Save the Drop Water Conservation Contest: Olla Irrigation Project

Transcription

1 Save the Drop Water Conservation Contest: Olla Irrigation Project September November, 2016 Do you know California is experiencing its 4th year of drought? Ms DeSimone s 6th period Environmental Science Class decided they wanted to help find ways to save water. They experimented with growing radishes using olla irrigation. Here is their Olla Project, which they shared with the Reed community last week and also entered into a Save the Drop water conservation contest sponsored by the Mayor s office: Title: The 6th Grade Environmental Science Class is doing a project called Saving the Drop at Walter Reed Middle School. Here is our project. Cameron Wiener 19 Abstract: We wanted to find a way to conserve water. Our idea was to use ollas. to irrigate radishes. If you are wondering what an olla is, traditionally, it is an unglazed clay container that comes in all shapes and sizes. We did use the traditional olla containers but some kids used Styrofoam cups and glass bottles which were nontraditional. We started our olla experiment on September 19 and we ended gathering our data on October 31, which was Halloween. Elenea Sourenian 19, Karine Meroyan 19

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4 Question: We did an olla experiment to see if we can conserve water and this is our question: do ollas help conserve water? Meredith Harden 19, Samara Perez 19 Hypothesis: An hypothesis is a prediction upon an experiment. Our hypothesis is that plants grow healthier and stronger with an olla than without an olla using the same amount of water. Nicholas De Leon 19, Carlos Rosales 19 Background Research: We did some background research on ollas with the help of the school librarian Ms. Federico. Ollas were developed over 4,000 years ago in North America. Ollas also are a good gardening system. Plants that have grown around an olla take in the the water that they need, and when they don t need any more, they can stop the seepage. Ollas are called the most efficient water irrigation system in the world. Jaymee Martinez 19, Elizabeth Zaval 19 Materials: We re going to tell you some of the materials we used. We used soil, tape, a clay unglazed pot or bottle or syrofoam cup, some ollas used black plastic piping. We used a 9 inch diameter pots, 12 inch rulers with marked centimeters, and 16.9 ounce water bottles. Some of the other materials we used are gorilla glue, radish seeds, and the greenhouse. Procedure: In this experiment our procedure was to first use a black plastic bucket with holes on the bottom. Next we poured soil inside the bucket and placed the olla in the middle. After, we poured water in the olla. Then we planted 9 radish seeds around the olla pot. For the second pot, which is the control pot, we did the same thing but the only variable that changed was no olla. Emily Diaz 19

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11 Results: During our experiment, our radish leaves were thought to be dying. We were worried about those yellow leaves. But, it turns out, when we researched it, we found out the first two leaves are called cotyledons, and they fall off so the plant can use them as nutrients. In the end, the plants growing with an olla were bigger and healthier than the plants growing without an olla. Some of the olla plants were big and had many healthy plants, but not all of them were as big or as healthy. Some ollas worked better than others. We think Olla #11 worked the best. Olla #12 was dug too deep and the seeds did not get any water. Deja Taylor 19, Daniela Santiago 19, Karine Meroyan 19 Conclusion: In conclusion, even though the control pots used the same amount of water, the ollas used the water more efficiently than the control pots. The olla pots held healthier plants, and there were more plants. Next time, if we do this again, we should all have a clay-like olla, but different shapes. Natalie Ortiz 19, Ulyses Sanchez 19, Steven Gee 19

12 Some feedback from our audience: I liked the presentation. I think that the idea was really smart. Ben 17 I would hope to figure out if the ollas work on other plants as effectively. A.P.R. 17 The project was amazing and we can use this is our student garden in Schall Park. Angela 17 Very good presentation. You should try watering the plants with different liquids and see what grows and doesn t grow. Daniel 17