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Please note: The biology related aspects of this question are posted here.

In "The Martian" (2015), the protagonist grows potatoes on Mars. We see him using seemingly fresh potatoes as his seeds. enter image description here

enter image description here

The potatoes Mark used had been through a five-month journey through space without decomposing. Yet they still sprouted. In what way could they have been preserved to make both these things possible?

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Fiksdal
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    If I remember the book (which you should read if you're interested in this stuff) right, the potatoes are frozen. As to the rest, that may be better asked at the biology SE. – DavidS Apr 28 '16 at 10:28
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    Why are you assuming the potatoes went through a 4 year journey? They were sent with the crew, so their transit time was only 5 or so months. – Moo Apr 28 '16 at 10:51
  • @Moo Oh, You're right. I just searched through the subtitles and found that they calculated that the rescue mission would take nine months of travel, not four years. The original journey date was probably set at a time when the distance between Earth and Mars was minimal. – Fiksdal Apr 28 '16 at 10:56
  • @Fiksdal Cool! And guess I was wrong about them being frozen! – DavidS Apr 28 '16 at 10:59
  • Biology SE link is broken... – Necreaux Apr 28 '16 at 12:54
  • @Necreaux http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/45683/could-potatoes-that-have-been-fridged-for-142-days-still-sprout-afterwards – Fiksdal Apr 28 '16 at 12:56
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    This is super normal, I grew up on a farm and we literally dump buckets of potatoes in the basement, eat some from the pile and plant the ones that are left the next year. Probably longer than 5 months later. Potatoes are dirt cheap because they are super easy to grow and store for long periods of time. – Probst Apr 28 '16 at 14:30
  • @Probst Hey, that's great. You could add that experience to the currently accepted answer. – Fiksdal Apr 28 '16 at 14:33
  • @Probst Or you could answer here: http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/45683/could-potatoes-that-have-been-fridged-for-142-days-still-sprout-afterwards – Fiksdal Apr 28 '16 at 14:36
  • OK I did both now – Probst Apr 28 '16 at 14:44
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    You must clean out your fridge way more often then I do... – Mazura Apr 28 '16 at 18:33
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    Just an FYI; potatoes are incredibly hard to kill. They have to be cooked to actually prevent them from growing - as anyone who has found a long lost spud in the back of a cupboard covered in small roots will attest. – GeoffAtkins Apr 29 '16 at 07:37
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    They were kept in a dark corner of Matt Damon's beer fridge. – David Wilson Apr 29 '16 at 20:33

2 Answers2

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I will begin this by stating that I am a PhD Student in potato post-harvest physiology and the sprouting of potatoes is an aspect that many people that work with this crop find very important.

It is certainly feasible that the potatoes, if refrigerated, would be able to sprout after several months. Some potatoes, including modern varieties, are able to sprout 2 years after their harvest if kept in a refrigerated environment. What is interesting about raw potatoes is that they are biologically alive and current preservation techniques aim to modify their urge to send sprouts to grow into a new plant. Other preservations techniques beyond refrigeration would include sprout inhibitors, chemicals that inhibit hormone mediated pathways that cause sprouting and package membrane technology. I imagine the packaging in this sci-fi movie is one that retards respiration and lengthens the life of the tubers.

However, the biggest issue with the plot resting on potato propagation is not the initial sprouting and growth. Rather, it is the rapid propagation of a second crop immediately after harvesting the first. Nearly every potato cultivar found in Europe and North America has a period of dormancy after harvest. This means that the tuber itself has hormonal controls that prevent any sprouting for a given period of time. While there are ways to overcome this, even with chemical sprout inducers, there is still a 1-2 month time period where the tubers from the previous crop will not sprout. Barring any chemicals to induce sprouting, it would take 3-4 months until the harvested tubers would sprout into a new crop.

