Plant Science Merit Badge
Nine requirements, with requirement 8's three options and their nested alternatives drawn as the two-answer branch they are, so that only the path chosen is shown.
10 steps (99 parts inside them). 99 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Plant Science Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 6 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 6 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.
Your progress
102 steps can be started now; 5 are waiting on something else.
Clear ticksYour ticks are kept in this browser, so they will still be here next time. They are in the address as well, so a link to this page carries them to another device.
The steps
Stage 1 of 8
2 steps,
1 ticked
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1. Draw a flowering plant and label five parts Task
Five or more parts, each with what it does. The drawing is part of the requirement, not an aid to it.
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8. Choose ONE option, and then choose again inside it Often forgotten Decision
Agronomy, Horticulture or Field Botany. Whichever you pick you do ALL of its requirements, and one of those requirements is itself a choice between alternatives. This one requirement is most of the badge.
Decide this one early, and decide it on whether you can wait for a growing season. Option B ALWAYS requires one, all four of its alternatives plant something and keep it alive through a season. Option A requires one for Corn, Cotton and Oil Crops, but not for Forage Crops or Small Grains. Option C requires none at all. Nothing else on this badge has anything like that effect on how long it takes.
97 parts, 1 ticked
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8(A)(3). A pest and a disease for each of corn, small grains and cotton Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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8(A)(5)(A)(1). Grow a plot of corn, inspected by your counselor Optional May not apply Often forgotten Your counselor has to inspect the plot, which means they have to come and see it while it is standing. Agree that visit when you plant, not when you are ready to sign off.
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8(A)(5)(B)(1). Grow a plot of cotton, inspected by your counselor Optional May not apply Often forgotten Your counselor has to inspect the plot while it is standing. Arrange the visit at planting time.
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8(A)(5)(C)(2). How legumes and livestock enrich or deplete soil Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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8(A)(5)(D)(2). Help harvest a grain crop Optional May not apply Often forgotten This is somebody else's harvest, happening at their convenience and not yours. If you pick Small Grains, find the farm before you need it.
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8(A)(5)(E)(1). Grow a plot of soybeans, inspected by your counselor Optional May not apply Often forgotten Your counselor has to inspect the plot while it is standing. Arrange the visit at planting time.
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8(B)(5)(A)(2). Transplant to a bed and keep it to season's end Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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8(B)(5)(B)(1). Plant five fruit or nut trees, vines or berry plants Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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8(B)(5)(C)(1). Plant five or more trees or shrubs in a landscape setting Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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8(B)(5)(C)(3). Ten more trees, and how each is used in the landscape Optional May not apply Often forgotten Usually comes after 6. The plant lists: ten native, ten cultivated, five invasive.
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8(C)(1). Visit a natural area, and observe three things there Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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8(C)(3). How an identification key works, and key out ten plants Optional May not apply Often forgotten Usually comes after 6. The plant lists: ten native, ten cultivated, five invasive. This requirement asks for ten plants "in addition to those in general requirement 5 above". Requirement 5 is about propagation and lists no plants: requirement 6 is the one with the plant lists. Option B's equivalent step, 8(B)(5)(C)(3), says "general requirement 6" for the same kind of reference, and the printed requirements book says 5 in both places. So one has been corrected and this one has not. Read it as requirement 6: your ten should be ten that are not already on those lists.
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8(C)(6)(b)(1). Two sites, one of them new Optional May not apply Often forgotten Usually comes after 8(C)(1). Visit a natural area, and observe three things there.
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8(C)(6)(c)(1). Two sites, one of them new Optional May not apply Often forgotten Usually comes after 8(C)(1). Visit a natural area, and observe three things there.
Stage 2 of 8
2 steps
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2. Photosynthesis, and five ways people depend on plants Task
Explain the process and why it matters, then at least five ways humans depend on plants.
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9. Leave No Trace and the Outdoor Code, what you actually did Often forgotten Task
Their importance to plant science, then how YOU followed them in natural areas during field observation, specimen collection and identification. Written in the past tense, so it reports on work already done.
Stage 3 of 8
1 step
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3. Honeybees and other pollinators Task
How pollinating insects are important to plant life.
Stage 4 of 8
1 step
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4. What affects plants, and what soil actually is Task
Water, light, air, temperature and pests; then the nature, function and importance of soil, the texture, structure and composition of a fertile one, and how soil may be improved.
Stage 5 of 8
1 step
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5. Five ways to propagate, and grow a plant by one of them Often forgotten Task
Seeds, roots, cuttings, tubers and grafting explained, then one of them actually done. Everybody grows something on this badge, whichever option they choose.
Stage 6 of 8
1 step
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6. The plant lists: ten native, ten cultivated, five invasive Often forgotten Requirement
By common name, growing near your home, plus five invasive non-natives with how they harm and how their spread is avoided or controlled without damaging people, wildlife or the environment. Requirement 8 refers back to these lists.
Stage 7 of 8
1 step
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7. A career, or a hobby Requirement
ONE of two, and nothing else on the badge depends on which.
2 parts
Stage 8 of 8
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 7. A career, or a hobby and 9. Leave No Trace and the Outdoor Code, what you actually did.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.