My Sunflower - Day 19

They're growing!! I forgot to take measurements of the stems and leaves but it appears as though the tallest plant would be in Vegetative Stage V2.

Lab 3: Campus Nature Walk

Trees

                                              Hickory Tree - Carya tomentosa

                                                Pine Tree - Pinus palustris

                                         Sycamore Tree - Platanus occidentalis

American Larch - Larch laricina

Magnolia Tree: Magnolia grandiflora

Shrubs

Carissa Holly - Ilex spp.

Juniper - Juniperus communis

Boston Ivy - Parthenocissus tricuspidata

Crape Myrtle - Lagerstroemia indica

Privet Hedges - Ligustrum amurense

Plants

Mexican Petunia - Ruellia brittoniana

Monkey grass - Ophiopogon japonicus

Angel's Trumpet - Brugmansia aurea

Lizard's Tail - Saururus cernuus

Sago Palm - Cycas revoluta

Lab 2: Ocmulgee River Adventure

Above is a map of the section of the Ocmulgee River that we visited during our lab session. During this session we did three things: (1) flow rate testing, (2) clam collection, and (3) elevation measurement. For the flow rate testing, we used a tennis ball. One person stood in the water and another student stood 10 yards away, parallel to water flow. The student further upstream dropped the tennis ball into the water and we timed how long it took the ball to reach the student downstream. This information is then used to calculate the flow rate of the water.
Another group took samples of clams. They placed a large meshed sifter under water and when it was brought back up, the students totaled the number clams that were in the sifter, taking note of how many were dead and alive.
For elevation measurement, there were two poles connected by a 10 yard string. The poles were marked incrementally for height measurement. The poles were placed so that the string connecting them would be taunt. If the string was not completely horizontal when the poles were placed onto the terrain, the string could be adjusted up or down to make it so. This adjustment of the height of the string is what determined the depth in relation to the original spot on the river bank. This movement of the poles was continued for the width of the river transect.

My Sunflower - Day 13

So far so good. I took some measurements today. The tallest stem is 13.3cm long (taken from the top of the soil). The shortest leaf is 1.4cm and the longest leaf is 3.1cm.

My Sunflower - Day 10

There seems to be steady progress in the growth of my sunflowers. (Yes, plural, because apparently I planted 3 seeds. lol) Each of them has 2 larger leaves and 2 smaller leaves. I decided to measure them today, finding that the leaf sizes ranged from 4mm (the smaller set) to 2.5cm (the larger set). Since the leaves are shorter than 4cm, the sunflowers are still considered to be in the Vegetative Emergence stage.

My Sunflower - Day 6

I checked on my sunflower today and to my surprise, I saw green!! I didn't expect to see life this quickly. Based on some research I've done on sunflower growth, my sunflower is currently in the Vegetative Emergence stage. This simply means that the seedling has emerged and the first leaf beyond the cotyledon is less than 4 cm long. Stay tuned!

My Sunflower - Day 1

Today is the start of my quest to growing a magnificent sunflower. I was given the inner plastic cup, soil, and a couple of sunflower seeds today in class to grow the sunflower all semester. With the inner cup, I have placed a series of holes at the bottom to allow excess water to drain. I decided that I didn't want the cup to come in contact with the soil on the ground so I placed the cup inside of a larger plastic cup. (It previously housed a McDonalds strawberry-banana smoothie. Yay for recycling!) When I first placed the smaller cup inside the larger one it just rested at the bottom. This, however, defeats the purpose of trying to accommodate for water drainage because the water would have no where to go. As a result, I came up with the ingenious idea of taking 4 drinking straws and using them as splints to prevent the inner cup from resting on the bottom of the larger cup. The straws are secured with thumbtacks and scotch tape (yes, I am very resourceful). The straws hold the inner cup approximately .75in from the bottom surface of the outer cup. I then placed this contraption about 2 inches into the ground against the edge of the porch and used this random 6 inch nail I found in the yard as a stability reinforcement in case of gusty winds. Lastly, I added water (hopefully not too much). I guess in time we will see if I have a green thumb!