Planting Crops By Moon Phases

[EVP MAN]

Does anyone think that planting crops by the phase of the moon really makes any difference at all? Myself, I'm kind of a sceptic about this whole moon phase thing.

Rich

[David Hare-Scott]

It is a branch of astrology and like astrology there is no reliable evidence that it works. If it worked you might expect there to be statistical evidence that planting at some phases of the moon gives better results than others even if no mechanism was known. You might also expect a reasonable mechanism to be proposed that is consistent with known physics, chemistry and biology, and that could be tested to see how strong its effect was. Neither statistics nor testable mechanism exist.

There is the argument that farmers have been practicing moon planting for millennia and they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. This is rubbish, people have been doing all sorts of things for a long time but that doesn't mean there is any real benefit in it *unless* you can show the evidence. Superstition persists in the face of lack of knowledge, just because you get your superstition via the internet instead of at the parish pump makes no difference.

A much better method of fructifying your gardens is if on the night of the full moon nearest the summer solstice male and female perform their favourite sky-clad ritual in contact with the earth. This will energise the microflora of your soil better than compost and the karmic vibrations will drive your earthworms into a mating frenzy.

Hare Scott Hare Scott Scott Scott Hare Hare Hare David Hare David David David Hare Hare

[<balvenieman]

Someone may but I don't.

[Janet Baraclough]

The message from White_Noise [e-mail] (EVP MAN) contains these words:

I know a professional gardener, who was requested to do that in his employers veg garden. He was sceptical but had no choice. I also know the garden very well indeed and it has always been a very hard place to grow good veg crops; right on a beach at sea level, very poor sandy stony soil. Previously, it had been gardened for over a decade using organic permaculture methods but progress was very slow. In the very first season of moon-growing, the improvement in yield and crop vitality was so vast and dramatic I asked the gardener what else he must have done that was different. Nothing; just the moon timetable (not just sowing, but transplanting ). However, he said he was very conscious of the change it made to his working day; he had to be very disciplined and organised to fit with the cycle of moon phases and very often, had to handle plants at times when his own instinct and experience would not have. As a result, he had more frequent contact with each crop and plant, spotted any problems immediately and was able to deal with them (still using organic methods) . IOW he's convinced the result is highly effective, but not sure whether it's the moon phases that make the difference, or the detailed close attention and routine it demands of the gardener.

Janet

[brooklyn1]

White_Noise [e-mail] (EVP MAN) contains these words:

Depends on the crop... when growing pot it matters. hehe

[Arkadiusz Dymek]

Well, actually the explanations I've heard had more to with the moon's impact on sea tides (moon's effect on plants' fluids circulation in this case) than with astrology, but no hard evidence either.

Best regards, Arkadesh

[Bill who putters]

Nay what effects can there be on us from a object so far away? OK tides and menstrual periods but plant life come on.

Bill

[David Hare-Scott]

Even the influence on MPs is very doubtful. The average MP interval (28 days) doesn't closely match the interval between full moons (29 1/2) and individual women have cycles that are even less closely related. Why don't other mammals have a cycle that matches the moon? Our closest relatives the bonobos and chimpanzees have cycles of 35 and 45 days. If controlled by the moon why are all women not synchronised? This connection is poor science and much history and superstition, just like astrology.

David

[Bill who putters]

Ah it is good when the bait is taken.

[David Hare-Scott]

Munchie munchie

D