Results

If you look at the last post, you will see the final stats of the plants. My hypothesis was supported by the data. The plant in the Neutral Quadrant grew the most out of all the other plants, where the pH  was 7.

Week Three (10/11/15-10/18/15)

Acidic Quadrant

Neutral Quadrant

Alkaline Quadrant

The experiment is over and the results are as follows. Acidic Quadrant (pH of 4) measures in at 5cm.. now this is because the plant started to wither and fall on itself. The Neutral Quadrant (pH of 7) measures in at 35 cm, it is doing the best by far. The Alkaline Quadrant (pH of 10) measures in at 28cm.

Week Two (10/4/15-10/11/15)

The picture above is the Mesocosm at Week 2. As you can clearly see, the acidic quadrant is starting to die/wither. Again the pH of that quadrant was 4. Due to the plant falling down on itself, it's height was only 10cm. The middle quadrant which had the neutral pH of 7, is thriving! Measuring in at a whopping 30cm. The end quadrant, which had the alkaline soil of 10, measured in at 24cm.

Acidic Quadrant :(

Week One (9/27/15-10/3/15)

The picture above is the Mesocosm for the first week. As you can see, the acidic quadrant's plant is quite below the development of the others, measuring in at 13 cm, the pH of the quadrant is 4. The middle quadrant, measuring in at 27cm, the quadrant has a pH of 7. The end quadrant measured in at 22cm, has a pH of 10.

Materials and Procedure

Materials:
1. 1 glass tank with the following dimensions (46cm by 24.9cm by 20.5cm)
2. 3 Umbrella Trees (Scheffiera arboricola)
3. Cardboard dividers (each approx: 28cm high and 20.5cm long)— each placed at 13 cm (so each plant has an equal amount of room to grow)
4. Soil (Miracle Grow Potting Soil)
5. Soil Acidifier (Espoma Organic- lowers pH)
6. Garden Lime (Espoma Organic- raises pH)
7. Siren Wrap (Glad)
8. Water (pH of 7)
9. 1 pair of gardening gloves 
10.  1 permanent marker (Sharpie)
11. Electronic pH soil tester (Ferry-Morse)

Procedure:
1. Clean tank throughly with soap and water, let air dry until completely dry
2. Wrap cardboard dividers completely in siren wrap, wrap once more to completely seal cardboard
3. Place cardboard dividers 13 cm apart in tank 
4. Take strips of cardboard and run them along all seams where the cardboard meets the tank (to completely seal all gaps, if any)
5. Label each quadrant 1-3 with the permanent marker, as to avoid any confusion (1= Acidic Soil, 2= Neutral Soil, 3= Alkaline Soil)
6. Put on gardening gloves!! DO NOT handle any soil/soil acidifier/garden lime without gloves on prior to
7. Place 3 cups of soil into each made quadrant
8. Using pH soil tester take pH of each quadrant's soil prior to any changes made to pH
9. Place 1 cup of Garden Lime to quadrant 1, place nothing into quadrant 2, and place 1 cup of Soil Acidifier to quadrant 3
10. Mix together soil and added pH changing substances (making sure to clean hands after mixing each quadrant)
11. Place 1 plant into each quadrant (right in the middle of given growing space
12. Take pH of soil using pH soil tester after adding appropriate changes to pH of soil in each said quadrant
13. Water each quadrant with 1 cup of water 
14. Seal up Mesocosm with siren wrap, making sure to tape down all seams.
15. Water daily, check pH levels daily, and observe plant life and sustainability daily. (for this experiment I will be watering, checking, and observing each day at 3 PM)
16. Make sure to note every observation
17. Make sure to seal Mesocosm back up after watering, checking, and observing

Mesocosm Tank (Empty)

Cardboard Dividers (Placed 13 cm apart)

Garden Lime (Raises pH of soil)

Soil Acidifier (Lowers pH of soil)

pH Soil Tester

Mesocosm filled and sealed up

General Information Dealing with RQ, Variables, and Hypothesis

Research Question: How does varying levels of pH of soil affect the life and sustainability of Umbrella Trees (Scheffiera arboricola)?

Independent Variable: pH level of soil 

-Alkaline soil

-Neutral soil

-Acidic soil

Dependent Variable: The life of the Umbrella Tree and its sustainability (ITS HEIGHT)

Hypothesis: If the pH of the soil is higher, then the Umbrella Tree will wither away and eventually die, because acidic soil prevents certain nutrients from being absorbed by the plants. Whereas, the Umbrella Tree will do much better in alkaline and neutral pH levels of their soil because they will be able to absorb all the necessary nutrients. Sustainability and plant life will, however, be at its most optimum level in a soil with neutral pH because that's when the conditions are seemingly just right for the Umbrella Trees to absorb all the nutrients required for survival.