Luna Planting - In Tune with the Moon Discount

[vegmandan]

Dan, if you really want to know, buy or borrow the book! ;)  ;D ;D ;D

Don't really want to waste my money. ;)

Thought you might be able to give me a quick answer. ;D

[vegmandan]

[tonybloke]

try this link for some evidence
http://www.biolbull.org/cgi/content/abstract/145/2/265
;)

[Brown97]

Watch out VegManDan, it sounds like you're being fed a lot of Bio Bull!!!! ;) ;)

But in otherwords you can only allow for +/- 5 days, so tuff luck if your plot is under a foot of water, frozen solid, bombed by foriegn invaders, under alien attack, infested with any one of the following: bugs, slugs, mugs...wait a second...no I think slugs should be alright...cats, dogs, caogs, or doats!!

So good luck with it all.

;D

[vegmandan]

Wow I thought this Lunar Planting stuff was all about getting back to nature and simplicity ?? ???

You need a degree in Waffle to understand it.

If you don't believe me here's a quote from the link. ;D
====================================================

LUNAR-CORRELATED VARIATIONS IN WATER UPTAKE BY BEAN SEEDS
FRANK A. BROWN JR. 1 and CAROL S. CHOW 2
1 Department of Biological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201
2 The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543



1. Rate of water uptake by bean seeds during the initial four hours displays a significant quarterly lunar variation.

2. Under what appear to be minimally distrubed environmental conditions relative to environmental electromagnetic fields, maximum rates tend to occur close to new and full moon and the moon's quarters.

3. One or more of the quarterly cycles may undergo periods of inversion either apparently "spontaneously" or in response to such experimentally altered environmental conditions as those found within a walk-in constant-temperature chamber, or effected by very slow uniform rotation.

4. The character of an interaction between vessels of beans located close to one another displays a synodic monthly variation. A maximum in interaction-induced negative correlation between two samples occurs 4 to 5 days after full moon, and in positive, 4 to 5 days after new moon.

5. These results give further support for the hypothesis that living systems can exist in either of two states, + and - with respect to their correlation with fluctuating biologically effective and normally uncontrolled, pervasive geophysical parameters, and that this sign is experimentally alterable.

=============================================================================

So what I have learned from this is that beans take more water on a new moon in the first 4 hours.

Well then why not just soak them overnight.?

But what if your soil is already saturated for a fortnight ?  That's just going to guarantee that they'll just rot before germinating...surely. ???

I wonder if our neolithic ancestors were concerned about their "synodic monthly variation" or an "interaction-induced negative correlation"

Stick some big words in and folk won't understand it but they'll believe it because some American University student did a study.

I tend to use this guide.

Wait until the soil warms up,there isn't a prolonged frost forecast and the day you plant contains the letter "Y".

You never know ,it may catch on. ;) ;)

===============================

I'm only having a laugh. ;D

Everyone to their own. :)

[Eristic]

You're having a laugh but they got paid to write that nonsense.

I refer you one and all to no. 3.

or in response to such experimentally altered environmental conditions as those found within a walk-in constant-temperature chamber, or effected by very slow uniform rotation.

Translated into English means their findings were the same as those conditions provided by a gardener regardless of the moon phase.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Tidal cycles and womens' menstrual cycles go with the moon, so it's obvious that it's affecting all sorts of things, and fertility of the land goes with other sorts of fertility, doesn't it? It's obvious that the moon will affect plants.

It's just like the idea that there's a solid sky with sluicegates in it, with loads of water piled on top and a god letting through when he chooses. We all know water falls from the sky, after all, so there has to be loads of it up there, and some sort of mechanism for letting it out in controlled quantities. It's in the Bible, too, but don't tell the fundamentalists!

[GodfreyRob]

What I want to know is,these folk who follow this Lunar Planting stuff to the letter,what happens If on the perfect time and date (according to your charts)  you get to your plot and it's either flooded after 2 inches of rain or frozen solid after a really hard frost?

Do you still sow/plant regardless even if the ground is in no fit state? :'(

Or do you have to wait another 28 days? ???

This is when these kinds of 'systems' fall down.  Also, there are big local differences to take into account: latitude, altitude, soil type, south-facing, coastal, prevailing wind, shade, etc.

I would bet a fair amount of money that a rigorous scientific test would show it is basically ineffective. Don't part with your hard-earned money!

However, the followers of such methods often devote a lot of TLC to their crops - it is this that undoubtedly helps the most!

[tonybloke]

I would bet a fair amount of money that a rigorous scientific test would show it is basically ineffective. Don't part with your hard-earned money!

How much do you call a fair amount??
and what do you call a rigorous scientific test? ( only asking 'cos we have one of the foremost plant research establishments here in norfolk http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/index.htm)
;)

[Eristic]

what do you call a rigorous scientific test?

