Different Types of Water on Sunflower Growth

Grace Callahan and Jenna Ramsey

Abstract

In this experiment, different types of water (distilled, well, tap and spring water)
were tested on the growth of sunflowers. We had hypothesized that the tap water would
produce plants with the greatest height and most amount of leaves. After completing the
experiment, we averaged all of the heights and number of leaves of the plants in each
water category and it was found that the tap water plants had grown to be the tallest
and with the most amount of leaves. Therefore, our hypothesis of the experiment was
correct.

Introduction

The plant that we had studied in this experiment was sunflowers. They are also
known by their scientific name which is Helianthus annuus (“Helios” is Greek for sun
and “anthos” is Greek for flower). Sunflowers are native to the Americas and are still
very widely found in the Americas today. They are also grown on every continent except
for Antarctica. Sunflowers have a large flower head with yellow petals and a black
center that is full of tiny florets that will later develop into sunflower seeds. (Sunflower
Information from Flowers.Org.Uk) Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants and
can grow 8-12 feet tall in just six months. (Fun Sunflower Facts for Kids - Interesting
Information about Sunflowers, 2020)
The specific question that we investigated in our experiment is which type of
water will cause the sunflowers to grow the best? Sunflowers are a very common plant
that people grow. It is important to know which type of water will cause the sunflowers to
have the best growth. People want their plants to grow as tall and healthy as possible.
Doing this experiment to find what water will enhance the growth the best we can find
what the best type of water to use to water our sunflowers, which can allow us to grow
bigger and better sunflowers. We hypothesized that the tap water would enhance the
growth of the sunflowers the most.
Materials and Methods (Grace)

The materials that were used in this experiment were tap water, spring water, well
water, distilled water, sunflower seeds, soil, pots, dropper, and bottles. We watered the
sunflowers with each type of water as often as needed until the soil was saturated.

Results

Overall the sunflowers that were watered with the tap water had grown the best. On
average they were the tallest and had the most leaves. Overall the plants watered with
the well water had the poorest growth. Two of the sunflowers did not grow causing the
averages for the amount of leaves and the height to be the least of all the types of
waters. One of the sunflowers (plant 2) that was watered with distilled water grew to be
the tallest at 61 cm. One of the sunflowers (plant 2) that was watered with spring water
grew the most leaves with 14 leaves. Plant 3 of the spring water had grown to be the
shortest at 20.5 cm. Plant 3 of the distilled water had the least amount of leaves with
only 2 leaves.

Height of Plant
Type of Water Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3 Average

Distilled Water No growth 61.0 cm 24.0 cm 28.3 cm

Tap Water 40.0 cm 43.4 cm 48.5 cm 43.97 cm

Spring Water 41.0 cm 39.5 cm 20.5 cm 33.67 cm

Well Water No growth 38.0 cm No growth 12.67 cm

As you can see in the chart above one of the sunflowers (plant 2) that was watered with
distilled water grew to be the tallest at 61 cm tall. One of the sunflowers that was
watered with spring water (plant 3) had grown to be the shortest at 20.5 cm. The
sunflowers watered with tap water had the highest average height and the sunflowers
watered with well water had the lowest average height.
Amount of Leaves
Type of Water Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3 Average

Distilled Water No growth 13 leaves 2 leaves 5 leaves

Tap Water 9 leaves 11 leaves 12 leaves 10.67 leaves

Spring Water 11 leaves 14 leaves 5 leaves 10 leaves

Well Water No leaves 9 leaves No leaves 3 leaves

As you can see in the chart above one of the sunflowers (plant 2) that was watered with
spring water grew the most leaves with 14 leaves. One of the sunflowers (plant 3) that
was watered with distilled water had the least amount of leaves with only 2 leaves. The
sunflowers watered with tap water on average had grown the most amount of leaves
and the sunflowers watered with well water on average had grown the least amount of
leaves.

Discussion and Conclusion

If I were to do this experiment again I would separate the plants into different trays so
that there was no chance of the different types of water getting into the soil of the other
types of waters’ plants.

A problem that we had run into in this experiment was that some of the sunflower seeds
did not germinate and grow. We could fix this problem by adding more seeds to each
pot so there would be a better chance of a seed germinating and growing.

The results of our experiment support our hypothesis that the sunflowers watered with
the tap water would have the best growth. While the tap water plants did not have the
most leaves and greatest height when comparing the individual plants; it did have the
most leaves and greatest heights when the results were averaged.

The information that was gathered in this experiment can be applied to everyday
gardening. If tap water caused the best growth in sunflowers then it is likely that it also
would cause the best growth results in other plants. Therefore, we can apply these
results by watering our plants and telling other people to water their plants with tap
water to get the best growth results.

References

Fun Sunflower Facts for Kids - Interesting Information about Sunflowers. (2020).

Science Kids. https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/plants/sunflowers.html

Sunflower information from Flowers.org.uk. (year). Interflora.

http://www.flowers.org.uk/flowers/flowers-names/q-t/sunflower/

A A Hasibuan et al 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 902 012064