Fast Plants Final Reflection

During this past semester in Biochem 2. We have been observing fast plants (F1) and their fast plant offspring (F2). In the beginning of this semester we grew 5 types fast plants (Standard, Non-purple, yellow-green and etc) and they took about 3 weeks to grow before they were ready to be pollinated. Once they were pollinated, we planted the seeds they bared about 2 month after. The F2 plants were not as successful as their parents, of the 4 plots only one seedling germinated, but it didn’t last more than a week before it shriveled up and died. We were able to identify some features of the Sprout to be a purple steam, so one of it’s parents must have been a standard and a B F1 plant. In this mini project we found that the F1 plants grew a lot faster than the F2 plants and that they were able to reproduce. Some of the factors that could have hindered our F2 plant growth might be the soil. One reason for this could have been because we didn’t change the soil from when they were hosting the parent plant. The other reason could have been because we didn’t cover the plots in enough soil. In the parent plant, each plot was filled to the top, but in the F2 plants the plots were only filled about half way. Another factor that could have affected their growed could have been the amount of light they received. The F1 plants were under constant light while the F2 plants had a timer that only gave they about 6-7 hours or light each day. Something that stood out to me in this unit was the F2 plants. This is because even though their parents the F1 plants were able to survive long enough to reproduce, it doesn’t mean that their children will too. Contrary to my prediction the F2 plants were not stronger than the F1 plants.