New Mars Forums

Re: Building the Soil.

After the soil is prepared.

The Importance of Bees and the Selection of Low Maintenance Crops vs High Maintenance.

I'm new to this forum and I am not a scientist. However, I have a brother n law who is in fact a Rocket Scientist / Flight Director at JPL/Nasa. His involvement with the Exploration of Mars has boosted my already long existing fascination with the Red Planet. Please forgive my lack of knowledge but as Elon Musk with Space X and Steve Jobs with Apple have shown. A mind is still a mind. And an overactive imagination can be a great resource in any process of " getting the job done."

I haven't noticed too many articles or the mentioning of Bees on Mars. From my distant but quite intensive experience on a farm in my youth I remember being told that "crops won't grow without the bees."  And so, I would imagine that any endeavor to grow crops on Mars would have to include one of Earth's most successful horticulturist. Unless done so artificially, why not use Bees? If it's possible to successfully transport them to the Red Planet?

Farms are one thing. Gardens are another. You don't need a farm to feed a family or even several families. Farms are for income. Gardens are for nourishment. That being said, I member my late Grandmother's tiny garden that she always maintained next to her home. The entire garden was little more than a 12 by 12 foot square plot of earth. She would till the soil with either chicken or horse manure.

The garden's compact size made it easy to maintain. But the vegetables and plants within the garden were ( in her words) " low maintenance." 

For instance: Pole Butter Beans ( high in protein and very delicious) are usually about 6 ft tall and 2 ft in diameter. And one plant could easily produce more than enough beans to feed a grown adult three meals a day. And as long as the temperature is above frost and as long as you continue picking the beans they will produce, indefinitely. Yes, I said indefinitely. She had an average of 4 to 6 Poles of of Butter Beans. And after freezing or freeze drying more beans than she could store, most were given away to her neighbors. That's just the butter beans. Then there were tomato plants, squash, Pole Green Beans ( they too produced the same amount and continued indefinitely as with the Butter Beans) Okra, etc. 

These plants were low maintenance /high yield. While things like potatoes, corn, wheat and other grains required too much space, too much labor with too little yield to qualify making it on my Grandmother's list. Thus, high maintenance.

Summary:  (After the small plot of Martian soil has been prepared)

In my humble opinion. Bees are a must (unless artificial pollination is utilized).

And, to grow crops on Mars would be best served by following the advice of someone whom, if given a relatively small amount of soil, fertilizer, water and seeds in a 12 by 12 Greenhouse could feed a 16 man crew of Martians,.......indefinitely.  With the exception of fertilizer replacement. Perhaps Miracle Grow, Rabbit feces, etc?

Thanks for allowing me to post.