Experiment Outline - M2

4) Next, he planted the M2 seed. This is the field of soybean plants Dr. Specht was seen spending lots of time in. 

5) In June, July and August, Dr. Specht identified and tagged plants that had a different and interesting appearance or phenotype. At this stage Dr. Specht knew that the phenotype of any plant could be a result of variation in the plant’s genetic makeup or in the environment the plant happens to be growing in. (Dr. Specht was looking for plants that did not stop flowering or indeterminate plants. He never observed any but he did observe plants with other strange phenotypes.) 

6) In October, Dr. Specht pulled the tagged plants, harvested the seed from a single plant, placing that seed in a labeled envelope. The seed was the M3 generation. Notes were recorded in the computer so the phenotype of the plant that was the parent of each envelope of seeds could be looked up.