Crew 167 GreenHab Reports

April 3, 2016

Greetings Mission Support!

Today I went out to do a cursory inspection of the greenhab. It is still not setup, although there are a few tanks labeled "fish" and some seeds of various vegetables. These seem to be from some past setup for a project that has yet to begin.

I took the tomato seeds from the Greenhab, in hopes that we can plant them and begin germination in the water boxes that Julie had constructed in the Hab. Checking in with her old radish test, I have come to the same conclusion as she did. While the coffee grounds still have very small sprouts, the soil coffee mixture, has not produced any results at all. Julie was probably accurate in that the compact clay is not conducive to plant growth. There is potting soil in the outside in the Greenhab.

Tomorrow, we will throw away the radish water box that did not grow, and I will plant tomato seeds in two separate nutrients. We will plant half of the seeds in coffee grounds and water and the other half will be in the potting soil.

Dakota Clayton

April 4, 2016

Today I planted tomato seeds with the assistance of geologist Jonathan Beechner and chemist Amanda Sansom. The tomato seeds were planted in water boxes designed by the Crew 166 GreenHab keeper Julie Mertens.  These are kept in an indoor vented mini-Greenhouse.  It is closet shaped, lined with reflective material, and uses a broad-spectrum grow-lights.  Half of the tomato seeds are planted in the potting soil retrieved from the Greenhab, the other half are grown in recycled coffee grounds.  We threw out the clay that did not grow the radish seeds.  The sprouts of the radishes in the coffee grounds are still present, but measureable growth has not yet occurred and it is unlikely, but tomorrow we are moving them to slightly larger pots. The germination trays and paper filters were reused.  ¼ cup of water was added to the two boxes as evaporation will continue to reduce water levels.

April 5, 2016

Summary:

Today I walked outside to collect small pebbles for the transplant of radishes from the small planters to the larger pots.  There were a total of 12 plants that were moved to larger planters utilizing a mix of potting soil from the GreenHab and recycled coffee grounds.  I was assisted by our chemist Amanda Sansom, and geologist Jonathan Beechner.  Per e-mail suggestion of mission support yesterday, the pebbles were placed in the bottom of the pots so that the plant roots are not resting directly in water, and so that the soil can drain better.  We are still awaiting the tomato sprouts to appear.  The water box seems to still be working great.

Problems Encountered:

When walking through the corridor from the Hab to the GreenHab to collect pebbles, my planters blew away because I forgot to place a rock in them to weigh them down.  I had to put on my suit, helmet, boots and gloves so that I could go back outside to retrieve them.  We cannot afford to waste any materials we can use.

Dakota Clayton

April 7, 2016

Summary:

Continued conservative watering.  Added approximately quarter cup to water box, as evaporation has caused it to deplete.   This will maintain nice humidity for the plants.  Still no results on the tomato seeds.  I will let the following crew know, and if by next week there is no sprouts we will continue experimentation in an attempt to rule out that the seeds were too old or over exposed to extreme heat.

Radish sprouts not showing measureable growth.  One sprout is not doing well even in the new pots with the gravel in the bottom.  Fingers crossed anxiously waiting.

April 8, 2016

Summary:

Today there was the first time I thought there was noticeable growth in the transplanted radish sprouts. The best was about 2-3mm. One of the sprouts look like they are not thriving since the transplant, however we will see if it bounces back. I am still waiting on tomato sprouts, I will let the control seed sit in the wet napkin per mission support suggestion.

Thanks Mission Support!

Dakota Clayton

April 9, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

The following greenhab report was written by Drew Canham, but all future reports will be written by me, Jonathan Beechner.

GreenHab Report: 04092016

Crew 167B relieved our peer Crew 167A today.  Dakota briefed me on duties expected of us related to the Greenhab in general, the tomato seed project, and the radishes.  We discussed his procedures so that I could continue his practices in hopes that consistency would foster good eats.

We discussed the water box (I believe the Belgian crew implemented this), and the humidity associated with it.

Tomatoes:

There are no sprouts evident.  There is also no progress with the seed in the damp paper towel.  Ultimately, he advised that if by weeks end there were no tomato sprouts, we should attempt a new solution in an effort to rule out the possibility that the seeds are damaged.

Radishes:

The sprouts continue to show little growth.   Tomorrow we will measure to see if there has been any progress since his last known measurement of 2-3 mm.

…

Dakota already tended the plants today and advised to take no action today except to turn the lights off.

Jonathan Beechner

Crew GreenHab Officer

April 10, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

Date: 10APR2016 at 7:08 PM

GreenHab Officer Name: Jonathan Beechner

Today was my first day taking care of the greenhab. I turned off the light last night and back on in the morning. The temperature leveled around 76 °F during the daytime. Do you know what I can do to reach 80 °F?

Victoria LaBarre requested that we grow green onions that she brought with her. They are not seeds. They have been partially grown already. We potted the onions and put them in the greenhab, but we have no potting soil, so we used the dirt outside the hab. I don’t believe this contains the nutrients needed to grow the onions.

