Aristotle (who spent his whole life around the mediterranean) found this idea hard to swallow,(and considering some of the other things he believed, this is really saying something!). As a result, Julius Caesar was unaware of the tides** until he invaded Britain.
If you want to know more about this subject, I would strongly recommend Planting by the moon: A gardeners calendar published yearly by prospect books. It can be obtained from the "Planting by the Moon" website (link below)
A scientific explanation
The following is taken from "Agricultural Ecology" by Girolami Azzi,
"According to experienced farmers, lettuce sown when the moon is waning
is well developed vegetatively, producing a voluminous and juicy head:
If sown with a rising moon, the plants rapidly go to seed without forming
a good head.
Radishes sown with a rising moon blossom in 50-60 days when temperatures are
reasonably high: sown with a waning moon, the interval between sprouting and
blooming is much longer, so permitting the plant to develop the meaty root
mass utilised by man
In these cases, as in many others which are empirically admitted but not yet
scientifically proven, it could be affirmed that the period of time between
new and full moon is a favourable one for reproduction, while the period
between the full and new moons would be favourable to vegetative growth"
The main environmental factor triggering flowering is the length of
the night, (a form of photoperiodism). Plant photoperiodic processes are perfectly capable of responding to light
levels much lower than those experienced at full moon, so it would be
surprising if plants did not respond to the phases of the moon.
If the moon can affect the
flowering times of plants, then the distinction between "above ground plants"
and "below ground plants", makes more sense: in the case of "below ground
crops" (onions, carrots, turnips etc.) flowering is usually undesirable; but
this is not the case with many "above ground crops" such as sweetcorn and
beans (lettuce is one of many exceptions).
Azzi tested this with onions ("Effect of the moon on the development of
the onion" La Meteorologia Practica An.17, No.6 Perugia 1936) and concluded
that
"Sowing with a waning moon, and thus acting in such a way that the interval from sowing to germination aproximately coincides with a new moon,
the formation of the reproductive organs is considerably retarded or put off,
while the bulbs tend to reach a considerable size."
Azzi admits that this is not conclusive, and I am certainly not satisfied with the small sample
size (10 plants grown over two years). There does not appear to be
sufficient compensation for the
weather either: Onion bulbs planted a month apart, in spring, could be
subject to completely different weather conditions. If anyone knows of any
more recent work on this subject, please
E-Mail me.[top]Another scientific explanation
I recently watched a series on BBC called "Supernatural".
One program talked about the influence of the moon on plants and animals,
and claimed (among other things) that moon planting could improve potato
yields. Their explanation was that plants and animals consist mostly of
water, and so are subject to the tides. I had heard this before, as an
explanation for all kinds of astrological phenomena, and I always found it
rather unconvincing. No sources were quoted on the program, so I e-mailed
the producer to ask where I could look for more information. He replied to
say that most of the information came from personal communications with the
scientists involved (in other words it had probably never been published,
or if it had, the program makers had not read the appropriate books or
papers). He did point me towards a number of authors, but didn't give
clear references. Some I have been able to find, others not. Here is
what I have managed to read so far:
The diameters of tree trunks fluctuate with the phase of the moon
(the study looked at Spruce - the same tree which
Boots climbed to heaven). The authors
compared this to the changes in water level in wells, and the ebb and
flow of springs, in response to the tides. They concluded that the
"moon is influencing the flow of water between different parts of the tree"
[9].
The paper also quoted work showing that germination and initial growth of
plants is affected by the phase of the moon by E.Zurcher (available at
http://iufro.boku.ac.at/iufro/iufronet/d6/wu60603/proc1998/zurcher.htm
-Zurcher E.(1992) Journal Forestier Suisse 143 951-966), and a
review of similar studies on 600 plant and animal species (Endres, K.P. &
Schad, W. Biologie des Mondes Mondperiodik und lebensrhythmen,
S.Hirzel Verlag Stuttgart/Leipzig, 1997). Unfortunately I haven't
been able to get hold of this last reference, let alone translate it
(languages aren't my strong point).
The claim that sap movement in trees is governed by the moon was not new
C.F.C.Beeson made similar claims as early as 1946
[14],
but denied that this was of any significance in forestry.
His article was part of a review of literature on the moon's influence
on plants, which was fairly sceptical. Beeson commented that this subject
goes in and out of fashion periodically
(as do many controversial areas of study), but the majority of
studies find no correlation between the moon's phases and plant growth.
He did draw attention to a study by Kolisko L. entitled
"The moon and the growth of plants" (1936), which seemed to
provide the best evidence. Kolisko found that wheat growth
was greatest at the time of full moon, and in particular, the
Easter full moon (I think this may be relevant to the page about
Lunar Calendars).
H.S.Burr observed changes in the electrical potentials of trees
(measured by putting electrodes 1.5m apart in the cambium),
in 1945, which were attributed
to changes in sap flow. It could simply have been that expansion of the
trunks moved the electrodes further apart.
