What's Inside a Seed?
Ever wonder what is inside a seed? You could find out by cutting it open, but then you would end up destroying the seed. Since many of you will probably plant some flowers or vegetables this spring anyway, why not sprout a few seeds indoors? You will get to see what is curled up, hidden inside them, and then you can transplant them into your garden.Here's an easy method for sprouting seeds indoors. All you need are a few seeds, (large seeds, like from beans or pumpkins, work especially well), a sealable plastic sandwich bag, and a paper towel.
1) Fold a paper towel so that it will fit inside the plastic sandwich bag.
2) Get the paper towel wet. It should be wet all the way through but not dripping. (Too much water can cause the seeds to rot.)
3) Place the wet, folder paper towel inside the plastic bag. Have the paper towel lie flat.
4) Place two or three seeds on the paper towel and then seal the bag tightly so that no moisture can escape. (It might be interesting to have the seeds facing different directions: one up, one down, one sideways?)
5) Tape the plastic bag to a window with the seeds facing outside.
You may want to set up several seed-sprouting bags like this, since it's best not to have more than around 3 seeds in one bag.
Make sure the bag stays sealed so that the paper towel stays moist. It can take about a week to 10 days, sometimes even longer, for the seeds to sprout. Once the seeds sprout, try to identify the stem and earliest leaves (called the cotelydon), the roots, and the part of the seed that provides nourishment to the baby plant. Leave the bags sealed for a few more days and observe the changes in the plant inside. Which direction is the root growing? What about the stem? What do you think would happen if you turned the plastic bag upside down and taped it like that to the window for a few more days? Maybe you should try it to find out.
Once 3 or 4 leaves have formed it's probably time to take the leaves out of the bag and transplant your plants.
Send photographs of your experiment to gsimonelli@leffellschool.org and I will post them to this page so that your classmates can see them.
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