Lunar Planting

[Pepe Ramon]

I can't remember if I've asked this before but does anyone do it? 

 

There are 2 slightly different methods, gardening by moon phase and moon zodiac sign, plus within the moon zodiac sign group there is Tropical and Sidereal moon phases which are slightly different.

 

• Root days are the best to plant root crops when the moon passes in front of the “Earth” signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn.
• Leaf days are leafy crops of spinach, lettuce etc. during the “water” signs of Cancer Scorpio, and Pisces.
• Flower days for cauliflower, broccoli, and flowers passing the “air” signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.
• Fruit/seed days for tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers passing the “fire” signs of Aries, Leo, Saggitarius.

The following is from Charles Dowding's website...

 

Sowing by Moonlight

 

This does not mean sowing by moonlight! It is about choosing dates for seeds to germinate when the moon phase or position can give plants a desirable imprint for their whole life.

 

In 2011 I conducted several trials with plants alongside each other, comparing growth and weighing harvests. To study any differences between waxing and waning, I sowed half the seeds two days before full moon (waxing) and the other half two days after full moon (waning).Carrots sown either side of the full moon in mid-March showed stronger growth of the waxing carrots, and when pulled in June, those yielded 7.8kg of roots compared with 4.8kg from the waning carrots. This difference arose partly from greater slug damage to the waning-sown carrot seedlings - and was that because they were weaker, due to moon phase?

 

However I then sowed two batches of turnip seed, waxing-waning in the same bed in July: they yielded 3.3kg and 3.5kg respectively by November, while potatoes in another bed also reflected that result with 4.3kg waxing and 4.7kg waning.Then in 2012 I ran a similar experiment to the first one above, and in the same bed too! I had spread two inches of cow manure on it in November and there was a lovely soft surface by March. Carrots sown two days before full moon on 6th March yielded 9.9kg, while those sown three days after full moon on 11th March yielded 9.2kg, of similar excellent quality (despite the lack of rotation....), so less of a difference than in 2011 but still significant.

 

Such variable results can raise questions as much as give answers, and there are other factors to consider, besides total yield. For example, a comparison of french beans, in two large beds, gave 15.41kg from sowing two days before full moon, compared with 13.97kg from those sown two days after full moon. But the lower yield of waning-moon beans was offset by their greater longevity: although they produced less initially, when beans were prolific, they gave more in September when beans were scarcer.

 

Another aspect of moon sowing is by constellation, with the moon changing every two or three days compared to a month for the sun. For example, sowing with the moon in Pisces, a water sign, should emphasise leaf growth (good for lettuce, spinach) while sowing in Taurus, an earth sign should encourage root growth (good for carrots, beetroot) and sowing in Leo, a fruit sign, should result in proportionately more tomatoes and courgettes.

 

So we sowed half a bed of carrots with moon in a water sign and half a bed, one week later, when it was in a root sign. Both grew well, in fact the former looked stronger, but after weighing up the final harvest I found a 20% increase in total yield of carrots from the root day sowing. And two sowings of dwarf french beans, half on a leaf day followed by half on a fruit day, saw the latter yield 9% more.

 

So this year and using the Sidereal Zodiac, I'm looking at sowing on the 11th of May for my photoperiod plants. The moon will be in Gemini which is a good sign for planting flowers.

 

I'll probably sow my autos 10 days later on the 21st when the moon is in Libra, another good day for sowing flowers.

 

 

Edited January 5 by Arbre Medicinal

[MindSoup]

There's big chunks of your post I can't read against the black background? If you copy and paste something into your post do you remove the formatting? 

 

TBH it's always something I wrote off as hippy bullshit/ bro science, but if Charles reckons it's worth doing it probably is. Far more knowledge than me and a real minimalist so he'd have checked to make sure it was actually legit. 

 

E2A Actually nah I still don't believe it. Well maybe the waxing and waning part, if it can change the tides then it's possible plants would be affected, but I'm sure by know it's well established that astrology is complete sudo science.

Edited January 5 by MindSoup

[Amarillo slim]

Load of pseudo-scientific nonsense.  

[Pepe Ramon]

Just now, MindSoup said:

If you copy and paste something into your post do you remove the formatting? 

 

It depends what the post is, in this instance I haven't, but then it also looks fine on my laptop, so unfortunately I can't see the issue you're referring to.

 

I would imagine this method was arrived at due to some sort of trial and error process, so I personally wouldn't dismiss it solely as pseudoscience, after all folks have been farming this way for millennia.  

[Cursed]

First question, is the increase in yield statistically significant? And then secondly, if it is, is the effect seen due to the moon or the fact that the second sowing is nearer to optimal growing conditions i.e. the moon itself isn’t “giving the plants a desirable imprint” (not quite sure what that means tbh), but is just a proxy for lots of other more favourable conditions/variables you aren’t controlling for that occur because of the sowing times.

