hey guys my name is Aspen Evans and I am
an Oklahoma 4-H STEMist you're
watching mission to Mars day three at
cultivating the Red Planet
hello space cadets and welcome back now
that we've conquered space travel it's
time to get down to business how are we
going to sustain life on Mars like all
living things we need both food and
water to survive both of which are in
short supply here in space
discovering an efficient way to grow
food in space critical for an astronaut
survival in 2015
astronauts ate the first ever space
grown vegetable at the International
Space Station let's see if we can
achieve that same result on Mars but
first we need to figure out what our
plants need to grow what do you guys think
plants need to grow I'll give you a hint
it is five separate things I want those
answers on your Microsoft Office form
below but for now we are going to
discuss water sunlight carbon dioxide
nutrients and heat each of these aspects
are critical to the survival of our
plant and in this case our food source
as we discovered in our large Rover
lesson if the climate Mars is similar to
that of the desert think of a desert in
Alaska how does your plant survive on
very little oxygen water sunlight and
nutrients from here guys we're going to
choose our plant there are two
categories of plants we are going to
discuss today monocots and dicots the
process of categorizing our plants is
called classification
a monocot has long narrow leaves with
parallel veins it's vascular bundles are
scattered when a monocot germinates their cotyledons remain under
the ground a good example would be corn
now a dicot has two cotyledons these
plants have broad leaves and a net worth
of veins their vascular
bundles form a ring once germinated
they're cotyledons emerge above ground
continue providing nutrients for the
plant they eventually become the first
leaves on the plant an example would be
a bean for your greenhouse you can
choose to grow either a monocot or a
dicot or maybe even both for more
information watch this video on
cotyledons
or follow the links below located in our
youtube description
now that you know what our plant needs to
grow and you have chosen your very
own plant we can begin construction
on our greenhouses research desert green
houses to brainstorm some ideas you can construct your greenhouse using found
recycled or even upcycle materials the
possibility are out of this world
remember your greenhouse needs to stand
up to Mars harsh climate
suggestions for greenhouse materials can
be plastic bottles shoeboxes milk
cartons
toilet paper rolls ziploc bags some
planting materials you will need to
finish out your greenhouse are soil or organic
materials corn or bean seeds and water
once your greenhouse is constructed you
can begin planting you will want to
plant your seed three inches into the organic
matter or soil cover the seed with any
remaining or excess soil and water it sparingly when needed if the soil is
wet your plant is hydrated if the soil
is dry your plant is probably thirsty be
careful not to overwater your seeds
keep a record of  plant growth within
your greenhouse what type of plant did
you decide on
was it a monocot or a dicot seed what
date did you plant what date did the seed
sprout measure growth using a ruler in
inches per week remember your plant
needs all five things that we discussed
today to grow make sure it has access to
each and every one of them
show us your greenhouse on flipgrid
and answer all the questions on the
Microsoft Office document located at the
bottom of your worksheet as well as
linked at the end of this YouTube video
I cannot wait to see how your
greenhouses look
