Introduction
Farmer Dan went to visit his
friend, Josh, who just inherited a farm from his family. Josh grew up in the city and didn’t know
much about farming at all. Josh
inherited the farm in May. The farm
papers were water damaged, so he could only read a couple words off of them. When Dan went to visit Josh in June, Josh
said that his crops are dying. “I
don’t know what could be wrong!” said Josh.
“Let’s try to solve the mystery together” said Dan.
Task
After all of your research and calculations, write a 3 paragraph paper
about your findings.
Process
The first question Farmer Dan asked was about the
crop. “What kind of crop is it?” “I don’t know for sure,” said Josh, “but
here is a picture of it. All I could
read in the papers was that the crop ended in an ‘o’.
I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but the leaves have a
strong stench. I can’t decide what
it smells like, though.”
“Potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco are all common
crops that end in ‘o’.” said Farmer Dan.
“Let’s look at the leaves closely and figure out what kind of crop it is.
Which leaves match the best? Look closely at the edges, size, and
overall look of the plant.”
î
Look at the
tobacco plant.
î
Look at the tomato plant.
î
Look at the potato plant.
“Which of the three can you immediately rule out?”
asked Dan.
“Let’s take a closer look at the remaining two
options” said Dan.
Click through the pages using the green arrows until you get to
investigate the two options.
“Oh, I know which one it is!” said Josh.
Click on your prediction to check you answer.
“Okay Josh.
Now that we know what kind of crops are growing out there, we need to
figure out how to take care of them” said Dan.
“How often are you watering the crop, Josh?”
“Every day!
I don’t want them to die” Josh replied.
“Oh-,” said Dan, “we need to research how much water
you should be giving them.”
î
Do all of your calculations here on the water worksheet.
î
Read the paragraph under the heading, Watering. What happens when you over-water tomatoes?
î
What advice would you give Josh about watering his
crop? Tell a classmate 3 ideas you
read from in article.
“Dan, it seems like I have things all wrong. The crops aren’t producing any harvest,
because I am over-watering them.
Were they even planted at the right time?
I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Don’t get discouraged Josh. To find out about planting, we just need
to check the average temperatures and see if that matches to the ideal
temperature and harvest time for your crop.”
î
Predict what are the ideal
temperatures for tomatoes are.
Look in the Environmental Preferences
section to check your guess.
î
Take a closer look at the temperatures of the summer months. Average and graph the temperatures
on the corresponding worksheet.
î
Mark both the high and the low ideal temperatures across the graph in green,
by drawing a line parallel to the x axis.
Lightly shade in that area to help see where the temperatures fall.
î
Compare your graphed temperature averages and your ideal temperature range. What can you predict will happen to the
crop? Look at the previous website
again and read the paragraph called
Temperature and Humidity under the bold heading,
Causes of Poor Tomato Fruit Set.
Does your prediction change?
“Well, I know I’m not going to get a lot of fruit
because it’s too hot outside. When
do I pick the fruit that is produced, though?” asked Josh.
“That’s easy.
We just have to look at the maturity date of the crop – that’s all!”
Under the
heading, Harvesting and Storage, how
long does it take for these plants to have ripened fruit?
According
to this website,
what color should the fruit be when it is picked off the vine?
“How am I going to get them all out of the field?
I have a lot of picking to do.
Farming seems to be hard work, but I think I’m going to like it” said Josh.
“It is, but
“Now that I know much more about farming tomatoes,
next year will be much better.”
Read the facts about
Virginia tomatoes under the heading
General Production Information.
Conclusion
Dan and
Josh learned a lot together solving the mystery of his crops. Write a 3 paragraph, expository essay
about tomatoes. Imagine you’re
describing to your audience exactly how to grow tomatoes in
Evaluation
See the teacher page for grading rubrics, answer
keys, aligned SOLs, unit extensions, and additional resources.
Credits
This
WebQuest was created by Kelly Henaghan for
Last revised: December, 2008
© 2008 Agriculture in the Classroom;
All Rights Reserved