Moon planting...again...sorry!

[Lazgaot]

I'm a bit of a sceptic on this, but as an experiment this year I'm growing as much as I can in "tune" with the moon cycles. This has got me thinking and raised some questions.

Sowing - does this apply to sowing in pots and modules too or just in to the open ground. I raise this because water levels in modules and pots (I guess) are less affected by the moon's gravitational effect on the ground water? We affect it directly by watering the compost/medium.

Moon Calendar - so far I'v only seen/read about sowing days/dates and whether or not its a good time to harvest. How does this apply to transplanting from modules and pots? Is this classed as sowing too?

Just two questions for now...

[womble]

I was speaking to someone about this the other day and questions were raised about the need to worry about planting by the moon, if you sow into pots.
So I don't know, but will be interested in finding out what others think.

[zazen999]

From research I've seen, where they sowed for example, lettuces on each day and looked at which ones did better [moons obviously!]...they were in seed trays.

The way I see it, water doesn't have to be attached to other water to be affected.

So, either do everything by moon, or some, or none...depending on your 'devotion'.

I'm still trialling mine, but even my sceptic brummie lottie neighbour looked at my garlic trials and said that the moon ones were in a much better condition than the non moons.

And yes, you do affect it by watering...but you're not in control of what the moon is doing to the water once it is in the soil.

Things will still grow, and are just as affected by everything else around [compost, temp, moisture, wind etc], the question is do you get better, healthier plants and bigger yields when you moon plant...???

[womble]

Surely the only real way of doing moon planting comparison tests, is to do them in a regulated indoor environment, so everything else apart from the planting date is the same.
Has anyone heard of any proper tests that have been carried out like this?

[jimbojetset]

Just bumping this as am interested what people say
I, like you, think the jury on whether moonplanting actually works is out
So whether anyone can actually pinpoint the actual devices that allegedly make plants grow stronger when planted according to lunar phases would surely be conjecture without some rigorous experimentation
If someone had the time / space to run some experiments on moon planting in pots vs direct sowing it would be interesting
But then wouldn't the potted crop always be smaller as it doesn't have enough room to grow?

[jimbojetset]

I'd be interested to hear that too Mr Womble!
That's always the way we'd run tests when I was at Uni

[cwipnip]

i could sow 2 seeds now and 1 will come up in 5 days, the other may come up in 10, how does it take into account the different germination times of different seeds if there is only 1 day to plant?

[zazen999]

Surely the only real way of doing moon planting comparison tests, is to do them in a regulated indoor environment, so everything else apart from the planting date is the same.
Has anyone heard of any proper tests that have been carried out like this?

Yes, I did alot of research when i first heard about it and I mentioned the lettuces above.

[zazen999]

Just bumping this as am interested what people say
I, like you, think the jury on whether moonplanting actually works is out
So whether anyone can actually pinpoint the actual devices that allegedly make plants grow stronger when planted according to lunar phases would surely be conjecture without some rigorous experimentation
If someone had the time / space to run some experiments on moon planting in pots vs direct sowing it would be interesting
But then wouldn't the potted crop always be smaller as it doesn't have enough room to grow?

Why are you bumping something that is less than an hour old?

I've trialled toms and this year garlics. As mentioned above, the plants seem bigger and stronger thus far.

The toms last year had a 46% increase per seed sown and a 10% increase on crops harvested per plant.

The plants were sown into pots, and more moons survived to harvest than non-moon. The plants themselves also were larger and stronger when they had been sown on moon days.

[jimbojetset]

Not being rude or funny Zazen but how is an environment regulated if the researcher is biased?

Can you honestly tell us that you don't give that extra bit of love to your moon plants?

Thinking back womble you can actually do an experiment just as long as both the group being tested and the control are in exactly the same environment - which gives me an idea ...

I reckon I can work out a really easy simple experiment that everyone can do at home, which would cut out any bias, Zazen would you be able to give people the next upcoming days to plant leaves?

[jimbojetset]

apologies for the bump
i logged on and it was quite far down the list
didn't look at the time

[zazen999]

Not being rude or funny Zazen but how is an environment regulated if the researcher is biased?

Can you honestly tell us that you don't give that extra bit of love to your moon plants?

Thinking back womble you can actually do an experiment just as long as both the group being tested and the control are in exactly the same environment - which gives me an idea ...

I reckon I can work out a really easy simple experiment that everyone can do at home, which would cut out any bias, Zazen would you be able to give people the next upcoming days to plant leaves?

I'm not biased actually. I'm from a scientific background and worked in soils laboratories for many years.

All plants get the same attention, to the extent that they are labelled and mixed up whilst waiting to be planted out. Once the dates arrive, they get picked out and planted out. Whilst waiting to germinate, they are all in the same tray, again mixed up.

When out, all they got was tying up, one haircut, and a harvest. Planted in the same bed, with a cane between one half and the other.

With the garlic, they all got weighed, and put in the ground at the same depth. Then they are left completely [apart from my OH weeding], all removed with a bulb hole maker on the exact same number of moon cycles later, the soil knocked off and reweighed. Then replanted in a different bed and the final results will be the final bulbs. These are done over a period of 4 months with 5 being sown at each interval. 50 in all, 25 of each.

All the dates are in my sig. I'd suggest a blog to document your trial as you go.

[di]

Excuse my ignorance,but I really don't understand why you've got such a need to prove that Moon planting doesn't work???
Nobody on here seems to be preaching that it's the only way to go...just experimenting for their own purposes & sharing their findings with possible likeminded people that may want to give it a go themselves!
BTW...mine is a totally unbiased opinion...as yet I've not tried it,but am interested to see others results.

[womble]

Well personally I don't want to prove that it doesn't work, quite the opposite. If it works well I would use it. What I was pointing out, was that it is impossible to test 2 lots of seeds sown at different times and experiencing different conditions.

Even if the test was done inside the home, the humidity of the days will be different, the amount of moisture in the compost will be different, unless you measure out the water and even then differing small amounts of anything can make big differences to seedlings growth.

I remain sceptical, but interested and I do not dismiss off hand that it doesn't work, merely want to prove to myself that it does.

[zazen999]

Exactly....so you have to do the trial on a larger basis over a longer period of time and the results must be by measurement and not conjecture.