Wiltshire, J. J. J., and A. H. Cobb. "A review of the physiology of potato tuber dormancy." Annals of Applied Biology 129.3 (1996): 553-569.

davidbak
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Curtis Frederick
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    Definitely +1 for pointing out a plot hole by sciencing the hell out of it. – davidbak Apr 28 '16 at 16:15
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    Excellent answer! You should be well equipped to answer here as well http://biology.stackexchange.com/q/45683/23347 – Fiksdal Apr 28 '16 at 16:24
  • Reminds me of NDG: https://i.imgur.com/bZ7IEFQ.webm – tonysdg Apr 28 '16 at 17:39
  • +1, You say "nearly every potato cultivar". Is it possible that he had one of the other cultivars, or that a new genetically engineered potato was brought with? – DCShannon Apr 28 '16 at 20:55
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    @DCShannon That would imply that they were planning on someone having to plant and cultivate these potatoes over a period of many months. That seems extremely unlikely. – KRyan Apr 28 '16 at 21:49
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    Would some kind of rotation scheme have allowed the continual harvest? Nothing of the sort was depicted in the movie, of course, but he was an expert in relevant fields and may very well have been aware of the need to do so, if something like that could have worked. – KRyan Apr 28 '16 at 21:50
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    @KRyan Not necessarily. I don't know anything about what cultivars don't require the delay. Maybe it would have made sense to bring one just by coincidence for other reasons. – DCShannon Apr 29 '16 at 00:52
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    TIL You can get a PhD in "Potato Post-Harvest Physiology", +1 – WorseDoughnut Apr 29 '16 at 14:39
  • Can you propagate potatoes by taking cuttings instead of sprouting from tubers? If so, perhaps he did that. – N. Virgo Apr 30 '16 at 02:26
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    Might as well face it, you're addicted to spuds. – Mr. Bultitude May 01 '16 at 00:50
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    @WorseDoughnut Obligatory PhD reference: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1056 – Deepak May 01 '16 at 09:30
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    **reads first line** I will begin this by stating that I am a PhD Student in potato post-harvest physiology **checks out, didn't read the rest, +1 ** – Möoz May 02 '16 at 05:49
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From the book:

I am one lucky son of a bitch they aren’t freeze-dried or mulched. Why did NASA send twelve whole potatoes, refrigerated but not frozen? And why send them along with us as in-pressure cargo rather than in a crate with the rest of the Hab supplies? Because Thanksgiving was going to happen while we were doing surface operations, and NASA’s shrinks thought it would be good for us to make a meal together.

It is a common practice for farmers to store loose potatoes in a cold room or basement during the winter and then plant them in the spring and that should closely match the condition of the refrigerated potatoes in the book.

Probst
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Mike Scott
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    This seems pretty realistic. Refrigerated potatoes, heck, even non-refrigerated potatoes can last eons, and still grow after said eons. Source: I've done this. – Gorchestopher H Apr 28 '16 at 11:15
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    @GorchestopherH, Eons? Done this? How old are you? – Separatrix Apr 28 '16 at 11:20
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    When you think about it, potatoes are harvested in August/September, and planted in March, so thats a decent period of time when potatoes are stored... – Moo Apr 28 '16 at 11:22
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    @Separatrix Most people say "best thing since sliced bread" I say "best thing since dirt". Before dirt this place was the worst. – Gorchestopher H Apr 28 '16 at 11:26
  • @GorchestopherH How long did you keep them? Didn't they decompose? – Fiksdal Apr 28 '16 at 11:27
  • While the cold is important, as I understand it the truly vital consideration is moisture- moisture outright kills potatoes – Broklynite Apr 28 '16 at 13:38
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    Moisture can yeah, but it has to be pretty bad. You really don't need to do anything special to store piles of potatoes with say 5% or less spoilage. If the moisture levels are comfortable for people the potatoes will be fine. – Probst Apr 28 '16 at 14:46
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    It is interesting that in real life NASA heavily irradiates food before packaging, so in reality the potatoes would have been dead. But then there wouldn't have been a story! – RomaH Apr 28 '16 at 16:03
  • @GorchestopherH Read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson sometime. It's set in a world that's (mostly) without dirt, where people live on bare bedrock with plant and animal life adapted to such conditions... – Mason Wheeler Apr 28 '16 at 19:23
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    Also, once having forgotten some potatoes in the far reaches of a cupboard: they will happily lay in a plastic-bag and sprout very slowly but happily for 6 months.... – Layna Apr 29 '16 at 08:55