Growing Garlic: A Quick Demonstration on Mitosis

Rebecca Yang
March 6, 2015
Elizabeth Zhao
Jasmine Chang
Michael Pacitti
Nick Zajac

Bishop George Ahr High School

2014-2015
Objective
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The objective of this experiment was to find out which solution was the most
effective in growing garlic.
Introduction
Garlic has the potential to grow as high as 4 feet tall, under the proper
circumstances. Each group came up with different conditions for the garlic to grow
in. In this experiment, shampoo, conditioner, Mountain Dew energy drink, and
rubbing alcohol were used, with water as a control.
Procedure
First, the cloves were removed from the bulb and peeled. They were placed in
the test tubes with the hard tip facing down, which is where the roots were going to
grow out of. The test tubes were then filled with each solution (the aforementioned
shampoo, conditioner, Mountain Dew energy drink, rubbing alcohol, and water), so
that only the bottom portion of the clove was submerged. The test tubes were
placed under a UV lamp to grow for the next two weeks. The growth of the garlic
was then measured and recorded as well. The solutions were also replenished as
needed.
Results

Discussion
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According to the data, the most effective growing solution was water. It grew
a total of 21.5 cm over the two week period. The second most effective solution was
the Mountain Dew energy drink, though it grew less than half than the water, at 10
cm. Conditioner did not yield any results, as it remained a stationery 0 cm
throughout the two week. Shampoo and rubbing alcohol were also not very
effective, though the garlic did grow 4 cm and 5 cm respectively. They both grew a
bit in the beginning, but did not grow much at all in the end.
For obvious reasons, the garlic was nourished and grew the best with water. I
think Mountain Dew was second place because it is a water-based drink, but the
excess additives and acids hindered its potential growth. As for alcohol, it can be
considered more detrimental to the garlic's growth than beneficial. If anything,
certain studies have suggested that alcohol could be used in controlling plant
growth, as in preventing house plants from growing too tall. The shampoo, in my
opinion, was not that effective because although it contains water as well, the
additional cleansing factors and chemicals do not create the most ideal growing
environment. I think that the conditioner had too thick of a consistency and the
garlic was unable to benefit from it.
Conclusion
To conclude, the best growing solution proved to be water, as one would
expect, and our solutions were not as effective.
Of course, this experiment was not conducted with the utmost accuracy. In
the future, the level of each solution could be noted carefully and be kept the same
every day. Additionally, daily observations would allow us to observe growth on a
consistent basis. By controlling the time and solution level factors, we would be able
to know that the growth (or lack of growth) was solely based on the composition of
the solution itself, and that no solution had any other advantages or disadvantages.
Perhaps a consistent growth rate could be observed as well.

References
-Lab Manual
-http://cornellsun.com/blog/2006/04/18/prof-alcohol-helps-control-plant-growth/