GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic, supplemental lights automatic 10pm to 2am
Average temperatures:
09:17: 73.6 F, 22%
09:59: 77.7 F, 25%
11:05: 83.8 F, 21%
12:04: 92.8 F, 19%
13:03: 97.3 F, 15%
13:51: 100.8 F, 12%
14:03: 89.1 F, 13%
15:27: 100.8 F, 11%
17:39: 76.8 F, 27%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 124 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops:
Changes to crops: Planted two additional rows of carrots in the carrot box
Narrative:
Today was the crew’s rest day, although the plants still needed tending. I visited the GreenHab in the morning around 9:15 and stayed for a while to check in on the heater. It was on when I entered at 73 F and turned off several minutes later when the temperature read 76 F. Heating system nominal!!! I started the plants with a nice morning misting. Unfortunately, cukes #1 and #3 were looking a little wilty. I suspect they may have gotten some direct hot air from the heater – they were placed on the metal shelves overnight. I made a note not to leave them there when the heater was on. They were placed down on the floor for the day in the shade of the mesh shade cloth (later moved to the wooden pallet with the tomatoes). I also pruned some dead leaves from tomato #4 and inspected the fruits on tomato #9 – they look nice and red and a little squishy to the touch. I think tomorrow might be harvest day for them. I gave the plants their first watering of the day with 3 gallons. Soundtrack of the day was Jackson Browne. Today, I joined the crew in completing the Mars puzzle on our rest day. I set regular alarms to check in hourly on the plants, recording the temperature and giving a mist on each visit. By 1pm, the temperature had reached 100 F, although I did not observe the anomalous heater-turning-on issues the crew observed the previous sol. Looks like there may have been an initial hiccup in the system, but is now working ok. I gave the plants another watering of 3 gallons in the afternoon, and did some rotations of the tomatoes, and moving other plants out of the sun. Alex caught a bee inside the hab, which was also relocated to the GreenHab (I have yet to see it). For the past few sols, I have been eying off the carrot box – only a few carrot heads appear to have germinated, and there is a lot of free space in the box. Luckily, I did bring a packet of carrot seeds with me. I dug two shallow trenches on the left side of the box, away from the existing carrots, and added some seeds – following the instructions to apply 4 seeds per inch during initial planting, and to spread them out later after germination (expected to be 8-12 days). I will make sure to keep the carrot box nice and moist. In the afternoon, temperatures began to cool, and the heater was turning on periodically keeping the temperature above 75 F.
Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None