Horticulture Student Prepares for FFA Agriscience Fair

We are thrilled to spotlight one of our talented horticulture students who is gearing up for the FFA Agriscience Fair at the Indiana FFA State Convention! With a deep passion for growing wildflowers at home, Madeleine Colbert (Decatur Central HS) has embarked on a fascinating research project exploring the relationship between a plant's lifespan and its germination rate.

Driven by curiosity, she devised a hypothesis: could there be a correlation between how long a plant lives and how quickly it germinates? She carefully designed her experiment to answer this question, ensuring that her methodology was sound and reliable. Understanding that certain species of genera might skew the results, she built safeguards into her experiment, allowing for a more accurate analysis.

In rigorous testing, she selected two genera from each family and evaluated two species from each genus. This thorough approach has provided her with a wealth of data. Early results are emerging, and they suggest that annual plants, which have a shorter lifespan, germinate more aggressively than perennial plants that return year after year. As she prepares to present her findings at the Agriscience Fair, we are proud of her dedication and innovative thinking. We look forward to seeing how her research contributes to our understanding of plant biology and horticulture. Best of luck at the Indiana FFA State Convention, Madeleine!