5 Mt. System of Individuated Gnosis

Space & Time Efficient Crops
Mars, Undersea or Artic Food System
In the Living Gods, Let the hallowed Light of Transcendent Truth be praised. Let the Sweet Mystery of Miryai awaken in the heart of hearts.

Crops grown indoors under lights on Mars or in dense uraban enviroments, underground or under the ocean, must be space and calorie efficient and meet all the needs of human inhabitants. (Non fruiting leaf crops need about half the light energy of fruiting crops.) Feasibility of any one crop should be determined by calories produced per weeks spent under led lights, with some thought given to the weight of that food not exceeding to consumable limit per day. (Some high light needing crops can be grown in inhabited areas.) Crops producing more than 13 pounds per week under lights qualify for this standard, and 347 square feet of these and other crops can yield, if perfectly managed, a sufficient amount of biomass to keep the system running and enough calorie per day diet. Each person is allotted aprox 1 lb from each of the 5 groups every day. (Lighter italic entries do not meet the 1300k threshold, but may be wanted in small quantities for special uses or occassions, or espaliered on living area walls.)

Biomass is the stalk and carbon residue from grains, sunflowers, fava beans and such. It is dried and mixed with wetter ingredients to create compost that fuels the growth of the system. The following plan can produce over 993 pounds of such biomass in an earth year, enough to make the system self substaining after initial inputs. There is enough biomass generated to apply compost two times during a 365 sol growing period, once every 182 Sol or so. With the limitations of biomass renewal, an additional 45 sq ft of crops can be added to the lists, including culinary and medicinal herbs, or extra potatoes or corn backups in case of crop failures.

Below you will find several different Garden plans of varying sizes. The first of 137 square feet could give enough calories to survive for a year, but the sustainability of a garden this size is very low since it creates no biomass for soil renewal. It is also lacking in key nutrients which would produce sickness if continued for extended periods. The simplistic minimal variety 400 and 538 square foot gardens are also unsustainable. The 765 foot garden is sustainable and healthy, but wastes space growing specific crops like oats when a much more efficient use of space would be a barley planting. The 350 square foot Garden is sustainable, healthy, and space efficient and allows most of the principles promoted in the 5 Mt system to be implemented. It should be noted that the crops chosen for this 347 square foot space are those that produce well in controlled enviroments under grow lights. If growing outside, weather and water would dictate other choices such as legumes and grains that grow in cooler and damper spring weather verses those needing more heat and water. In situations where land use is not a problem, or where minimal outside inputs are feasible, other choices would need to be made.

So to summarize, the various garden design studies outlined below are not workable in most situations, with the exception of the 350 square foot Garden grown indoors. If grown outside with winter weather its 350 square footage would need to be doubled or even tripled and have some crop substitutions made if very warm summer weather and lots of water were not available.

Square Feet Needed for Various Crops
MOST SPACE-TIME EFFICIENT CROPS
(Only possible with a Perfect Climate, Soil, Nutrition & Expertise)

137 SQ FT
OVER 10,000k

These crops are all capable of producing over 10000 calories per 100 square feet every 7 days/sols, like the potato at 15,000, the Sweet potato at 10,852, and beets at 12,142. They do not produce enough biomass to stay sustainable, however, nor do they complete all five food groups. This means that just 100 square feet of potatoes could give 2000 calories a day for someone to survive on, or a 137 feet of any or all of them could do the same:

EARTH:

Beets

WATER:
FIRE:

Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes

WIND:
ZEPHYR:

400 SQ FT
OVER 3550k

These crops are all capable of producing over 3550 calories per 100 square feet every 7 days/sols. The Barley alone produces significant biomass, enough for 40% more area than it covers. This means that 400 square feet of any combination of them could give 2000 calories a day:

EARTH:

Beets

WATER:

Watermelon
Peanuts

FIRE:

Carrots
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Salsify
Sunchokes

WIND:

Rutabhagas
Turnips
Radishes

ZEPHYR:

Garlic,
Onions
Barley (360# biomass)

538 SQ FT
OVER 2600k

These crops are all capable of producing over 2600 calories per 100 square feet every 7 days/sols, with nitrogen fixation from peanuts and limas, and ample carbon biomass from the grains and pseudo-grains. This means that 538 square feet of any of them could give 2000 calories a day:

EARTH:

Beets
Spinach
Cassava
Amaranth (208# biomass)
Quinoa (252# biomass)

WATER:

Watermelon
Peanuts
Lima Beans
Winter Squash

FIRE:

Carrots
Potatoes
Lettuce
Sweet Potatoes
Salsify
Sunchokes

WIND:

Rutabhagas
Turnips
Radishes
Cauliflower

ZEPHYR:

Garlic
Onions
Rice (275# biomass)
Barley (360# biomass)
Sorgham (400# biomass)

171 Sq Ft Limited Survival Diet
MOST SPACE-TIME EFFICIENT CROPS
(Only possible with a Perfect Climate, Soil, Nutrition & Expertise)

The following 171 sq ft diet could be slightly improved, without adding too much square footage, by adding a few feet of Napa cabbage, green tea, and other higher calorie dense foods.

