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So you are out in your garden and you notice something very unusual going on with one of your plants. You've never seen this before, and you want to learn more about what is going on. In this article, I'll show you, step by step, how to go about doing your own open-source research. You can even collaborate with other Dave's Garden members and publish your findings on a forum!
Laying A Foundation
The basis, or foundation, for any scientific research is a procedure known as the scientific method. Your home research is not going to be scrutinized like the work done in universities and other institutions, but you will want to do your work in such a way that others can repeat, or replicate, your experiments. In this manner, you and others will be able to verify if what you have discovered is really substantial. The way to do this is to rely on a uniform method for doing your experiments, and that is what the scientific method provides.
Step By Step
Everything starts with an observation. It may be your own observation, or it may be an observation made by someone else, such as a Dave's Garden member. The important thing is that a phenomenon was noticed, you learned of it, and you wish to investigate it. I'll use my peanut/Alocasia example from my last article to illustrate this. I observed that a plant which was languishing when growing alone perked up and became healthy when a peanut plant started growing in the pot with it. This is my observation, and it implies that something I could use with my other plants could be going on. So I want to investigate and see if it holds true in other cases.
My observation is intriguing, and it is possible that someone else has also observed a similar phenomenon. In today's world of the internet, I can do online searches to find out if anyone has published anything that sheds light on what I have observed. Since my observation involves two different plants growing together and affecting each other, I would search for companion planting and legumes, since the peanut is in the bean or legume family. Perhaps someone has seen results by growing legumes together with other plants, and that would either confirm or refute my observation. I would certainly search the Dave's Garden forum files for any postings relating to companion planting and legumes as well. So I proceed to do my background research. In my case, I found that some others had reported positive results in planting legumes together with plants such as lettuce.
Next, I need to propose something as a result of the observation. In this case, I propose that growing a peanut plant together with an Alocasia will help the Alocasia grow healthier. This proposition is known as an hypothesis. Now at this point, the hypothesis is untested because it is based on one observation only. To find out if there is merit to this hypothesis, I need to test it, and the way to do so is by designing an experiment. The criteria for a good experiment is that all conditions that existed in the original observation must remain the same, except for the one thing that I want to test. In my case, that one thing is the presence of the peanut plant because the behavior of the Alocasia plant changed when the peanut plant started growing with it. This one thing is known as the variable. In my experiment, that is the only thing that I will change.
Digging In
Every experiment has to have a starting point with which to compare the results. This starting point is the situation that existed before the phenomenon occurred. In my case, the starting point is the Alocasia growing alone in the pot. This aspect of my experimental setup is called the control because it is what I will compare the results with. I can't use my original plant because it has already been affected by the presence of the peanut plant, so I'll have to start with a fresh plant growing by itself. I also need several more of the same plant, but this time I will add a live or raw peanut seed to some pots and a dead or lightly roasted peanut seed to others. This is because I would also like to know if it is the seed by itself or the growing plant that caused the effect. A good experimental setup will include a control pot and at least 10 experimental pots, so I need 11 Alocasia plants of the same type, a batch of soil mix that will be used for all 11 pots, and a place to grow them where they will all receive the same light, water, temperature and fertilization. In this way I will know that the only variable is going to be the presence of the peanut.
One very important item of note is that when you set up your home experiments, be sure to label each of your test pots so you know what was done with each one. In my case, I'll have one labeled "control", five labeled "raw peanut" and five labeled "dead peanut".
LariAnn has been gardening and working with plants since her teenage years growing up in Maryland. Her intense interest in plants led her to college at the University of Florida, where she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Botany and Master of Agriculture in Plant Physiology. In the late 1970s she began hybridizing Alocasias, and that work has expanded to Philodendrons, Anthuriums, and Caladiums as well. She lives in south Florida with her partner and son and is research director at Aroidia Research, her privately funded organization devoted to the study and breeding of new, hardier, and more interesting aroid plants.
