ORGANIC VS.

REGULAR
POTATOES
Which one grows fastest?

CAP 5.18 Plant Science

RESEARCH QUESTION

My scientific question is which potato will grow the

tallest.

HYPOTHESIS
If I use an organic potato and a regular potato then, the
organic potato will sprout the largest because they
dont have as many chemicals as the regular potato.

RATIONALE
I did this specific project because, I wanted to know more
about what chemicals were in store bought potatoes. I
believe chemicals in our food mess with our body. So I
tested if these potatoes could reproduce based on the
chemicals.

ABSTRACT
My testable question was Which potato will grow
the fattest, I did this in order to find out what
kind of chemicals they put in store bought
potatoes and if they could still reproduce. In my
hypothesis I predicted the organic potato
sprouting the largest, it turns out the organic
potatoes grew the best. When you are done with
the potatoes, place them outside and watch them
grow.

MATERIALS

Cutting board
Ten potatoes (5 regular + 5 organic)
Ten identical bowls (small)
Pen (any color you can see)
Tape
Printer
Camera
40 toothpicks
Cutting knife
10 small pieces of paper
Water to reach the top of the bowl
Sunlight
Water

PROCEDURE (SIMPLIFIED)
1.) Take out a cutting board
2.) Put cutting board on a flat, hard surface
3.) Take out a cutting knife
4.) Take out 10 identical, small bowls
5.) Fill bowls with water (to the top of the bowl)
6.)Take out 10 potatoes ( 5 organic and 5 regular)
7.) Place potatoes on the cutting board
8.) Cut potatoes in half (throw other half away or make mashed potatoes with
them)
9.) Take out 40 toothpicks
10.) Put 4 toothpicks in each potato half horizontally
11.) Place each potato into its own bowl
12.) Take out 10 small pieces of paper, a pen, and 10 pieces of tape
13.) Write on the piece of paper (with the pen) if the potato is regular or organic
14.) Tape the pieces of paper to the correct potato
15.) Take bowls outside to get sunlight
16.) Watch them grow

AVERAGE GROWTH GRAPH

7
6

6-Oct

10-Oct

10-Nov

3
2

27-Oct

10-Oct

0
Organic
Y-axis= cm

Regular

6-Oct

27-Oct
10-Nov

DATA CHART OF THE REGULAR

POTATOES
2
1.8
1.6
1.4

Regular 1

1.2

Regular 2

Regular 3

0.8

Regular 4

0.6

Regular 5

0.4
0.2
0
Day 1

Day 10

Day 21

Day 35

DATA CHART OF THE ORGANIC

POTATOES
8
7
6
Organic 1

Organic 2

Organic 3

Organic 4

Organic 5

1
0
Day 1

Day 10

Day 21

Day 35

POTATO PICTURES DAY 1

POTATO PICTURE DAY 35

DATA ANALYSIS
I saw that my organic potatoes grew a lot more then my
regular potatoes. By the twenty-seventh the organic
potatoes grew two more centimeters then the regulars.
By November tenth the regulars only grew one
centimeter while the organics grew four more
centimeters.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, my hypothesis was correct regarding
the organic potato sprouting the largest. I
thought the organic potato would sprout the best
because it doesnt have the thirty- five different
chemicals on them.

REFERENCES
Goldberg, Max. "The Health Risks of Eating
Conventionally-Grown Potatoes." Livingmaxwell:
A Guide to Organic Food & Drink. 30 Nov. 2013.
Web. 18 Nov. 2015.