In this experiment we have placed three tomato plants in each beaker. The roots are cleaned of soil and the plant is gently padded around the base of the stem to keep it in place. Each beaker has one essential nutrient missing from the solution allowing us to measure and observe the harmful effects on the plants.
As water is taken up by the plants it will be topped off again only with distilled water. In time all plants will deplete aviable nutrients in solution. After a certain point in the experiment there will be an attempt to save damaged plants by introducing proper nutrition into the solution and observing the recovery.
Pictures are taken in order of:Complete, Calcium, Iron, Manganese, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sulfur, Microelements, Tap water, and Distilled water.
| Missing element | Symptoms |
|---|---|
| Complete | Has all the nutrients are serves as the control. |
| Calcium | First symptom usually deformation of younger leaves, then a disintegration of terminal growing areas. |
| Iron | Leaves light green or almost white, while older leaves are green. Iron cannot be withdrawn from older leaves. Yellowing or chlorosis of the younger leaves is most obvious in the intervenal areas. |
| Magnesium | Lower leaves show symptoms first, yellowing from the tip and eventually falling. Veins remain green longer than the intervental areas. |
| Nitrogen | Leaves change from a green-yellow at the top to yellow to brown. Dead leaves at the bottom. In many species a red or purpling occurs along the veins. |
| Phosphorous | Plant stunted; leaves dark green; occasionally production of anthocyanins cause a red or purple color. Dead areas develop on leaves, petioles, and in older plants, fruits, causing some dropping. |
| Potassium | Limited growth, weak stems, and a yellow mottling of the leaves; ultimately necrotic areas on leaf tips and edges; a general over-all yellowing appearance of the leaves. |
| Sulfur | Yellowing of the younger leaves in the early stages; ultimaltely an over-all pale green may dominate. |
| Microelements | Magnanese: Leaves becomespotted with dead areas and fall. Copper: Tips of young leaves wither; plant may wilt even when it is watered. Zinc: Yellowing of lower leaves at tips and margins; leaves deformed. Molybdenum: Required for nitrogen metabolism, so symptoms resemble those of nitrogen deficiency. |
| Tap | only contains well water that supplies water to the school |
| Distilled | contains only distilled water |
March 16, 2012 day after the experiment began. Roots were cleaned of soil and placed in beakers. Plants show some normal signs of stress.
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March 23, 2012 Most plants are beginning to grow but most are showing signs of deficiencies of their respective missing element.
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March 30, 2012 Some plants are growing and some are stunted but all are showing signs of deficiencies.
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April 6, 2012
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April 13, 2012 Now that we have seen some plants suffer a high degree of damage from lacking a specific element, it is time to see if the plant can be saved by giving it the missing nutrient. As you can see in the picture three beakers have blue water. From left to right the blue beakers contain plants: missing Nitrogen, only given tap and distilled water.
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