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'The Martian' Science Is Solid, But What About the Gardening? We Spot Flaws

By Patty Wetli | October 5, 2015 8:31am
 DNAinfo's resident urban gardener has questions about
DNAinfo's resident urban gardener has questions about "The Martian" and growing potatoes on Mars.
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20th Century Fox

LINCOLN SQUARE — "The Martian," starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet, debuted to (inter)stellar ticket sales at the box office over the weekend, hauling in an astronomical $55 million.

Six of those dollars were mine.

Much ink has been spilled over the accuracy of the science portrayed in the flick, which is as nerdy as it is entertaining. Director Ridley Scott had consultants from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on speed dial, so if they say it's possible to make water out of rocket fuel or a bomb out of sugar and liquid oxygen, I'll take their word for it.

But I did have a few quibbles regarding one major plot point that revolves around ...

SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT...SPOILER ALERT

... potatoes.

Potatoes are the crop that Damon's character, a botanist by the name of Mark Watney, cultivates ... on Mars ... when faced with the prospect of a dwindling food supply.

Oh my god. I did the same thing this summer. Except on Earth. In my community garden plot. With the option of zipping over to the local produce market if my potatoes failed. Me and Matt Damon are gardening soul mates.

I sat up straighter in my seat and watched in rapt attention as Watney MacGyver-ed a greenhouse out of plastic sheeting and duct tape and created soil out of Martian dirt and human waste (leaving theatergoers grateful filmmakers have yet to invent smell-o-vision). All of this seemed more or less plausible.

Here's where he lost me: For seed potatoes, Watney sliced and diced a dozen vacuum-sealed freeze-dried spuds that Mission Control had snuck on board for the Mars crew to enjoy as a Thanksgiving surprise.

Whoa, dude, even a fictional botanist should know that's not a recipe for success.

From the Gardening Channel: "Store bought eating potatoes may have been treated to prevent sprouting, thus minimizing any yield if you're lucky enough to get any potatoes at all. (Sprout inhibitors are designed to increase the shelf life of the potatoes.)"

So unless NASA sent certified, untreated seed potatoes on a years-long journey into space — despite having NO intention of them ever being used as seed potatoes — nope, not buying it.

Over my objections, Watney's potato crop succeeds spectacularly well, until suddenly it doesn't. Yeah, that part rang totally true.

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