Moon gardening: More than lore?

 

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                                   June 12, 1991

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       This is a  article  that  was  in the Dallas Morning News on May 10,

       1991. It was written by Anne Raver  from  the  New  York  Times News

       Service. The House  & Garden Staff of the Dallas Morning  News  also

       contributed to this report.

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                                   SHEER LUNACY?

       Growing flowers and  vegetables  by  the  moon  is  a  centuries old

       tradition, but does it really work and should we try it?

                          Moon gardening: More than lore?

                                   By Anne Raver

                            New York Times News Service

            The last full moon was two  Sundays  ago.   And  all  over  the

       country, moon gardeners  were  planting  by it - corn,  pole  beans,

       sweet peas -  because they know that a full moon will make corn grow

       tall and pull a vining bean right up the pole.

            "When I was 4, I'd go out with  my grandmother, and we'd always

       try to plant  potatoes on the full moon," said Michael  Petitt,  25,

       who grew up in the hills of Kentucky. "And we'd plant pole beans and

       corn and grasses on the full moon, for faster germination."

            Mr. Petitt  is  an extension agent for Boyd County in Kentucky.

       He is working on his master's degree  in  horticulture. But he still

       plants by the moon.

            "I think that geotropism - the effect of gravity on plants - is

       greater on the  full moon," he said. "But I think  it  also  affects

       some biochemical process.  Of  course I'd never say this to a client

       on the phone."

            Moon planters believe that the  same  gravitational  force that

       pulls the tides, the same cosmic rhythms that draw  a  horsehoe crab

       ashore to mate,  also  cause crops, especially those that bear above

       ground, to leap right out of the earth.

            And conversely, when the moon is on the wane, as it is now, and

       its light and gravitational pull  are  on  the decrease, the earth's

       gravity kicks in again, and roots burrow happily into the ground.

            But don't plant anything when the moon is absolutely  dark. The

       next new moon  is  Tuesday,  and that's when plants should rest. The

       new moon also is a good time to kill  weeds  because they won't grow

       back.

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            The world  of  hard  science  hasn't tried to study this stuff.

       "It's mythology," said Cynthia Rosenzweig,  and agronomist at NASA'S

       Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan. "There has to be a

       physical reason why  the moon's different phases would  affect  soil

       properties, soil temperature,  moisture content precipitation, which

       are the actual physical factors that  make seeds germinate. And that

       isn't documentable."

            He colleague  Frank  Abramopoulos,  an astrophysicist,  agreed.

       "The tidal force  -  the  gravitational  pull of the moon - would be

       there, but a  level  smaller  than   would  affect  any  biochemical

       processes," he said.

            There was a long pause when he was asked if the  moon,  passing

       through the sign of the zodiac, could affect plants.

            "The moon  is 238,000 miles away from us, which is very close,"

       he said politely. "The nearest star  is  four  light-years away, and

       that light would not have an effect on plant life."

            Scientists are so literal. That's why they're scientists.

            They should look into it, Mr. Petitt said. But  his people have

       never worried about  proof.  It was there on the table, in a mess of

       beans. In turnips bigger than grapefruits.

            "We never said why; we just knew,"  Mr. Petitt said. "We didn't

       question. The people who did question, they didn't have a crop."

            There's a lot you can do if you read the moon right.

            "Me and my grandpap, we'd cut locust for fence  posts  when the

       moon was three-quarters  full,"  Mr.  Petitt  said.   "We'd cut them

       green, leave the bark on and put  them  right  in  the  ground. Then

       Grandpap would pour  about a gallon of water on them.  And  a  month

       later those posts would be sprouting.  That's no lie, ma'am."

            Mr. Petitt  said  people  would come to look at those posts and

       ask how it was done. "But if they didn't do it on the three-quarters

       moon, it wouldn't work," he said.

            Now the moon is on the wane.  "Flowering  bulbs  and vegetables

       THAT BEAR CROPS  BELOW GROUNDbelow ground should be  planted  during

       the DARK of  the  Moon,"  says the 1991 Old Farmer's Almanac.  "That

       is, from the day after it is full  to  the  day  before  it  is  new

       again."

