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Which Recyclable Home Products Make the Best Natural Fertilizer for Plant Growth?

CSEF · 2023 Plant Biology Honorable_mention Award

Lam Kayla · 7

Overview

Global warming has been an issue on the rise for decades. Methane is a major gas contributing to global warming because it traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Using recyclable materials as natural fertilizers allows them to be used to their full potential and cuts waste into landfills which also slows global warming. Common home-waste products have been anecdotally claimed as inexpensive fertilizers for garden soil. The objectives of the study are 1) to investigate whether coffee grounds, eggshells, tea leaves, fruit/vegetable peels, grass clippings, and expired milk are truly potent fertilizers for garden soil and 2) to examine which of these products promote the most growth in plants. The study involves growing sugar snap peas (Pisum sativum) in soil without any home-waste product (Control Group; n=10) and in soil mixed with a 5:100 ratio of a home-waste product to soil (six experimental groups; each n=10) for 30 days during which their growth, soil moisture, pH, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus levels are measured and recorded. The plant group that received grass clippings in soil grew the most in height, number of leaves, and size of leaf; and their growth was statistically significant (t-test: *p<0.05) compared to that of the Control Group. This group also was the only one with consistent differences and improvements in the levels of potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the soil compared to the Control Group (t-test: *p<0.05) over the 30-day growing period. In conclusion, grass clippings would serve as the best natural fertilizer in soil.

Source coverage

This record comes from a published award list, not a complete project archive. Its abstract comes from CSEF's public project showcase as archived by the Internet Archive before judging (https://web.archive.org/web/20230401224130/https://ca-csef.zfairs.com/showcase/ShowcaseInfo?f=838e60b7-ea75-46e8-865c-fde4864244b3); the version presented may differ.

Awards (1)

  • Category Award: HM

Competition history

  • CSEF 2023 Plant Biology · Entry J1808

Resources

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