What's plan B for a science project?

If these plants are already suffering from some kind of stress, you won't be able to put them in other soil and have any way of knowing if it's the soil having any effect on them; your project won't have a conclusion.

As far as what's wrong with them, no way of knowing without the names of the plants, what kind of care you've given them so far. (temperature, water, light)

Hmmm, I suspect a bit of procrastination is evident here; either in putting off the project, or putting off learning how to care for the plants. Neither your teacher nor Nature is going to like that - the teacher may flunk you, but as you are finding out, Nature is less forgiving and gets rid of failures whether it's the plant's fault or not.

Meanawhile, you have a problem because A) it takes time for noticeable differences in growth/coloring to be apparent to the casual eye and B) most houseplants are sturdy enough to tolerate mistreatment such as soil variation for literally months before you can see a difference (or else they are so tender that death will take place due to wrong temperatures, poor light conditions, or improper moisture long before they can react to different sorts of soil).

See if your teacher will accept a report on how soil variances affect the seed sprouting and young growth. Lettuce will sprout quickly and grow rapidly -- and the seed should be available at your local stores; I'd suggest using a leaf lettuce such as Black-seeded Simpson. Get all your samples of soil (and label them when you get them), and let them get up to room temperature. Buy a pack of 1-oz paper cups and label 6 cups to match each soil label. use a pin to poke a hole in the bottom of each cup. Be sure the soil is moist but not wet -- stick your finger in: if you feel dampness that's good; mud is bad; dry as dust is very bad. Fill each little cup with the matching soil and tap the top with one finger [you'll probably tap the soil down and need to add more]; then put 2 or 3 seeds on top of the soil. Now sprinkle more soil to cover the seeds - this is a guessing game... just guess how much will put another 1/8" soil over the seeds. Next each pot should be sprinkled with enough water to dampen the top of the soil -- fill a clean windex bottle with warm water and mist! Now put the pots on a tray or paper plate, cover the whole plate with a transparent cling wrap, and put it onto the top of your water heater or a similar place where they can be warm but not cooked. A sunny windowsill is good -- if the sill itself is warm: put your hand on the sill for a couple minutes to feel the temperature: if your fingers get cold, any seeds will shiver instead of sprouting. Prepare your report form now: describe the soil types; note the date seeds were planted. Every day you will need to check the soil to be sure the soil's surface is moist (carefully - don't poke the seeds). In about a week, the seeds should start sprouting: remove the cling wrap (it helps keep the seeds moist but it will hurt the sprouts) and then note when each seedling came up; what color the leaves are, and use a ruler to measure how much growth occurred since the previous day. The seedlings will need sunshine (and at this time of year, several hours of additional light from a lamp) in order to grow. Every day or two, you will need to water very deeply - that means get the soil really wet! or else the sprouts will flop over and die of thirst. Within 2 weeks you should have enough information to determine how much, if any, difference was apparent between the plants. If you study up a bit, you might be able to determine whether the difference was caused by soil type (clay, sandy) or by nutrients (was one soil more loamy than another). Oh, and if you want, - after you write your report - you can make a salad out of the subject.

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

Having had the fun of judging science fairs in the past, I can attest to the fact that in SOME cases, there is little or no guidance from teachers or parents.

I suggest that you talk to your science teacher and have him or her guide you in what you should do now, and what you should have done to prevent your houseplants from dieing.

But i don't miss treat them i have had them for about two months now. I water them in the morning, because i read that it is better to water them in the mmorning. I put them near the window for sunlight but I never open thw indow, because i read that they can die if they get a draft. I temp. of the soil is 67 degrees because i read about plantsa liking the soil temp at 67 degrees to 75 degrees on this website! Please, I don't want to fail, I am a sercious satudent. someone must know something that can help!!!!!

Again, we really can't help you without knowing what kind of plants they are. I'd love to send you a fact sheet about the best kind of care for your plants, but without knowing what you have....I just can't help.

Hopefully, you aren't watering EVERY morning!

Having had them for 2 months does sound good, but watering every morning may be too much unless they have really good drainage -- and even then, most house plants like a few days between waterings to give the soil a chance to re-oxygenate. Unless you are growing african violets, it's usually better to water "deeply" (that means really saturate the soil), let the excess water drain through, and then wait until the soil is dry before watering again.

If you don't have the tags/labels to give the name, try your local library for a book with pictures of common houseplants. Even a common name would give us an idea, since there is a world of difference between caring for african violets, spider plants, jade plants, or aloe - off the top of my head, each of those have very different needs from the others.

Meldy, you tried your darndest!!! I think Chichi gave up on us.