OUR WHEAT CROP MYSTERY

20121014-164532.jpg


When we returned to school after the Term Three holidays, we noticed that our class wheat crop had changed. The wheat is dead. The lifecycle of our wheat crop has been disrupted.
What do you think might have caused this lifecycle disruption? Is there anything that you are wondering about our wheat crop? How do you feel about what has happened? Please comment here. Your thinking will help us solve the mystery and it may help us find a practical solution to the problem in our class garden bed.

29 thoughts on “OUR WHEAT CROP MYSTERY

  1. How disappointing! Did your crop have enough water? Did you recently use fertilizer or plant food on it? My husband killed some tomato plants last summer because he added too much plant food. Good luck in solving the dead wheat crop mystery!

    • Thank you for your comment Louise. We always love receiving comments from Texas friends. Yes, we did use plant food on it: earthworms and their castings from our class earthworm farm – the best possible plant food! Maybe you could get your husband a worm farm for Christmas, to use the castings on his tomato plants. We have contacted a farmer and an ecologist about our problem, and now we are waiting for the answer. We will keep you posted.
      cheers
      Brette

    • Thanks for your comment Hanifi. We believe the plant is dead because it has changed colour suddenly, from green to yellow. The leaves, stem and roots have withered. The plants have stopped growing. I also sent a photo to a farmer in Western Australia, and he said that the wheat is definitely dead.
      cheers
      Ms Lockyer

    • Thankyou for your thoughtful comment Alexander. The root system of the plant was going very well but now the whole plant has died. Maybe the change happened because of something that spread through the plant from the roots? Can you please encourage your class mates to respond to our blog post about the wheat? The more ideas, the better.
      cheers
      Ms Lockyer

  2. I think the wheat crop is a bit soft.
    I know some people from ather classes thing it’s still alive.
    Good luck.
    From Antonio

  3. Hi Mrs Lockyer and 2L
    I think it is because over the holidays no one was watering the plants and also because the worms might be sick from the dryness

  4. I think it is because the plants are getting dry from to much sun and because the worms might be sick from no water and because they might be dying and it might not be good for the plants

    • Thanks for your comments Claudia. I think your ideas are good. In the holidays, just before the wheat died, we had quite a bit of rain. If there had been no rain the wheat plants would have been very droopy. I will let you know what happened when I find out.
      cheers
      Ms Lockyer

  5. Hi 2L
    How disappointed and sad I felt when I saw that the wheat crop that you took so much pride and effert in plantung had died. We all had so much fun planting the seedlings and keeping track of it’s life cycle. Hopefully, you can all find out and learn from what went wrong and next time, your crop will survive. Good luck in solving the mystery and keep us informed.

  6. Hi ms Lockyer and class I have wheat at my house it died but I grew more .so i think i know why it died first we needed plant food and air. From Blake

  7. I think the wheat is dead because the worm poo is not healthy for the plants because our experiment the pot with no worm poo is more likely to grow. Why is that Ms Lockyer? From Shoma

  8. But wait a second it is a bit yellow. It’s
    because kids from year two don’t water. It no more. They have forgot about watering the weat crop now. Maybe try it? Jai. 🙂

  9. Hi Ms Lockyer
    I think that our wheat crop had died,
    because maybe someone spilt something in it.
    I feel sad because our wheat crop had died.
    Good luck solving this problem.

  10. Hello Ms Lockyer’s Class,

    There are a few things that might have caused wheat to have died.

    Too much or too little water can be a problem. Plants tend to go from green to a yellow colour before dying. If you see this happening, you should check to see if the soil needs more or less water.

    Another thing can be what is known as the pH of the soil. This is how acid a soil is. Using lime can change the pH of a soil if the pH level is low. Plant nurseries often have soil testing kits.

    Here is a link about pH level…
    http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/plymouth/cropsci/docs/how_soil_pH_affects_yields.html

    One more possibility is someone may have been using weed spray nearby and some may have got on to the plants but I don’t think this is as likely.

    I hope you can solve the mystery. Growing grains and vegetables is not only fun, you are able to eat what is produced.

    @RossMannell
    Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia

  11. Hi from South Australia,

    Sorry to hear about your wheat crop. Lots of families in my area have wheat on their farms and every year I hear them talking about the timing of rain. 2 years ago just before Christmas we had a big storm with lots of rain, which is unusual here at hat time of year. The farmers were really upset about it and many of them lost their grain crops or they weren’t as good as they’d hoped for. Maybe the rain in your holidays came at the wrong time in the growth of our grain?

    Good luck solving the mystery!

    Kirsty Rosenzweig
    Teacher in SA

  12. Hi gr 2,
    We have had a class discussion. 6 of our 9 students grow wheat on their farms.
    They have thought that it maybe rust but more likely too wet.
    We can’t wait to find out the answer!
    Mr. S

  13. Hi there Ms Lockyer and Overnewton year 2s,
    It’s really sad that your wheat has died, what a mystery!

    We have come up with a few ideas about why it might have died.
    Mack: Did your wheat have enough sun or water?
    Zali: Was the weather too cold?
    Hugh: Could someone have damaged it by jumping on it on the holidays?

    Evan and Sasha have thought of something you could construct to protect your wheat. We are going to post these on our blog for you to see.

    Good luck with the mystery!
    Room 5 Superstars

  14. Hi guys.
    Sorry about your wheat crop. You must have been disappointed. I planted some veggies a couple of week ago and the next day, some of them were gone so I know a little of how you feel. I think the possums ate my seedlings but I don’t think possums have anything to do with your wheat. I guess I am thinking like lots of the other people who have commented that maybe it has something to do with water, too much or too little. Good luck solving the mystery. Did you have any plans for when you harvested the wheat??
    From Mary
    3/4 teacher in North Ringwood

  15. Pingback: Superstars to the rescue! | Reach for the stars with Room 5!

Leave a Reply to Mary Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *