Lunar soil, is it good for plants?

In message , "Bill
Carson "
writes
I been pondering what the grey moon soil is really like and whether
you can simply "just add water" to make it suitable for plants!
Seriously, does the soil on the moon need to have organic nutrients to
support plants or can you turn lunar soil into growing soil just by
adding water?

You could argue the same for soil on Mars and the asteroids.

BC

After the Apollo landings they tried growing seeds in a "soil" sample
and I gather it was successful. There's nothing poisonous in it.
If current theory is right, that might not be true of Martian soil,
which may be highly oxidising.
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(Bill Carson ) wrote in message . com...
I been pondering what the grey moon soil is really like and whether
you can simply "just add water" to make it suitable for plants!
Seriously, does the soil on the moon need to have organic nutrients to
support plants or can you turn lunar soil into growing soil just by
adding water?

You could argue the same for soil on Mars and the asteroids.

BC

Hi Bill,
I once tried a few "fantasy" experiments myself trying to grow some
vegetables under the electric light... in a true spirit of
astroculture "simulations" of course! Real lunar or extra-terrestrial
soil was obviously priced at a premium and hard to come by, so I had
to settle for the stuff found here on Earth:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astroculture.html

You might find the 1970s movie "Silent Running" of some inspiration,
as Bruce Dern was doing similar growings onboard his space freighter
Valley Forge...
I am assuming you are actually going to start a "sky farming" project
as such of course!

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

(Bill Carson ) wrote in message . com...
I been pondering what the grey moon soil is really like and whether
you can simply "just add water" to make it suitable for plants!
Seriously, does the soil on the moon need to have organic nutrients to
support plants or can you turn lunar soil into growing soil just by
adding water?

You could argue the same for soil on Mars and the asteroids.

BC

Hi Bill,
I once tried a few "fantasy" experiments myself trying to grow some
vegetables under the electric light... in a true spirit of
astroculture "simulations" of course! Real lunar or extra-terrestrial
soil was obviously priced at a premium and hard to come by, so I had
to settle for the stuff found here on Earth:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astroculture.html

You might find the 1970s movie "Silent Running" of some inspiration,
as Bruce Dern was doing similar growings onboard his space freighter
Valley Forge...
I am assuming you are actually going to start a "sky farming" project
as such of course!

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

Jonathan Silverlight
wrote

After the Apollo landings they tried growing seeds in a "soil" sample
and I gather it was successful. There's nothing poisonous in it.
If current theory is right, that might not be true of Martian soil,
which may be highly oxidising.

That's very interesting and encouraging to know that lunar soil is
"growable" in without too much effort. I also read somewhere the
Apollo astronauts took sycamore and other tree seeds with them to the
Moon and back and that they were subsequently germinated and planted
as Moon trees at certain locations around the states. Astronauts and
"tree-nauts" have equally ventured to the Moon and back!

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

Jonathan Silverlight
wrote

After the Apollo landings they tried growing seeds in a "soil" sample
and I gather it was successful. There's nothing poisonous in it.
If current theory is right, that might not be true of Martian soil,
which may be highly oxidising.

That's very interesting and encouraging to know that lunar soil is
"growable" in without too much effort. I also read somewhere the
Apollo astronauts took sycamore and other tree seeds with them to the
Moon and back and that they were subsequently germinated and planted
as Moon trees at certain locations around the states. Astronauts and
"tree-nauts" have equally ventured to the Moon and back!

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

Abdul Ahad wrote:


That's very interesting and encouraging to know that lunar soil is
"growable" in without too much effort. I also read somewhere the
Apollo astronauts took sycamore and other tree seeds with them to the
Moon and back and that they were subsequently germinated and planted
as Moon trees at certain locations around the states. Astronauts and
"tree-nauts" have equally ventured to the Moon and back!

Abdul,
What did you use as your "soil sample" in your experiment ?

Steve

Abdul Ahad wrote:


That's very interesting and encouraging to know that lunar soil is
"growable" in without too much effort. I also read somewhere the
Apollo astronauts took sycamore and other tree seeds with them to the
Moon and back and that they were subsequently germinated and planted
as Moon trees at certain locations around the states. Astronauts and
"tree-nauts" have equally ventured to the Moon and back!

Abdul,
What did you use as your "soil sample" in your experiment ?

Steve

Steve Taylor wrote in message ...
Abdul Ahad wrote:


That's very interesting and encouraging to know that lunar soil is
"growable" in without too much effort. I also read somewhere the
Apollo astronauts took sycamore and other tree seeds with them to the
Moon and back and that they were subsequently germinated and planted
as Moon trees at certain locations around the states. Astronauts and
"tree-nauts" have equally ventured to the Moon and back!

Abdul,
What did you use as your "soil sample" in your experiment ?

Steve

Just ordinary soil of the garden variety, unfortunately. I had much
higher hopes for my astroculture project though with aims of enclosing
the "shed" into a truly isolated bio-hab and using lights of varying
colour temperatures, output, etc. to evaluate the different growing
conditions and possibly measure the levels of oxygen production. I was
even going to attempt simulating a world bathed in continuous sunlight
from red and blue suns... like the Antares or Rasalgethi systems (talk
about sci-fi fantasies getting carried away)!

Its actually quite a sore subject now looking back, as I had to pull
the plug on the whole thing shortly afterwards because of money and
other priorities.

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

Steve Taylor wrote in message ...
Abdul Ahad wrote:


That's very interesting and encouraging to know that lunar soil is
"growable" in without too much effort. I also read somewhere the
Apollo astronauts took sycamore and other tree seeds with them to the
Moon and back and that they were subsequently germinated and planted
as Moon trees at certain locations around the states. Astronauts and
"tree-nauts" have equally ventured to the Moon and back!

Abdul,
What did you use as your "soil sample" in your experiment ?

Steve

Just ordinary soil of the garden variety, unfortunately. I had much
higher hopes for my astroculture project though with aims of enclosing
the "shed" into a truly isolated bio-hab and using lights of varying
colour temperatures, output, etc. to evaluate the different growing
conditions and possibly measure the levels of oxygen production. I was
even going to attempt simulating a world bathed in continuous sunlight
from red and blue suns... like the Antares or Rasalgethi systems (talk
about sci-fi fantasies getting carried away)!

Its actually quite a sore subject now looking back, as I had to pull
the plug on the whole thing shortly afterwards because of money and
other priorities.

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

(Abdul Ahad) wrote in message . com...
(Bill Carson ) wrote in message . com...
I been pondering what the grey moon soil is really like and whether
you can simply "just add water" to make it suitable for plants!
Seriously, does the soil on the moon need to have organic nutrients to
support plants or can you turn lunar soil into growing soil just by
adding water?

You could argue the same for soil on Mars and the asteroids.

BC

Hi Bill,
I once tried a few "fantasy" experiments myself trying to grow some
vegetables under the electric light... in a true spirit of
astroculture "simulations" of course! Real lunar or extra-terrestrial
soil was obviously priced at a premium and hard to come by, so I had
to settle for the stuff found here on Earth:-

http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astroculture.html

You might find the 1970s movie "Silent Running" of some inspiration,
as Bruce Dern was doing similar growings onboard his space freighter
Valley Forge...
I am assuming you are actually going to start a "sky farming" project
as such of course!

Abdul Ahad
"What do you get when you cross Astronomy with Geometry?"
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

Mines is just thought experiments right now but thanx anyhow.

BTW your stuff on binary stars at-
http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/astrometry.html

is quite good. I might check out some star colors of binaries myself
once the sky clears.

Bill C