The question is about plants and how best to make them grow.... on Mars.

There are a lot of questions on this forum that are of no interest to me. But instead of trying to censor the discussion, I ignore them. Try it.

Oh, MARS, the Red Planet.

Red is not my favorite color!!

Don't forget to wash the soil in order to remove the toxic perchlorate salts already in the soil.

anyone who gardens on Earth knows how unpredictable it is, here where we think we know everything and have big (though variable) supplies of what plants need.

Mary Roach wrote 'Packing for Mars' and covers some of the logistics in getting humans in space, a fun and interesting book

There are unknown scientific breakthroughs, but there is the sheer physics of transporting to Mars everything is currently NOT there. Water is key, yet even here on one planet, water is scarce and fought over in some places.

How are those geodesic self contained domes doing?

sallyg said:How are those geodesic self contained domes doing?

Those biospheres in Arizona? They are still operational but every attempt at completely isolating them has led to some impressively massive (but educational) failures.

Growing anything on mars will likely depend upon both near total closed cycle recovery of water plus developing some water resources on Mars. Water transported to the Mars will inevitably suffer some loses, no matter how carefully managed. There is water on Mar, but we won't know how difficult it will be to "mine" until we are there, and practical methods won't be part of the first missions, although they may have to see if they can recover some from the environment.

If - IF - water can practically be mined there, it will be a huge step, because it will make food production more practical and will potentially be a source of oxygen, which will also be lost over time, no matter how good the systems.

There are two approaches to Mars. One is frankly one-way suicide missions which I doubt will be planned. The other is a mission with a return trip. That might me covertly planned as essentially a one-way, the return trip being planned but played so closely to the doability line as to be barely acceptable. But a lot of aerospace stuff has been done so close to the certain failure boundary that there are precedents.

I somehow don't think dependence on Mars grown food is in the cards until reliable return can be assured. Too much could go wrong. Every mission will have to be self-contained, with at least an emergency get-out always in reserve. If they grow anything there, it will likely be some sort of edible pond scum.

I don't think farming will be what the first Mars explorers have in mind. More likely, they will be seeking minerals. Growing their own food will be an afterthought, just about the same time as the K-rations run out.

Biosphere 2 in Arizona started as an experiment to see if life could be sustained in a closed, sealed system--such as would be necessary on Mars. It basically failed at that, twice, and in some interesting ways.
It now belongs to the University of Arizona, and experiments continue in this unique controlled environment. It's no longer sealed.
It has various habitats, including rain forest, savanna, desert and ocean.
Right now I think they have some on-line educational programs. When we can all get out again, I highly recommend a visit and a tour. It's quite interesting. Sure made me appreciate Biosphere 1!
https://biosphere2.org/