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Through extensive research of information online and gardening books from my parents I found out the exact amount of water each tree should be receiving and what counts as “excessive” and “the right amount”. In my study, the plum tree is the moderately watered fruit tree, in which it gets 8 liters of water per week. Ideally, a plum tree should be watered twice a week, which means each watering day the tree gets 4 liters.
The pear tree on the other hand gets less water, if it were the moderately watered tree. The right amount of water is 4 liters per week and watering twice a week, so 2 liters of water per watering. In this study, the pear tree is the “excessively” watered tree so I am watering it the same amount as the pear tree, which is 4 liters twice a week.
The cherry tree does not receive any watering, although would normally be maintained at 4 liters twice a week.
I choose two nights per tree to water them, but never both trees on the same night. Each tree expands an area of 1 square meter, so my quadrats are split into 9 sections, and fruit is counted individually in each section. So far I have done 2 replicates, as the fruit is just starting to produce and grow. I plan on collecting data until August to get the maximum yield of fruit, so 10 replicates altogether. In the end I will do a final count of fruit on each tree to complete my study and most likely just use that number for my conclusion. The overall number throughout the whole study is mainly just for my curiosity.
So far my sampling design has been working out for me. If I were to redo this experiment I would net the trees so birds couldn’t pick at the fruit and potentially disrupt a true fruit yield. Patterns I have noticed come from more the leaves of the tree than what the fruit looks like, although it might yet be too early to tell how this is going to affect the fruit itself. The cherry tree and the pear tree both have unhealthy looking leaves that curl up, with some turning reddish/brown and wilting. The plum tree has healthy looking dark green leaves. In comparison to last year, the cherries growing on the tree don’t seem to be as abundant this year, but that can be due to other variables I haven’t accounted for in this study.
Cherry: no watering- drought
Plum: normal watering- control
Pear tree: excessive watering- too much water stress
there is some good followup to comments on assignments! good work