09. What kinds of plants might grow? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Choosing the correct type of plant is crucial. It is very expensive and time-consuming to grow plants in space, and therefore we would choose the plants that would give us the most benefit for the time, money and effort we put into growing them. We would choose plants that are edible and have a high ratio of edible to inedible mass—lettuce, for example, would be a good choice because the plant is relatively small and we can eat most of it, while corn would be a poor choice because the plant gets large and we only eat the kernel. It is also important that we choose plants that produce continuously. We don't want a plant that requires a dormancy period, like blackberries, raspberries and most temperate fruit trees. It is also important to consider how big a plant gets. It is very costly to build a structure for growing the plants and large plants—like most fruit and nut trees—are more expensive to grow and maintain. Smaller, more manageable plants that produce continuously are preferable. Finally, if we are growing plants to produce food for the crew, we need to insure that the plants will provide the essential nutrients and biomass to keep the crew healthy.

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Answer provided by Gregory Schlick

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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