Plants need light, water, and soil to grow. If you provide those things, you can make your own greenhouse where you can easily observe plants growing. Here’s a simple experiment on how to use the stuff from your recycling bin to make your own garden greenhouse.

We’ll first look at how to make a standard, ordinary greenhouse. Once your plants start to grow, use the second part of this experiment to track your plant growth. Once you’ve got the hang of how to make a bottle garden, then you can try growing a carnivorous greenhouse.
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Materials:

• 2 liter bottle
• scissors or razor
• gravel or sand
• spanish moss
• dish or plate
• seeds of your choice

Experiment:

1. Using an exacto knife or scissors, cut the label from the soda bottle. Carefully cut the bottle in half so that the bottom (container) piece is deep enough to hold soil and plants. Poke a few holes into the bottom of the container for drainage.
2. Fill the bottom of the bottle with a half cup of sand or gravel to provide drainage. Use playground sand, aquarium gravel or small stones picked up from a hike. If sand or gravel isn’t available, crush an old clay pot and use that. (Let an adult crush the pot.)
3. Place a 1-inch layer of Spanish or Spaghnum moss in the mini greenhouse to keep the soil from mixing with the rock layer. Place a thick layer of potting soil on top of the moss, at least 4 inches deep or 1 inch from the top. Tamp down lightly with your finger
4. Put the top half of the soda bottle back on, tucking inside the edges of the container. If necessary, you can cut small slits into the upper portion to make it fit. Leave the cap on.
5. Place atop a waterproof plate in a sunny spot and water sparingly. The lid retains moisture and heat, so your seeds should sprout quickly. Because the plastic is clear, you’ll be able to see the roots beneath the surface of the soil. If the greenhouse gets too steamy, you can remove the lid once in a while. When your seedlings get big enough, transplant to the garden, and plant a new crop!

Tracking Plant Growth

You know that plants grow… but when a plant grows, is the entire stem getting longer, like rolling dough, or is only the tip growing, like squeezing the end of a toothpaste tube?

This simple experiment can give you the answer. Ready?

1. Tie string around the edge of a plants stem, between the last leaf at the end, and the next leaf.
2. Make observations as the plant grows.

What’s going on? If the entire stem grows, your string will always stay at the end. If just the tip grows, the string will become further and further from the edge. Which is it? Are you surprised?

Carnivorous Greenhouse

Was the last activity too tame for you? You’ll need to order carnivorous plant seeds. Carnivorous plants are heterotrophs. As you learned, this means they must get their energy from other organisms instead of the sun. Such plants are good at catching small animals, such as insects, to eat. Used the video below to learn how to plant the seeds that will produce these carnivores, and how to care for them once they have sprouted.

Download Student Worksheet & Exercises

Exercises

1. What is a carnivorous plant?
2.  What is another name for a carnivorous plant?
3.  What does a carnivorous plant need to thrive?
4.  Should we fertilize a carnivorous plant? Why or why not?

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