Plant+Growth+Under+Different+Lighting

=Will different lighting affect the growth in plants?=

Morgan Green & Savannah Warriner

=Introduction/Hypothesis= "If we use a standard 25 watt light bulb on a Pepper Bell Boy plant, then it will have the most successful growth compared to the growth of the other Pepper Bell Boy plants that were put under green and blue 25 watt light bulbs because the white light is most closely related to sun light."

=**Purpose**= The purpose of this project was to see what color lighting would effect plant growth the most; either green, blue, or clear.

=Annotated bibliography for background information= Barbara Bray ( 6/12/2005 ) Pepper plant growth  Wild for Peppers  http://www.for-wild.org

 Tracie Juricka ( 1/1/2000 )  Lights effect in plant growth  Biology online  http://www.biology-online.org/3/9_effect_light.htm

 David Trinklein ( 5/5/2002 )  Indoor Plant Growth  University of Missouri  http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G6515

 Laura Pottorff (?)  Plants "Clean" Air Inside Our Homes  Growing plants indoors under supplemental lighting  http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/kobayashik/supplemental.html

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Ray R. Rothenberger (?) <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Plant Lighting <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Zone 10 <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> http://www.zone10.com/plant-lighting.html

=Materials list=
 * 3 Bell Boy Pepper Plants
 * 3 Lamps
 * 1 25watt Blue Light Bulb
 * 1 25watt Green Light Bulb
 * 1 25watt Standard Light Bulb
 * Water

=Procedure= <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1) Place plants under light for 12 hours <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 2) Then place plants under natural light for 12 hours <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 3) Water plants once a week <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 4) Record weekly growth and findings <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 5) Continue steps 1-4 for 2 weeks

=Variables and Controls=
 * Independent Variable**: The color of the lighting.
 * Dependent variable:** The height the plant grows.

=Data recordings and pictures= Thomas- Green Uncle Linds- Standard Stuart- Blue Thomas- 20 1/2" Uncle Linds- 18 3/4" Stuart- 21" Thomas- 21" Uncle Linds- 19" Stuart- 21 1/2" Thomas- 21" Uncle Linds- 20" Stuart- 21 1/2"
 * Plant Names:**
 * Beginning:**
 * Week #1:**
 * Week #2:**

__**Data Table:**__

 * ~  ||~ ===Beginning=== ||~ ===Week #1=== ||~ ===Week #2=== ||
 * ~ ===Thomas=== ||= ===20 1/2"=== ||= ===21"=== ||= ===21"=== ||
 * ~ ===Uncle Linds=== ||= ===18 3/4"=== ||= ===19"=== ||= ===20"=== ||
 * ~ ===Stuart=== ||= ===21"=== ||= ===21 1/2"=== ||= ===21 1/2"=== ||

=**Background Research**= All living organisms need energy in order to survive. Autotrophs, which convert the suns energy into organic compounds, are what we’re experimenting with. These organisms are most easily recognized as plants and use photosynthesis to create glucose. Photosynthesis is a process that can be split into two parts, light dependent and light independent.

Another link to plants and light is phototropism, which is the plants movement in response to light. An example is house plants leaning toward the window. Growth hormones are produced and multiply on the side of the stem away from the light causing the plant to tilt. Leaves are then closer to the light.

Then there is photoperiodism. This is the plants reaction to the dark. The reaction controls blooming, seed germination, and other important process. It is controlled by the phytochrome pigments located in the leaves. These pigments shift between two forms depending on the light it receives.

=**Abstract**= When doing this project I would put three separate Bell Boy Pepper plants under a green, blue, and clear lighting for 12 hours. Then I would put the plants outside for 12 hours. I watered and measured the plants once a week for two weeks. The purpose of this project was to see what color lighting would effect plants the most; either green, blue, or clear. The plants names/colors were, Thomas- Green, Uncle Linds- Standard, and Stuart- Blue. In the beginning the plants heights were, Thomas- 20 1/2", Uncle Linds- 18 3/4", and Stuart- 21". After the first week the plants became, Thomas- 21", Uncle Linds- 19", and Stuart- 21 1/2". After the second week the plants became, Thomas- 21", Uncle Linds- 20", and Stuart- 21 1/2". In the end Uncle Linds (Clear/Standard) grew the largest, 1 1/4". Stuart and Thomas tied at 1/2". I would have to Acknowledge Lorrie Green, David Green, and Jackie Warriner for supplying the house and supplies.

__**Pictures:**__
Could not upload.

=Charts and graphs= =Conclusions= To conclude, our hypothesis, if we use a standard 25 watt light bulb on a Pepper Bell Boy plant, then it will have the most successful growth compared to the growth of the other Pepper Bell Boy plants that were put under green and blue 25 watt light bulbs because the white light is most closely related to sun light, was proved to be correct by our data. Uncle Linds, the plant whose light was standard 25 watt light, grew 1¼” was the highest increase of growth. Then both Thomas and Stuart grew 1/2'”. Over time, as the plants grew, we noticed that the pepper had changed from a green colors to a red color. If it were required to redo the project again, some things we could change to get more accurate results would be to run another trial with plants of the same kind and get the average of the two experiments. We could also do more background research in order to have a better understanding of the whole process of what is going on in the plants. During the project, we had one source of error being that we just couldn’t get perfect timing of the light sources, most of the light source timing could vary from 5-20 minutes when switching from indoor to outdoor.

=** Discussion **= All of my background research was correct according to my results. And what I expected to achieve happened in both trials. Our data proved to support our hypothesis. Some challenges we had to overcome during the project were switching the plants from indoor to outdoor and vice versa on correct timing. We ran into troubles with that causing our data to not be as accurate as it could be. Other experiments that could be done to provide more information on the subject are testing how temperature effects plant growth and how soil effects plant growth.

=Sources of Error= We tried as hard as we could to be accurate but the timing of the lighting source could have varied by 5-20 minutes when switching to indoor/outdoor.