Frost/Weather Death Class Investigation

What Killed the Plants?                                                                                Name                                                 

Over the weekend a large number of plants died and turned brown. Our job is to determine why this happened.

Investigative Question: What was the probable cause for the death of certain types of plants in our garden.

Hypothesis: We think (weather, temperature, freezing/frost, insects, mushrooms, no sunlight) Killed the Plants over the last week.

Procedure:

MV: The environment

CV: Multiple beds of plants

RV: Plants are alive or dead

1.)   Go outside, investigate plants alive and not alive after the weekend.

2.)   Record observations of the living and dead plants in garden

3.)   Investigate other factors such as types of plants, weather etc.

4.)   Discuss findings with class.

DATA:

Plant Type	Alive: With Observations	Dead: With Observations
Tomatoes		Plants brown and mushy
Squash		ditto
Onion	Tips had damage
Mint	some alive	some dying
Zucchini		brown and dying
Basil		brown and dried up
ALL NEW STARTS	peas, beats, lettuce, cilantro, onions,
Broccoli	doing fine
Kale	doing fine
Cabbage	doing fine
Peppers		brown and mushy

Discussion Questions:

1.) What kinds of plants died? What is similar about them?

 Plants planted in the summer are dying, plants with fruits (zucchini, tomato, squash, beans), 

2.) What kinds of plants lived? What is similar about them?

plants planted recently (lettuce, cilantro, peas, radishes), leafy plants like kale and cabbage, root plants like carrots, beats, onions

3.) What weather events (Precipitation, Temperature, Sunlight, Seasons) have taken place in the last week that may contribute to plant death?  First big frost on Saturday, followed by lots of rain, less and less sunlight

CONCLUSION Make a final conclusion about which plants died and why based on your observations and discussions. (May use back).

certain plants are planted in certain seasons and can't grow in others

some plants have fruits because they only live for one year

some plants can live for more than one year

frost kills many fruiting plants