My son's Science Fair experiment

Tammy said:

We are just in the starting stages of it, but we brainstormed lots of ideas for this years science project (he's in 7th grade) and he liked my idea best
He is going to grow 3 different brands of lettuce seeds (a cheap seed like Lilly Miller; a more reputable one like Territorial; an organic one from Abundant Life Seeds) and, under identical growing conditions, see which has better germination rates, grows quicker and produces a better lettuce plant.
I think it'll be an interesting experiment! I'll be sure to post his results.

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That sounds really interesting Tammy post some pictures if you can please.

Tammy, looks like you getting your son off to a good start. Getting him interested in gardening and seeing howthings grows. So many children have no idea about gardening and growing food, because parents does not take the time to work with them and most of all letting them try their own ideas of growing veggies that they like. I know he will be a great success in his project! thanks for sharing and keep us up todate.
Happy New Year!

We are almost one week into the planting. We planted three brands of seeds last Sunday.
Ed Hume is our "cheap" seed.
Territorial is our more reputable/expensive brand of seed
And Abundant Life is our organic seed brand.

After 4 days, 4 of the 8 Hume seeds germinated. I think there are 6 of the 8 that are up now.
yesterday, a couple of the Territorial seeds germinated.
So far, none of the Abundant Life seeds have germinated.

we will continue to grow them to also see the quality of the lettuce plant it produces.

Thanks for the update.

Companies like Monsanto are pushing GMO Seeds on farmers young people may want to know about this subject.

What is Genetically Modified Food? >>

from personal experience the cheep seeds I have used in the past germinated just fine but more than half would die off some times all of them, then went to a better seed and a bit slower germination time and most survived, same for the organic slow to start but held on better to life and had a better tolerance for mistakes such as lack of water or too much water. The organic and territorial seed also got bigger than the cheep seed with better root systems.I am very interested in hearing how this turns out

well, here's what we learned.

Ed Hume - started germinating after only 4 days, but only 5 of 8 germinated. It also took them the longest to sprout their 3rd leaves (the ones that actually start to resemble lettuce). All 5 are still alive, but don't look as strong as my others.

Territorial - started germinating about day 7-8. all 8 of 8 germinated. These look the strongest right now and have the largest "lettuce looking" leaf on them.

Abundant Life - only 1 of 8 germinated and that wasn't until about day 10. it's the smallest of the 3 brands I grew, but the only lonely lettuce plant seems to be doing okay.

I'll continue growing the seedlings indoors and probably by the end of February I can transplant to my garden box with a covering, depending on weather.

Thanks Tammy for keeping us updated