WCL (Wet Chemistry Lab) sample Options

[Juramike]

We'll soon know what kinds of crops we can grow on Mars! Bonus, the fruits will be already freeze-dried!

Handy list of preferred pH's of common garden plants.

-Mike

[Juramike]

Well....in one sense the press has picked up on a key finding, if you look at it from the eventually-there-will-be-colonists-on-Mars in a "Farmer in the Sky" point of view: the results of the basic soil of this one analysis help bring Mars down to Earth. I can imagine what kinds of crops might be grown there someday.

The Big Three, NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium), can be adjusted by large amounts of fertilizer, and trace micronutrients can also be easily added (I use Greensand) to soil. Soil microorganisms and plants can be coaxed to live as long as there aren't any wierd yukkies (funkybad salts like arsenic) or other reservoirs of difficult reactive species.

Soil pH, while adjustable, can be a pain to deal with. Ask anyone from Texas trying to grow acid-loving rhododendrons in alkaline caliche. You can do it, but you will be adding soil amendments forever. It is a losing battle, as the background soil will continually be trying to buffer out the tiny acid patch you've installed to grow your rhodys.

So when the full results of the soil analysis are complete, (and assuming no funkybad stuff) it will be possible to picture what bags of soil amendments and other materials would be required to mix into martian soil to make it suitable for agriculture.

I have no idea why, but I find that concept both fascinating and comforting.

-Mike

[belleraphon1]

I have no idea why, but I find that concept both fascinating and comforting.
-Mike

Mike... so do I.... "The Farmer in the Sky" has just gotten a tiny bit closer to reality .....
To me this is like being in a hard science fiction story... and so much more to come.

Craig