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  • From: Richard Robinson <rrobinson AT nasw.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] ? about moon phase planting
  • Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:17:18 -0400

On 10/30/2013 at 10:01:05 AM, Roots Farm wrote:
> Hearing it both ways: All transplanting -- including above ground crops
> --
> done as moon waning.
> Transplanting of above ground crops best when moon waxing.
>
>
> Actually, am hearing even more confusions than this. Does anyone have a
> credible system for maximizing good results re planting, transplanting,
> other
> garden tasks according to moon that may be amenable to tropics as well as
> temperate zone? Or even just a really clear set of principles (that have
> been tested) that could be adapted? Biodynamic methodologies interesting &
> likely prime, but just feel too complex for time/mind available.

Your email prompted me to do some poking around on the web. I could not find
any scientifically robust evidence that moon planting does, or doesn't, make
a difference. I think one really clear principle that argues against any
influence is that the most powerful known force at work between the moon and
any object on earth is gravity. The gravitational attraction between the moon
and a single seed is so negligible as to be unmeasurable (I think it's much
smaller than the attraction between you and the seed, but I don't have the
calcs at hand to confirm that), and is dwarfed by other effects having
nothing to do with the phase of the moon, such as air pressure, humidity,
soil moisture and chemistry, electrostatic charge, seed orientation, etc.
etc. etc.

A believer is likely to counter that the key word in the above paragraph is
"known." If one believes in forces unknown to physics, then it's a different
conversation. But to my mind, extraordinary claims require extraordinary
evidence--i.e., rigorously conducted, blinded tests giving results that can
be reproduced by others--and I don't think that exists for moon phase
planting.


Richard Robinson
www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/
Hopestill Farm
www.hopestill.com






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