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  • From: Roots Farm <karen AT rootsfarm.info>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] ? about moon phase planting (Richard Robinson)
  • Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 19:21:54 -0400

Since some insect life cycles (as well as those of fish,  human women, likely many more life forms) are notably tied to moon cycles, it is not hard to imagine that some selective advantage could be enjoyed by "sensitivity" that produced the most vulnerable plant stage(s) at a time when insect pest not a problem.  

Also, it has been demonstrated that the uptake of water by seeds is significantly different at different phases of moon.  Re beans:  http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/84/3/707.full.pdf  

And, I think that a case can be made for "tidal" influences in any water-containing being -- including humans -- but maybe the effect is most often drowned out by the cacophony of manmade, unsubtle influences.  

And, with so many new boggling discoveries re the importance of plant (and human)  bacterial and fungal components, perhaps we must ask whether these life forms are tied to moon phases and thus influence their symbiant.

So interesting.  Thank you all.

Karen

Roots Farm Organic Produce
Fruits, Roots, Vegetables & Herbs
Cochrane, DOMINICA
767-449-3038 (before 7 P.M.)

On Oct 31, 2013, at 1:17 PM, Richard Robinson <rrobinson AT nasw.org> wrote:

On 10/31/2013 at 12:58:39 PM, Wyatt Jones wrote:
Hmm since the ocean tides, a pretty powerful
force, are greatly affected by the moon's gravitational pull I would have to
dispute your claims here.  If the oceans are so greatly affected one would
have to deduce that other elements would also be affected on the earth by the
moons gravitational pull, not the least being the weather.  That said there
ARE other factors you didn't even consider when considering how the moon
affects the earth.  One VERY obvious effect moon phases have is the amount of
nocturnal light apparent on the earth's surface. As the light decreases or
increases it is not hard to see how that that would affect plant growth.   
Saying the moon, and other
extraterrestrial bodies for that matter, has no effect on the life forms here
on earth seems very silly to me, one can argue the subtle elements of that
influence but saying it has no influence ignores quite a lot.


Regarding tides, these are gravitational effects that are only significant in enormous bodies of water, due to the combined effect (and all combined in the same direction) of the moon on trillions of tons of water. Even bodies as big as the Great Lakes are essentially non-tidal: they are just too small. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gltides.html There are no tides in my teacup because the effect is dwarfed, by orders of magnitude, by the other influences at work.

As for nocturnal moonlight, well maybe, but the penetration of moonlight to a seed covered by a half inch of soil is going to very, very small. Any difference in light absorption by the seed will be dwarfed by the enormously larger differences brought about by whether it us sunny versus cloudy,for instance, on the day you plant. And since moonlight is just reflected sunlight, it's hard to imagine any important difference in the nature of moonlight that could produce an effect that could override the sunlight effect.

I think underlying all of this is that plants have had to evolve to cope with enormous short-term variations in their environment, meaning that seeds should be relatively resistant to environmental fluctuations unrelated to their most important needs: appropriate soil depth, adequate water, and appropriate seasonality. To say that a plant will do better in one phase of the moon means it will do worse in another. It's not clear to me what evolutionary advantage that sensitivity could confer, even if they were somehow exquisitely sensitive to some extremely weak (and as-yet unidentified) force.

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


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