(Diurnal potentials in the maple tree Yale J. Biol.Med.
17 727)
Frank A.Brown wrote several papers on the moon and plant growth.
I managed to find one that he wrote, claiming that water uptake by
bean seeds
peaked 4 times every lunar month, around the time of full moon, new moon
and the quarters.[15].
Harry S.Truman once said: "if you can't convince 'em, confuse em".
I think this sums up Brown's approach to writing papers.
The paper I read contained statements like:
"earlier evidence (Brown and Chow, 1973) had suggested that under some
circumstances beans in closely apposed vessels mutually induced one another
to adopt opposite signs of correlation with subtle geophysical
variations, and under other circumstances the same sign"
What I think he is saying is that if the beans are too close together,
the experiment doesn't work.
(O.K. I admit it, these pages are not always very coherent and I have been
accused of using too many long words, but I don't do it on purpose, honest!)
His experiment also seemed to be unnecessarily complicated, requiring
rotating electromagnets suspended over the beans, and beans arranged
in rows aligned to points of the compass. It would be quite hard
to repeat. Brown also wrote a number of papers on
lunar rhythms in animals
M.G.Maw[17]
looked at stem elongation rates in Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop),
Corydalis cava (climbing corydalis), Anemone nemorosa
(Wood anemone), Symphytum tuberosum (tuberous comfrey),
Allium ursinum (Ramsons wild garlic), Aegopodium podagraria
(ground elder) and Campanula rapunculoides (a sort of bellflower).
Snowdrop grew fastest 5 days before the full moon,
climbing corydalis at the second quarter, Wood anemone had a 7.3 day
growth rhythm in phase with the moons quarters, comfrey's growth peaked at
the second quarter, ramsons peaked at new moon, ground elder at full moon,
and bellflower at the second quarter.
The statistics and method seemed a little bit dubious to me:
Abrami sampled 3 or 4 plants of each species, but only presents results
from the plant which "most closely approximated mean population growth
and phenological stages". Consequently the statistics were too
complicated for me to understand.
I was also recommended to read work by T.M.Lai (1976) and
"Goldsworthy's ideas on electromagnetic detection in plants"
(wasn't he the cop who plugged his pot plant into a lie detector?)
I haven't managed to find anything by these people yet. All this has made
me rather more sceptical about some of the things I watch on TV.
[top]
Yet another scientific explanation
Lunar cycles can influence the activity, behaviour and breeding of animals
(click here for more on this). Plants are
vulnerable in the first few days after germination,
planting at a phase of the moon when pests are active could reduce the
yield. The Malayan black rice bug is a serious pest, and seems to be
caught more in light traps at full moon
[10].
Gerbils in the Negev desert forage for food most at new moon,
when they are less at risk from owls
[11]. It seems likely to me that mice and rats (which can eat a lot of newly planted seed)
might do the same. [top]
* Rongo is a male name, but the Maoris also call the moon by the female name Hina or Sina. The ancient Babylonians also believed the moon to control the growth of crops. Their androgenous moon deity was called Sin[13] [back]
**Recently, Randall Cerveny of Arizona State University has discovered that the temperature in the Arctic and Antarctic is 0.55 degrees C greater at full moon than at new moon. The moon also affects temperature in temperate latitudes, but not in the tropics. This may be due to transfer of heat by tidal effects on wind patterns, distortions of the earth's magnetic field by the moon, lunar effects on meteoric dust or simply the reflection of sunlight off the moon onto the earth. Others have commented that the earth is slightly closer to the sun at full moon, and that this may also play a part. The moon's cycle has also been implicated in other climatic effects. [4][5][6] . [back]
Links to other sites on the web:
Nature and Weather lore
Internet Classics ArchiveFor all the works of Aristotle and other classical authors (no honestly, it's really interesting )
Moon planting Dragon's Lunar gardening
Gothic Gardening: potpourri Gothic Lunar Gardening
Lord Skyknight's Medieval Gardening Page
A Witches Garden Wiccan Lunar Gardening
Randy Cerveny's Page
Planting by the moon
The old farmer's almanac
Using moon as planting guide can boost harvest
The Witches Workshop Really comprehensive stuff on lunar/astrological gardening + moon tables
BBC Supernatural Page
The mysterious Moonflower Ipomoea alba: No lunar garden should be without one
Seeds for a moongarden
Herbs Unlimited: Moon Planting
This is an excellent series of pages which go into the scientific theories about the moon's effects on plants in far more detail than I have. It is also fully referenced (makes a change!)
Planting by the Moon
A British site, not to be confused with the American site of the same name.
Gardening by the moon monthly advice continually updated
Effect of seedling date on initial growth and development of naked oats (according to recommends of biocosmic calendar. Roman Sniady et al.
Met Roman years ago at an organic farming conference. This is one of his scientific papers
Astrologers garden of delights
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