Earthstar Plants
5# PER 5 DAYS in 11 Square Feet

CROP	lbs per 100sf	WEEKS (7 day) UNDER LIGHT	CALORIES PER LB	LBS PER 7 DAYS	CALORIES PER 7 DAYS	NOTES	LBS PER 5 DAYS PER 100'	NEEDED EVERY 5 DAY	SQ FT PLANTED	BIOMASS WEIGHT
Beets (Days:2,3,4)	810: (540root/270top)	13	195 root 100 top	62.3: (51.5 root/21 top)	12,142: (10,042 root/ 2100 tops)	Cylindra variety 1c=163g. 1cJuice=350g	44.15	5#	11	-
						Avo & Berry too inefficient!		TOTAL: 5#	TOTAL: 11 sq ft	TOTAL: -#

Waterstar Plants
5# PER 5 DAYS in 28 Square Feet

CROP	lbs per 100sf	WEEKS UNDER LIGHT	CALORIES PER LB	LBS PER 7 DAYS	CALORIES PER 7 DAYS	NOTES	LBS PER 5 DAYS PER 100'	NEEDED EVERY 5 DAY	SQ FT PLANTED	BIOMASS WEIGHT
Cucumbers (Days:4,5,1) @12'	581	24	59	24.20	1428	1=133g	17.28	1#	6	-
Watermelon (Days:4,5,1) @12'	320	13	145	24.60	3569	1=154g Baby varieties	17.57	4#	23	-
						Soy very inefficient!		TOTAL: 5#	TOTAL: 29 sq ft	TOTAL: -

Firestar Plants
5# PER 5 DAYS in 20 Square Feet

CROP	lbs per 100sf	WEEKS UNDER LIGHT	CALORIES PER LB	LBS PER 7 DAYS	CALORIES PER 7 DAYS	NOTES	LBS PER 5 DAYS PER 100'	NEEDED EVERY 5 DAY	SQ FT PLANTED	BIOMASS WEIGHT
Potato (Day 3,4,5) @9"	780	17	349	45.88	15,003	1c=140g	32.77, 14877g	5#	15	-
						Coffee & Sesame too inefficient!		TOTAL: 5#	TOTAL: 15	TOTAL: -#

Windstar Plants
5# PER 5 DAYS in 27 Square Feet

CROP	lbs per 100sf	WEEKS UNDER LIGHT	CALORIES PER LB	LBS PER 7 DAYS	CALORIES PER 7 DAYS	NOTES	LBS PER 5 DAYS PER 100'	NEEDED EVERY 5 DAY	SQ FT PLANTED	BIOMASS WEIGHT
Rutabhaga (Day 4,5,1)	800	17	163	47	7670	1c cooked =254g	33.57	4#	12	-
Radish (Day 4,5,1)	540	9	91	60	5460	1c raw =116g	42.85	1#	2	-
Lemon(Day 2,3,4)	150	52	82	2.88	236	Meyer = 58g	2.05	-	-	-
						Lemons too inefficient!		TOTAL: 5#	TOTAL: 14	TOTAL: -

Zephyrstar Plants
5# PER 5 DAYS in 110 Square Feet

CROP	lbs per 100sf	WEEKS UNDER LIGHT	CALORIES PER LB	LBS PER 7 DAYS	CALORIES PER 7 DAYS	NOTES	LBS PER 5 DAYS PER 100'	# NEEDED EVERY 5 DAY	SQ FT PLANTED	BIOMASS WEIGHT
Torpedo Onion (Day 2,3,4)	800	17	172	31.76	8094	1c raw = 51g	22.68	.5#	2	-
Barley* (Days:4,5,1)	24	10	1583	2.4	3799	Grain & Beer 1c dry = 3.5 cooked 1c wet = 157g 1c dry= 211g 374# bio/52wks	1.71	4.5# cooked(1.72 # DRY)	100	374#
								TOTAL: 5#	TOTAL: 102	TOTAL: 374#

TOTAL COOKED WEIGHT: 25#

TOTAL SQ FEET: 171

TOTAL BIOMASS: 374# (enough to add to all beds every 120 days/sol)

COLOPHON: This grouping of space efficient crops was made by me, Yesai, on Miryai Mt. in 2021. It was made in an attempt to develop a balanced dietary program based upon the realities of modern
botanical classifications and on practicalities of growing, processing and preparing one's own nutrient dense food in limited spacing, indoors in growrooms, or in climate controlled greenhouses on Mars.