Kelsey shows cows for the 4-H dairy club, plays the piano, and enjoys public speaking. She hopes to pursue a career in space science because, she says, "I enjoy astronomy and love reaching for the stars."
Kelsey's father returned from an agriculture conference excited about a new soluble silicon soil additive. He explained that even though South Florida soil is sandy, most of the silicon is not available to plants, which need it to grow. Kelsey decided to see if the additive really worked.
Kelsey planted oats in five 15-gallon pails. The first pail was the control; the second had ½ cup of the additive per gallon of soil; the third used plain soil and fertilizer; the fourth had ½ cup additive per gallon of soil plus fertilizer; and the fifth had 1 cup additive per gallon of soil plus fertilizer. Kelsey watered each bucket equally. After four weeks, she clipped, dried, and weighed the plants. She repeated the procedure two more times. The plants with silicon added grew faster than the plants grown without silicon.