 

ancient superstitious farmers may have thought that it was the moon that was responsible, where as planting by the moons cycles just fortuitously lead to improved conditions.

Edited January 5 by Cursed

[MindSoup]

Folks thought the earth was flat for millennia. Confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance are powerful parts of human nature. 

 

Astrology is proven pseudoscience, multiple peer reviewed studies have proven it's no more accurate than guessing. I'd sooner believe in god. 

 

I'm guessing you're using the light theme, whereas I'm using the dark, no biggy. 

 

E2A, by all mean give it a go, but bare in mind if you don't isolate all the variables you haven't got anything resembling reliable data. 

Edited January 5 by MindSoup

[Cursed]

Just now, MindSoup said:

if you don't isolate all the variables you haven't got anything resembling reliable data. 

This.

[ratdog]

44 minutes ago, MindSoup said:

but if Charles reckons it's worth doing it probably is.

 

 

he's a good gardener, and i like him, but he will say many things to get views.

 

it's total bollocks, unless you are using the moon as a calendar to keep track of crops

[OldFord]

Like most things in life ....theres believers and non believers in a vast array of alternative methodologies in the growing of most things.

 

For me theres way too many variables to control ,  hell you can get too many variables across a pack of seeds let alone take the growing mediums / location / enviro.

 

I can get vastly varying results from 1 pot to the next pot 2ft away from each other         

 

If its your thing ...good luck with it , crack on , enjoy and please do share your findings  

 

 

[Amarillo slim]

1 hour ago, Arbre Medicinal said:

would imagine this method was arrived at due to some sort of trial and error process,

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner

[Pepe Ramon]

17 hours ago, Amarillo slim said:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner

 

 

Sorry dude, you'll have to do better than that, the article implies that nobody was planting by moon cycles before 1924 but humans have been farming for around 12,000 years.  

[Cursed]

Quote

What Has Been Thought and Taught on the Lunar Influence on Plants in Agriculture? Perspective from Physics and Biology

Abstract

This paper reviews the beliefs which drive some agricultural sectors to consider the lunar influence as either a stress or a beneficial factor when it comes to organizing their tasks. To address the link between lunar phases and agriculture from a scientific perspective, we conducted a review of textbooks and monographs used to teach agronomy, botany, horticulture and plant physiology; we also consider the physics that address the effects of the Moon on our planet. Finally, we review the scientific literature on plant development, specifically searching for any direct or indirect reference to the influence of the Moon on plant physiology. We found that there is no reliable, science-based evidence for any relationship between lunar phases and plant physiology in any plant–science related textbooks or peer-reviewed journal articles justifying agricultural practices conditioned by the Moon. Nor does evidence from the field of physics support a causal relationship between lunar forces and plant responses. Therefore, popular agricultural practices that are tied to lunar phases have no scientific backing. We strongly encourage teachers involved in plant sciences education to objectively address pseudo-scientific ideas and promote critical thinking.

 

 

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/7/955
 

haven’t had a chance to read it yet but someone has looked. Don’t know if it covers any actual experimentation yet but could be an interesting read.

 

[Gimps]

I’m not sure regarding the astrological element, but in terms of seed sowing via moon phase, doesn’t the increased gravitational pull near a full moon raise the water level in the earth so more moisture is available for germination?

[Amarillo slim]

3 hours ago, Arbre Medicinal said:

 

 

Sorry dude, you'll have to do better than that, the article implies that nobody was planting by moon cycles before 1924 but humans have been farming for around 12,000 years.  

 

I posted the link because the pseudo-scientific crap which matey is parroting in your opening post was developed and popularised by Rudolf Steiner, I thought you might be interested to know that.   

 

I’m sure some ancient cultures had similar practices / ideas, which he was inspired by.  It’s worth noting though, that various ancient cultures also practiced human sacrifice as an (apparently effective) agricultural tool. 

[MindSoup]

3 hours ago, Arbre Medicinal said:

 

 

Sorry dude, you'll have to do better than that, the article implies that nobody was planting by moon cycles before 1924 but humans have been farming for around 12,000 years.  

 

With all due respect that isn't how science works, you have to presume something is false until it's unequivocally proven otherwise.

 

A huge part of my family works in horticulture and agriculture, none of them pay any attention to moon phase of star signs when planting. That's in profit driven, multi billion dollar industries that are constantly using real science to find new ways to grow more efficiently. These are not close minded people either, a lot of them have adopted new/experimental methods in recent years like direct tine drilling and no till gardening, the difference is those methods are back by science. 

 

It's your time you'll be wasting, feel free to crack on and perceive the results however you like.