow a plant fast; on the other
hand, using organic fertilizers is more effective when growing a plant at its own pace.