Red Bean Race

Introduction
Fertilizer usage is a regular occurrence in the world today. Fertilizers are the mixtures of
substances that aid in the growth of plants. There are two types of fertilizers: inorganic and
organic.
The first type of fertilizer mentioned, which is inorganic fertilizers, are man-made and consist of
nutrients that are added to the soil to help plant life grow. This type of fertilizer also has different
compounds like insecticides and herbicides. This fertilizer protects crops from consumption by
insects and helps produce more food that is of better quality. For example, according to a
document written by three authors who work in the Department of Agricultural Chemicals, food
grain production, which stood at a mere 50 million tons in 194849, had increased almost
fourfold to 198 million tons by the end of 199697 from an estimated 169 million hectares of
permanently cropped land, (Aktar, Sengupta, Chowdhury, 2009). The document states that this
change was due to the use of inorganic fertilizers.
Organic fertilizer, which is the second type of fertilizer mentioned, also provides nutrients. The
nutrients in this type of fertilizer come from natural sources and are not only for the soil, but also
directly for the plants as well. According to the article in a gardening community, the major
nutrients needed for plant growth are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and, organic
fertilizer blends provide balanced amounts of the macronutrients, (Delp, 1992). This means that
organic fertilizers have all of the nutrients needed to help plants grow.
In the project, the usage of inorganic and organic fertilizers will help to determine if plants grow
faster with one of the two fertilizers. The plants in our experiment are red beans. According to an

article, bean varieties are ready for harvest from 60 to 80 days from sowing, (Albert, 2016),
which means that the beans are a fairly fast growing plant that can fit the timeline of the project.
Experimental Design
Problem Question- Do red beans grow faster with organic or inorganic fertilizers?
Hypothesis- If one red bean plant has an organic fertilizer and another has an inorganic fertilizer,
then, the plant with the inorganic fertilizer will grow faster because more nutrients would have
been given to it through the fertilizer.
IV- red beans, organic fertilizer, inorganic fertilizer
DV- the growth of the red beans with inorganic fertilizer, the growth of the red beans with the
organic fertilizer
CG- red beans without fertilizer
EG- red beans with organic fertilizer, red beans with inorganic fertilizer
Materials & Methods
We propose that we will plant two plants of the same kind and put them in the same amount of
soil and fertilizer. We will also have a third plant that does not have any fertilizer so that we can
compare how fast the plants with fertilizer grow to that one. Then, we will wait to see which
plant grows the fastest. After this, we will test to find the differences between the plants and the
environment that they are in to see why one grows faster than the other.

Conclusion
This experiment showes how the use of inorganic fertilizer, organic fertilizer, and no fertilizer
compare to each other. The data gathered points to the fact that inorganic fertilizer works better
than organic fertilizer or no fertilizer at all. It also shows that the bean growing with no fertilizer
grows faster than the bean growing in organic fertilizer. All in all, this experiment has proven
that the inorganic fertilizer is the best method for growing plants the fastest.
Works Cited
Albert, B. S. (2016, March 30). Lima beans - Harvest to Table. Retrieved November 02, 2016,
from http://www.harvesttotable.com/2009/03/how_to_grow_lima_beans/lima-beans/
Aktar, M. W., Sengupta, D., & Chowdhury, A. (2009). Impact of pesticides use in agriculture:
Their benefits and hazards. Retrieved November 02, 2016, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984095/

Delp, R. (1992). The Effects of Organic Fertilizer on Plants. Retrieved November 02, 2016, from
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/effects-organic-fertilizer-plants-69435.html