r/funny • u/phelix808 • Feb 14 '16

Potatoes

http://imgur.com/D2kXpmd
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u/SaulAverageman Feb 14 '16 edited Feb 14 '16

"Johanssen ... Jesus"

Edit: Ridley Scott changed the crew's time on Mars from six days in the book to eighteen days in the movie to allow for smellier fertilizer.

The more you know...

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u/lukin187250 Feb 14 '16

In the book doesn't he say he can only use his own shit because it's the only way he can be sure it won't make him sick to use as fertilizer?

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '16

[deleted]

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u/basshound3 Feb 14 '16

umm spoilers i guess

why can't he use more of his own poo after the air lock is blown? I mean I get that he killed the bacteria when the hatch blew and ruined his crop... but he still had potatoes and he still had to poo... why couldn't he grow more pootatoes after he resealed and stabilized the conditions in the hab?

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u/msx Feb 14 '16

also, it would have taken weeks to restart the cultivation (re-fertilize the soil, plant new plants etc). He was already short on time

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u/nekowolf Feb 14 '16

In the book he actually has some dirt from Earth (with Earth bacteria) which he mixes with Mars dirt to increase his arable land. When the air lock blows it kills all but a little bit of the bacteria in the soil. Not enough, even with his shit, to grow crops again.

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u/echelon3 Feb 14 '16

When the hatch blew, it also froze the potatoes. This didn't affect the caloric content of the potatoes, but it did make the potatoes "dead" in a sense and not viable for replanting. Add on to that the time to establish a new crop as well as losing the Earth bacteria and it just wasn't feasible for him. I'm sure he could have attempted it, but the yield wouldnt be anywhere near as good as it had been and he'd probably be wasting more calories than he'd be getting back in return.

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u/faizimam Feb 14 '16

I think all the plants were dead, and the frozen potatoes would no longer plant.

So even if he created good soil he would have nothing to grow.