I would have thought that for a proper test any fully computer-controlled climate environment should suffice with a batch of seeds sown every day for a 3 month period. Repeated for the different types of veg.

If the resulting plants are then lined up it should be obvious where the moon has had an effect as this would be the only variable. I'll believe it when I see it.

On a separate note or two, a ladies period is not the same as the lunar period and if all the women in the country had their period the same week I am sure I would know about it. So much so that I believe there would be a special week set aside on the calendar for it so us lower mortals could keep out of sight.

[tonybloke]

I wanted to know what 'a fair amount' was?
(my degree course costs 'a fair amount'!! if I could get that amount to do the research for a couiple of yerars at uni, I'd give it a 'proper test')  ;)

[Eristic]

Yes well to be fair all other growing variables have to be eliminated before any meaningful conclusions can be made.

At a lesser level, a few seeds could be sown on a daily basis along a line but external forces such as weather then play a significant part in the growth. If the drills were cloched and the daily min max temps also recorded some conclusions could be reached but would only be an indicator.

[Moon Grower]

Hi All
I've started a blog on growing by the moon http://intunewithmoon.findhornpress.com/ We've always grown organically and as I'm part of the company that is publishing Michel Gros' book thought I'd better practice what I was preaching :)
Get in touch with me if you have any questions

[OllieC]

I have a question... several in fact, since I have a natural suspicion towards anything that uses bad science to explain itself. I don't see how this works but... each to their own I suppose and if this does no harm then who am I to moan?!?!

I grew up near your place, in Tain. Hope the weather's better now.

Welcome to the site, and may all your crops grow triumphantly!

[Moon Grower]

Hi Ollie
Go ahead and ask your questions... I'll do my best to answer. Where do you live now?

[OllieC]

Hiya...

Okay, first up...

-Are you absolutely, real really, 100% certain that it works? Really?

I live in Guildford now. Would love to be back up there if only for the views. Mother's still in Tain.

[Moon Grower]

No I'm not... that is why we are running this trial with a moon bed and a control bed. We will use organic principles with both beds... so if there is a difference we can accept it is the lunar influence. But, this is going to take until the end of the year to have any sort of real answer. Yes other folk have tried and tested... I need to be sure for me :)

[caroline7758]

Hi, Moon Grower, I'll be interested to follow your trial. I have often had intentions to try lunar planting,but it's usually a case of doing what I can when I have time so it doesn't happen. Lucky you, living up there. We used tovisit friends in Kinloss and often went to Findhorn.

[Moon Grower]

Best way to follow what we are up to will be to check in on the blog http://intunewithmoon.findhornpress.com/ as I will be posting there regularly and there are also lots of tips from the book you can use even if you aren't growing using biodynamic principles ;)

[Baccy Man]

Surely with biodynamics you are not supposed to pick & choose the bits you use you are supposed to buy into all the anthroposophical ideas that go with it or it won't work.
You are also supposed to use all the preparations they reccommend such as  preparation 500 which is made by packing a dead cow's horn with it's own fresh manure (or perhaps bull s**t would also suffice), and then burying it over the winter. As the whole process is a type of astrological alchemy, it's essential that the burial occurs precisely at the autumnal equinox. A day earlier or later would be disastrous.
While the horn remains buried, the forces of the Winter Sun become concentrated by the inner planets, imbuing the cow manure with immense life-giving energy. When you dig the horn up in the spring, it's important to check the consistency of the manure contained within. You can either use Gas Chromatography (see, it really is scientific) or you can just stick your finger in it. If it doesn't have the sweet smell of a summer meadow something has gone terribly wrong. If all is well however, a small speck of the manure should be stirred into a barrel of fresh water before applying it to your crops.

Of course you should be careful with preparation 500 as it can have some very worrying side effects. User's have reported seeing "a web of formative force formations weaving themselves in the air" above the treated soil. These esoteric structures are apparently held in place by the power of thought. Oh, and by Gnomes. Not the little chubby fellows that we're all familiar with but headless, sexless Gnomes wearing suits of shining armour. Don't just take my word for it, it's all here:

http://www.aracaria.com.au/preparations/about_biodynamic_article.htm

Because these Gnomes are almost ten feet tall, they have an excessive power and influence over your hanging baskets. It's very important to balance this by spraying liberally with another Biodynamic concoction called Preparation 501.

[Moon Grower]

Baccy Man
We fully intend to follow all the instructions in the book - which do not include using Horn Manure or Horn Silica - and grow the veggies in the one bed using biodynamic principles BUT even someone who doesn't want to grown in this way will find useful info on when to for example prune, make compost etc. One of the reasons we were not really able to hold a proper trial last year was that we were both working full time, now with David retired we can actually do things on a specific day.