#704 Lettuce <> Tomato Error

:)

On 7/26/07, Michael Bindner <bindner_space@...> wrote:
>
> The question is whether to grow wheat for bread, pigs for bacon, chickens
> for mayo - lettuce is a given.
>
> Terry Wilson <aftercolumbia@...> wrote: On 7/22/07,
> jaber_1934 <jaber@...> wrote:
> >
> > Starting Tomato Seeds
>
> Hmm...tomatoes...our areonauts will love you for it.
>
> If we are ready to start our seeds, you should already have prepared
> > your soil. The pH should be from 6 to 6.5, and you should have worked
> > in your compost by now, and added all of the necessary vitamins and
> > minerals that the plant your going to seed will be needing.
>
> It should be (I hope) possible to prepare the soil on the ground into
> things
> like "Package A" and "Package B" (similar to the way my friend who does
> smoothies...most ingredients need to be frozen, some "merely
> refrigerated",
> so he has something that comes out of the cooler (a single ingredient
> usually, like milk or orange juice...never both, I can tell you why) and a
> main package that comes out of the freezer...he'll make a few dozen of
> those
> the Friday before a weekend. Finally, there's ice, the ubiquitous smoothie
> bar item.)
>
> To start with it's really important to have some good adjustable
> > fluorescent lights that you can move up and down over your seedbed. If
> > your fluorescent lights have a total wattage of 120 W you should have
> > a minimum of 40 W of incandescent bulbs to go with that.
>
> How big an area? I'm hoping that for a Mars greenhouse requiring
> Earth-level solar constant, it should be possible to get a big linear
> Fresnel magnifier to concentrate a square metre of light onto a six square
> foot area (approximating Earth-level sunlight). Hopefully, there's enough
> UV for effective rigidizing of thermoplastic inflatables (i.e. blow it up,
> let it sit in the sun, and it'll keep its shape after you let the air out)
> so that they'll rigidize within a reasonable period of time. This would
> allow the crew to enter such an inflatable greenhouse and set up the
> seedbeds. If the flexible panels between each concentrator (they would be
> short) were designed to absorb heat during the day and hold it at night
> (tough without making some sort of adjustment at dawn and dusk), it should
> be able to get pretty toasty in there...as long as we don't have the sort
> of
> storm we got right now.
>
> The reason
> > for that is that your fluorescent lights are short on light in the red
> > spectrum. Now it is true that you can buy fluorescent lights that will
> > cover that entire spectrum including those red and far red. I think
> > you'll find those much more expensive though. It may be necessary to
> > move your lights either up or down in order to adjust the temperature
> > of the air or over the seeds. If you add a small fan, it can be very
> > beneficial in that it continues to circulate fresh air over your seeds.
>
> "Small Fan" = standard life support item, no biggie. For temperature, say,
> if we have one greenhouse with plants that like a bunch of different
> temperatures, it should be possible to hang some nichrome wires for the
> stuff that wants to be warmer (especially at night.) For space, this isn't
> as elegant, even as incandescent bulbs, but with concentrated sunlight,
> we'll probably have the right amount of red light already.
>
> For tomato seeds, I like to Pre-sprout them. I soak them in water
> > for from eight to 10 hours and then drain off the water. I then place
> > them on damp paper towels, though not too wet. I then placed them in
> > an unsealed plastic bag and put in a warm spot, preferably 70° F is
> > optimum. They will sprout in a few days to a week saving much time
> > for growing. Be sure and check the bags daily!
>
> Ever use those disgusting little peat pellets? I have, and they worked
> fine
> for sprouting the seeds, but they never took root in the garden for some
> reason (frost...I live in Calgary, where snow in May is common, and snow
> in
> June is not unprecedented...It might not be possible to reliably grow
> tomatoes in this city without a greenhouse.
>
> You must handle the little sproutlings very carefully when you put
> > them in pots. I either use tweezers or forceps when handling them. If
> > you use a method other than pre-sprouting you need to use a sterile
> > planting mix that has no fertilizer in it as fertilizer sometimes
> > hinders the sprouting process. You can buy a quality ProMix for
> > commercial planting in containers that has lots of peat moss, perlite,
> > and vermiculite and it will do a better job.
>
> I haven't heard that specific name, but I know Revy (Rona, now, but at the
> time I last tried growing tomatoes...) has several specially designed
> potting mixes. They also have the individual ingredients, so you can make
> your own mix. I remember the white stuff, rusty colored stuff and the
> smelly stuff (being vermiculite, perlite, and moss...or did they call it
> "organic sumthin-oruther"?) In retrospect, I should have greenhoused them,
> then used a lot more of that stuff.
>
> As soon as they sprout,
> > you can add about one third strength of fish or kelp/fish emulsion.
>
> I missed that completely. Is there a specific one for plants? I know they
> have fish foods made of those ingredients.
>
> You should never ever use your own garden soil or reuse any of your
> > soil from the previous season as this may have plant diseases, fungi
> > or insect problems.
>
> Now he tells me... That leads me to the question, how do we recycle/reuse
> soil from one season to the next on Mars? It isn't too likely that we'll
> be
> able to bring that much from Earth, and even if we can, the sydonic period
> and growing season aren't exactly the same. Will mixes last if they arrive
> 16 months before we can use them? (I'm exagerating...let's start colonies
> in both hemispheres at the same time :)
>
> One other thing that is important is never water
> > seedlings from the top or mist them from the top, always from the
> > bottom.
>
> Good...it is easier to do it that way in microgravity and low gravity
> environments.
>
> Terry
>
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>
>
>
>
>
> Michael Bindner
>
> International Space Consortium
> www.geocities.com/bindner_space/index.html
>
> Yahoo Group
> http://groups.yahoo.com/internationalspace/
>
> Personal Web Directory
> www.geocities.com/mikeybdc/index.html
>
>
>
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>
>
> WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO GET TO MARS IN THIS LIFE TIME.
> The nine life support systems (as defined by NASA) are:
> Air Supply - Food production and delivery - Waste management, - Water
> supply - Temperature control - Electricity - Transportation -Communications
> - Recreation
> I include: Radiation Protection. - Information
> storage/retrieval/processing - Ability to construct necessary additions
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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