The zinnia plant is very different from lettuce, said Trent Smith, Veggie project manager.
It is more sensitive to environmental parameters and light characteristics.
It has a longer growth duration between 60 and 80 days.
Growing flowers proved to be difficult.
After his departure, another astronaut Scott Kelly took on the role of the autonomous gardener.
Last Saturday,Scott Kellytweeted a picture of a beautiful and healthy zinnia blooming.
Would the practices of cutting away dead tissue and sanitizing plants work?
How does changing the watering schedule affect the growth?
How can crew members be given more opportunities to take charge in the gardening process?
NASA hopes to grow more crops in coming years such as Chinese cabbage, and dwarf tomatoes.
The zinnia plants began to exhibit guttation and epinasty, both signs of plant stress.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took this selfie with the second crop of red romaine lettuce in August of 2015.
NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren take a bite of plants harvested for the VEG-01 investigation.
NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid grew wheat stalks on her 1996 mission to the Russian Mir space station.
