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To simulate a gardening experience on the Red Planet, researchers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Florida Tech Buzz Aldrin Space Institute have begun to experiment with "Martian gardens," using soil from Hawaii similar to the type of soil found on Mars. Martian soil is made up of crushed volcanic rock and contains no organic material, making plant survival significantly more difficult.
To gauge how much soil should be used and which nutrients should be added, researchers grew lettuce in three different types of soil: virtual Martian soil with no nutrients added, virtual Martian soil with nutrients added, and regular potting soil. They reported that the lettuce grown in the Mars-like soil with no nutrients added tasted the same, but had weaker roots and took longer to grow.
Next, they plan to conduct similar experiments with radishes, Swiss chard, kale, Chinese cabbage, snow peas, dwarf peppers and tomatoes.
Potatoes, guys, potatoes.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:33PM
"probably not enough for more than an acre or two"
Not sure if you visualize open spaces or not, but I'll spell it out anyway. Growing food on Mars is going to look like hydroponics and raised beds. Initially, all the spaces with atmosphere are going to be crowded with humans. With each new ship's arrival, those spaces will cyclically grow crowded, then less crowded, then crowded again. And, the plants are going to have to live in the same spaces that the humans do.
I don't imagine that the immigrants to Mars will be making anything so extravagant as a green house, for a long time to come.
Oh yeah - grow lights. There will be grow lights everywhere, because Mars doesn't get as much light as Earth. The difference may not mean much to you or to me, but chlorophyl isn't like us.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Sunday October 09 2016, @10:37PM
Yeah obviously everything would be enclosed and hydroponics would be the majority for a long time, but I meant acres in total area not contiguous. Even the soil-based stuff would rely on hydroponic technology because there isn't much/any soil moisture on Mars and water will be rationed so conventional methods will be too wasteful, and like you said lighting will be an issue for a lot of things (lichens and fungi might be ok without them). Plants in each area will probably be a necessity simply for air recycling, we can do it mechanically but plants are much more efficient.