5 ms·

Amazing. I wonder if other plant species are better suited to growing in Lunar “soil”. Just like on Earth plants prefer one type of soil to another.

idiotsecant 4y ago
Interestingly ionic stresses on plants is not a problem unique to the moon - There are plenty of places on earth where(relative to typ. earth soil) high salinity soils exist : https://www.agriculture.com/crops/cover-crops/new-life-for-saline-soil https://www.agriculture.com/crops/cover-crops/new-life-for-s... With a little bit of selective breeding and genetic manipulation moon diets might include a lot of specialized barley and sugar beets!
- s0rce 4y ago
  Salicornia do really well in salty marshy areas and are edible!
- chrisweekly 4y ago
  I'm picturing the solar system's first batch of actual moonshine.
  - airstrike 4y ago
    Which for that very reason is a feature in every single piece of space-based sci-fi ever
Maciek416 4y ago
At least _prior_ to knowing anything else about regolith, aside from it sometimes having volcanic origins: Speaking as a person who grows a wide variety of woody tree species (pines, maples, junipers, cottonwoods, azaleas, etc) in inorganic substrates like pure perlite, pure lava, pure pumice (+combinations of those and other volcanic media), and has seen all of these tree species happily send roots into things like IKEA astroturf or blocks of Rockwool, it doesn't surprise me that regolith could maybe work as a grow media.
- rich_sasha 4y ago
  Fascinating... dare I ask, is that a hobby? A very unusual job?
  - Maciek416 4y ago
    Bonsai. Hobby for me, but unusual job for my mentors.
- gibolt 4y ago
  Is it not the case that they'd be 'looking' for good soil beyond those surfaces, even if it wasn't there? It makes sense evolutionarily to 'just work' when possible, especially since the alternative is death
- a1369209993 4y ago
  > pure lava, Is this jargon for some lava-derived rock like obsidian or basalt? Because I'm fairly sure even extremophile bacteria, never mind any kind of tree, wouldn't be able to grow in actual (ie molten rock) lava.
emkoemko 4y ago
just litter the moon with seeds see what does good

idiotsecant 4y ago

Interestingly ionic stresses on plants is not a problem unique to the moon - There are plenty of places on earth where(relative to typ. earth soil) high salinity soils exist : https://www.agriculture.com/crops/cover-crops/new-life-for-saline-soil https://www.agriculture.com/crops/cover-crops/new-life-for-s... With a little bit of selective breeding and genetic manipulation moon diets might include a lot of specialized barley and sugar beets!

s0rce 4y ago
Salicornia do really well in salty marshy areas and are edible!
chrisweekly 4y ago
I'm picturing the solar system's first batch of actual moonshine.
- airstrike 4y ago
  Which for that very reason is a feature in every single piece of space-based sci-fi ever

Maciek416 4y ago

At least _prior_ to knowing anything else about regolith, aside from it sometimes having volcanic origins: Speaking as a person who grows a wide variety of woody tree species (pines, maples, junipers, cottonwoods, azaleas, etc) in inorganic substrates like pure perlite, pure lava, pure pumice (+combinations of those and other volcanic media), and has seen all of these tree species happily send roots into things like IKEA astroturf or blocks of Rockwool, it doesn't surprise me that regolith could maybe work as a grow media.

rich_sasha 4y ago
Fascinating... dare I ask, is that a hobby? A very unusual job?
- Maciek416 4y ago
  Bonsai. Hobby for me, but unusual job for my mentors.
gibolt 4y ago
Is it not the case that they'd be 'looking' for good soil beyond those surfaces, even if it wasn't there? It makes sense evolutionarily to 'just work' when possible, especially since the alternative is death
a1369209993 4y ago
> pure lava, Is this jargon for some lava-derived rock like obsidian or basalt? Because I'm fairly sure even extremophile bacteria, never mind any kind of tree, wouldn't be able to grow in actual (ie molten rock) lava.

emkoemko 4y ago

just litter the moon with seeds see what does good