Moon phases

cootambear

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

This is why I did various moon/non-moon trials. And they ALL came back with better results for the moon ones.

You can't disprove something just be typing that it doesn't work; the only way to find out is to do it yourself.....and you forget that the water in soil is a HUGE dimension...thus it could quite easily be affected.

There are very simple reasons why I think this is a logical fallacy

1. The moons gravity only effects grossly large bodies like oceans. Of course land contains and enormous quantity of water, but it is not a homogenous mass, it is held in small separated, localised quantities within plants, humus, clays and the like. If the moon had a tidal influence you would see your lawn coming in and out of your garden every day.

2. There is a problem with making generalised assumptions from personal experience. It used to be argued that smoking didnt cause cancer because someones granny smoked 40 a day and lived to 85. It took randomised clinical trials of thousands of people to show that smoking causes cancer. I note that randomised clinical trials of `moon farming` do not exist.

3. You have tried it and it worked for you. OK, but consider that there are many other simpler explanations for that which do not require tidal forces or cosmic rays. It could be that you tried different varieties which were better for you. It could be that it was a particularly good growing season. It might be that you improved your soil (moon gardening has of course co opted many gardening principles such as regular feeding with organic matter). It could be that the ritual led you to spending more time on caring for your plants. Occams razor.

Lotus-eater

cootambear wrote: »

Ah but its not. First you have to decide which of the 3 `biodynamic` systems you will employ (they all contradict each other). Then you have to do some voodoo rituals with skulls and guts.

You said the idea of gardening was simple, I agreed. I then said the execution was as complicated as you wanted to make it.
Which it is.

Your posts are very interesting and I shall save them in the very special file I keep for very interesting posts.

rhiwfield

I've got an open mind on this, but very little knowledge

People can be very dismissive of the moon's effects but as scientific knowledge increases we get some very curious discoveries such as dark matter and the six flavours of quarks. Then there is strong force, one of four fundamental forces, others being weak force, electromagnetism and gravity.

We know that the moon has a substantial gravitic force (most noticeable in tides) and a luminescence effect. It seems improbable that these do not have some effect on people and plants LINK

From a personal viewpoint I'm not arrogant enough to say its all rubbish.

Sambucus_Nigra

cootambear wrote: »

It could be that the ritual led you to spending more time on caring for your plants. Occams razor.

It didn't.

I'm not going to argue the case - I've done it before and it's not worth it; I come from a scientific background and all plants [moon and non-moon] were all grown together and only 'removed' from the normal place when their allocated dates came round.

Plus, the garlic one consisted of - putting the garlic in on a certain day [all next to each other, one half moon, one half non-moon] over 5 months and all being harvested exactly 6 months later and weighed. That's it! No fertiliser, no weeding, no nothing.

Even my cynical lottie neighbour could not believe the difference.

rhiwfield

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You said the idea of gardening was simple, I agreed. I then said the execution was as complicated as you wanted to make it.
Which it is.

Your posts are very interesting and I shall save them in the very special file I keep for very interesting posts.

Last edited by Lotus-eater; Today at 10:08 AM. Reason: changed my mind

Having seen the pre-edited post just wondered what you would name the file? :D:D

Lotus-eater

rhiwfield wrote: »

Having seen the pre-edited post just wondered what you would name the file? :D:D

I can't imagine

annie123

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/moon-planting_26624.html

lots more posts on the above forum too if you do a search.

I think there is something in it, only tried it once with toms, some by moon guide and others as I would normally grow.
Seemed to produce a bigger crop but too much so**ing around for me.
HTH

cootambear

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

This is why I did various moon/non-moon trials. And they ALL came back with better results for the moon ones.

You can't disprove something just be typing that it doesn't work; the only way to find out is to do it yourself.....and you forget that the water in soil is a HUGE dimension...thus it could quite easily be affected.

As I said, the moon only effects large bodies of water like oceans and great lakes. Ok soil has a large percentage of water, but so does a swimming pool. Do you see tides on it?

The moon has less gravitational effect on a humans than a mosquito. Check it here.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lunacy-and-the-full-moon

You are right, typing something out doest make a theory true, rigorous studies do.

cootambear

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I can't imagine

I preferred the honesty of the original

cootambear

rhiwfield wrote: »

I've got an open mind on this, but very little knowledge

People can be very dismissive of the moon's effects but as scientific knowledge increases we get some very curious discoveries such as dark matter and the six flavours of quarks. Then there is strong force, one of four fundamental forces, others being weak force, electromagnetism and gravity.

We know that the moon has a substantial gravitic force (most noticeable in tides) and a luminescence effect. It seems improbable that these do not have some effect on people and plants LINK

From a personal viewpoint I'm not arrogant enough to say its all rubbish.

That link is typical of the shoddy level of science journalism, that led tragically to the MMR scare. Note how they often quote one study - the most sensational.

Please condiser buying this excellent book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytO1W-JHmw

They quote mental health professionals as believingi in lunar effects, peoples beliefs are not a study. There is no difference in psychiatric behaviour on full moons unless you believe Hammer Horror.


Ivan Kelly, James Rotton and Roger Culver (1996) examined over 100 studies on lunar effects and concluded that the studies have failed to show a reliable and significant correlation (i.e., one not likely due to chance) between the full moon, or any other phase of the moon, and each of the following:

-the homicide rate
-traffic accidents
-crisis calls to police or fire stations
-domestic violence
-births of babies
-suicide
-major disasters
-casino payout rates
-assassinations
-kidnappings
-aggression by professional hockey players
-violence in prisons
-psychiatric admissions [one study found admissions were lowest during a full moon]
-agitated behavior by nursing home residents
-assaults
-gunshot wounds
-stabbings
-emergency room admissions [but see]
-behavioral outbursts of psychologically challenged rural adults
-lycanthropy
-vampirism
-alcoholism
-sleep walking
-epilepsy

http://www.skepdic.com/fullmoon.html

A mother holding her child "will exert 12 million times as much tidal force on her child as the moon"


Apart from being a dramatic demonstration of Newtons Inverse Square Law re Gravity, isnt it beautiful that a mother has so much more tidal force on her baby than the moon?