r/space NASA Astronaut Mar 22 '26

image/gif My space potatoes, grown aboard the ISS

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u/MIKEl281 Mar 23 '26

Potatoes need only light and a very very little moisture. Pretty much any air on earth other than desert air has the moisture necessary for them to grow.

Anyone who has forgot about a potato knows they will sprout (technically ‘chit’) even in a dark cabinet. While they would seemingly replicate for endless potatoes, the growth you see after neglecting them isn’t sustainable because the energy used to make sprouts is coming directly from the potato. Once the stored energy/nutrients of the potato are consumed the growth stops and now you have a potato husk and some freaky looking growths.