A seed is a small structure produced by the plant, that has the potential to grow into a new plant under the right conditions. The seed is made up of three important parts: an embryo, a seed coating and food storage. The seed coating protects the embryo from damage. When the seed finds the right conditions to grow, the embryo uses the nutrients stored in the food storage to produce the first root, shoot and leaves.
A seed is usually underground during the first few days and has its own nutrients. Once the seed germinates and develops into a baby plant, it needs sunlight to make food for the plant to keep growing.
Are you curious about which seeds germinate first? Germination is when a seed starts to grow a shoot.
What do we need?
Method:
Observe:
Everyday take out the plate and uncover the seeds. Use your observation skills:
1. Do you see any differences?
2. Which seed sprouted first?
3. Which part of the seedling starts to grow first?
4. In which direction does the shoot grow?
Take a photo of the plate and use a journal to record any difference that you notice.
Pour some more water so that the paper towels are still wet and place the plate back inside the plastic bag.
What did you notice? After a few days, you will notice that some of the seeds will start to sprout and you can observe the tiny shoot getting longer. Eventually you will have a seedling (a tiny plant with tiny roots and leaves).
Share with us a photo of your experiment through our Facebook page by tagging us @esploramalta
Let us know which seeds you used for the experiment as well as their progress!
Take it further by investigating other variables!
What other factors might have affected the outcome?
1. Do you need light for a seed to germinate?
In order to investigate if light is needed for seeds to germinate, we need to have two set-ups of the above experiment. Place one set up (plate with wet paper towels and seeds) inside a cupboard in the dark and place another set up in a well-lit area.
Check each set up every day to monitor progress and add water as needed. Do the seeds germinate in both the dark and well-lit area? And do they germinate at the same speed?
2. Does a citrus seed germinate faster if we remove its outer casing? Lemon and orange seeds usually have an outer casing that you can peel off gently. The outer casing is easier to remove if you let the seed to dry as otherwise the seed tends to slip between your fingers.
Use the same set-up as above and on top of the paper towel, place a few citrus seed with casing and a few without the outer casing. Monitor the progress every day and add water if the paper towels become dry.
Which seed germinated first?
You can plant any seeds that germinated in a pot with compost. Place them in a well-lit area and water regularly.
Now that you experimented with germinating different seeds, you might want to help grow and nurture local trees. Register your interest with Grow 10 trees (www.g10t.eu). This NGO will provide you with seeds which you need to germinate and take care of until ready to be planted in the local community. Similar opportunities are also provided by Saggar (https://www.saggar.com.mt/)
