This is cool. I look forward to seeing the results of this experiment. In case you were curious, this is routinely done on the ISS [1] so I don't expect low-g on the Moon to be an issue. The one issue is radiation (which is mentioned) because the Moon is exposed to this in a way the ISS isn't (thanks to the Van Allen belt).<p>Should this become necessary however, it won't even be an issue long-term. Why? Because you'd grow things underground. There's absolutely no reason to do anything above ground on the Moon. We have pretty strong evidence of ancient lava tubes so there's no need to excavate either.<p>Ideally, you'd seal a lava tube and put in air and you could live in it with the plants being natural oxygenators.<p>Long-term you'd probably want to see if you could manufacture growth medium on the Moon from available materials.<p>[1]: <a href="https://gardenculturemagazine.com/growing-hydroponics-in-space/" rel="nofollow">https://gardenculturemagazine.com/growing-hydroponics-in-spa...</a>
Too bad they are going to remain on the surface. Maybe next time they will set up all the hydroponics in a lunar cave. There are shaded areas in craters that supposedly remain a constant 63F (17C) year round.
If the soil has no nutrient capacity, there's no reason to use it. Hydroponics work well enough. I just don't see the case for immersing roots in a medium, where the question is whether the medium would be quite toxic enough to kill them entirely, when roots can grow in air.
Certainly, apart from light and water and gasses, plants may require certain physical soil properties and nutrients, and possibly other lifeforms to thrive.