Tomatoes:

There are no sprouts evident.  The soil was moist today, so I did not water them, but I did dip the paper towel in water. No progress is evident.

Radishes:

The sprouts continue to show growth. They now vary in length from 1.5cm to 4.0cm. I believe there was a typo in previous reports. Previous measurements were reported in millimeters. However, I believe those units should have been centimeters. The radishes are doing well.

Onions:

The onions were potted today. Since they were partially grown, they currently vary in length from 11cm to 18cm. However, I do not believe they will last long in their current soil. I need ideas on what to do with them. Is there a way new soil can be provided? If not, can we do anything to mix our own soil?

Jonathan Beechner

GreenHab Officer

April 11, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

Date: 11APR2016 at 7:15 PM

GreenHab Officer Name: Jonathan Beechner

General Summary:

This morning, in addition to turning on the light to the greenhab, I started up the heater in the downstairs area in an attempt to reach an internal temperature of 80 °F inside the greenhab. The temperature did in fact rise to 79 °F, but I am not yet sure if that was a direct cause of turning on the heater. I will continue this method the rest of the week in hopes that the temperature remains high.

Tomatoes:

There are sprouts today! I found two tomato sprouts, neither of them exceeding 2mm in length. This, of course means the tomato seeds we have been using are good. I hope to see significant growth in the next few days.

Radishes:

The radishes have not grown significantly, but they appear to be healthy. There are no signs of withering, and the soil is moist.

Onions:

I cannot tell for sure if the onions have changed significantly since yesterday. They appear to have slightly withered in certain spots. I will photograph them tonight and compare the picture to their state tomorrow.

Jonathan Beechner

GreenHab Officer

April 12, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

Date: 12APR2016 at 7:23 PM

GreenHab Officer Name: Jonathan Beechner

General Sumary:

Turned on the greenhab light this morning and the heater in the downstairs area. Internal temperature reached 81 °F. The film crew came out, so I gave a short talk about what we are growing in the greenhab and how such experiments relate to travel to Mars.

Tomatoes:

There are still only two sprouts, but they have grown significantly. They now measure 1cm and 2cm. They did not need water today.

Radishes:

There has been no significant growth among the radishes, but they still appear healthy. They did not need water today.

Onions:

The onions have not changed significantly since yesterday. Again, they did not need water today.

Jonathan Beechner

GreenHab Officer

April 13, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

Date: 13APR2016 at 7:23 PM

GreenHab Officer Name: Jonathan Beechner

General Summary:

Turned on the greenhab light this morning and the heater in the downstairs area. Internal temperature reached a high of 86 °F. This is significantly higher than the measurements I took from previous days. Since we are low on potting soil, I am saving used coffee grounds to use in the future as a substitute.

Tomatoes:

There are two new sprouts today! They measure 0.5cm and 1.0cm. The other sprouts both measure 2.0cm. I took one of the larger sprouts out of the small pots and placed it in a larger sized pot in hopes that it will have more room to grow. I used a mix of coffee grounds and potting soil to repot it. The tomatoes were all watered today.

Radishes:

There has still been no significant growth. Current sizes vary from 1.5cm to 4.0cm. I did a google search and found that the size of maturity for radishes is about 6 inches (approx. 15cm), so it looks like our radishes still have a lot of growing to do. The radishes were all watered today.

Onions:

The onions appear to be growing. Current sizes vary from 11cm to 22cm. I am surprised because I did not believe the dirt they were planted in would nurture them. If they continue to show growth, I will repot them in bigger pots.

Jonathan Beechner

GreenHab Officer

April 14, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

Date: 14APR2016

GreenHab Officer Name: Jonathan Beechner

General Summary:

Turned on the greenhab light this morning but did not turn on the heater. The greenhab reached 81 °F.

Tomatoes:

There are a surprising twelve new sprouts today! Almost all the seeds have sprouted now. The tomatoes vary in size from 2mm to 2.5cm. They were all watered today.

Radishes:

The radishes have still not grown significantly. I am not sure why. It is possible the temperature is too hot for them. I might leave a crack in the greenhab door tomorrow to cool it down.

Onions:

I found what appears to be a white lichen or mold growing on the dirt surrounding the onions. I am not sure if it is unhealthy for the onions nor do I know if it will spread to the tomatoes and radishes. Please advise how to treat this.

Jonathan Beechner

GreenHab Officer

April 15, 2016

Good day, Mission Support,

Date: 15APR2016

GreenHab Officer Name: Jonathan Beechner

General Sumary:

Turned on the greenhab light this morning but did not turn on the heater. I left part of the greenhab unzipped to keep it from getting too hot. The highest recorded temperature was 71°F. I will be leaving my babies tomorrow afternoon.

Tomatoes:

Two new sprouts today. I repotted two of the sprouts using a mix of coffee grounds and potting soil.

Radishes:

The radishes do not show significant growth. Hopefully with the hab at a cooler temperature, they will begin to grow more.

Onions:

I have not kept the onions in the greenhab since the white mold appeared. They are staying on the cabinet in the downstairs area.

Jonathan Beechner

GreenHab Officer