            Corda Kindall, 92, the sole resident of Olga,  Mo.  said that's

       right: "Anything like  radishes,  onions,  that  grow underneath the

       ground, why you plant them on a dark  moon,  and  then  they'll grow

       larger and not  be all tops. If you plant on the new  moon,  they'll

       grow tail and  bloom,  but  the  radishes  won't  be good. Same with

       potatoes. Plant them on the dark moon and they won't all go to top."

            Mrs. Kindall planted her morning  glory  seeds,  which had been

       soaking in a jar, just before the moon was full. "And  I'm  going to

       go out tomorrow and plant me some beans," she said.

            It's not good to question these things too closely. The

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       contradictions, for instance: Mr. Petitt plants potatoes on the full

       moon, Mrs. Kindall on the dark.

            But that's  the  way  it is with moon gardeners. You can hardly

       find two who plant the same way. And  they  all think they're right,

       because whichever way they choose, it works.

            "I always  plant  potatoes  on  Good Friday, because  an  older

       gentleman taught me  to do it that way, and he'd always done it that

       way, and I always get more potatoes  than  anybody  else, so there,"

       said Miriam Dunlap,  who  farms  80  acres outside Des  Moines.  "My

       husband's family always   said,  `Good  seed,  good  potatoes,  Good

       Friday,' I swear it's just a reason to force you to get out there in

       the mud to plant."

            Maybe that's basically what it  is, a ritual of chores, a giant

       almanac as old as the Pyramids and the rising of the Dog Star, which

       has marked the onset of spring, and spring planting, since the first

       man, or woman, first put a seed in the ground.

            Even the  gardener  in Dr. Rosenzweig, the Goddard  agronomist,

       believes, a little.  "Even though I don't believe it scientifically.

       I think the ancient traditions are  wonderful,"  she  said. "And who

       knows: There are more things out there than are known by science."

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       VANGARD NOTE:

            It is amazing there are no scientists willing  to  make a study

       of this.  If  under control conditions, the moon does have an effect

       on the growing of plants, this could change the way that we farm.

            Or is it possible the scientific  community  does  not  want to

       admit, that the moon's gravity has an effect on PLANTS and HUMANS.

            This would be an excellent experiment for one  of you to do. Or

       for someone in  college.  Better  yet, how about getting one of your

       kids to do this as a school science fair project?

            Now if we were living on the moon and were to study the effects

       of the Earth gravity on plants growing on the moon.  That would mean

       we would have to title this article ` EARTH GARDENING SHEER LUNACY!'

                                         Submitted By; Ronald Barker

                                                       Vangard Sciences

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       Addenda

            Is it not interesting that the  effects  of  gravity seem to be

            reduced when the moon is waxing or in the full  moon condition.

            If regarding  this  with the PULL GRAVITY theory, then the moon

            would partially cancel the earth gravity by pulling mass in its

            direction.  This article therefore not only leads to ecological

            improvements but opens up some  interesting  thoughts regarding

            gravity.

            There are  indications  that  moonlight  is polarized.   Is  it

            possible that  the  light  reflected from the moon might have a

            spin whose direction is dependent on whether the moon is waxing

            or waning?

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            As an   interesting   note,  in  the  metaphysical  literature,

            "scryers" or "crystal gazers"  are  advised  to NOT allow their

            crystal to be exposed to the light of the moon as it supposedly

            interferes with  the  images  seen  within the  crystal.   (the

            method of  "cleansing"  the crystal is to hold it under cool or

            cold running water)

            There are  strange  effects  involving   counter-clockwise  and

            clockwise spins, known as Coriolis forces when  applied to spin

            in the upper and lower hemispheres of the Earth.

            Does this  possibly indicate something relating to anti-gravity

            having to do with a counter-clockwise spin?  Note many files on

            Keelynet which seem to indicate  such  a tendency, particularly

            observations noted  when  viewing the Meyer Chronicles  (a  UFO

            documentary on Swiss farmer Billy Meier).

            In addition,  the  work  of  Davis and Rawls on magnetic fields

            tends to support this observation.   South  Pole  energy  has a

            counter-clockwise spin and causes mass to expand,  while  North

            Pole energy has a clockwise spin and causes mass to contract.

            The file  RFP on KeelyNet gives more on this although there are

            some discrepancies which have  yet  to  be  resolved.   RFP was

            written several years ago and needs to be updated, which I have

            not had time to do.

                                                           Jerry W. Decker

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         If you have comments or other information relating  to such topics

         as  this  paper covers,  please  upload to KeelyNet or send to the

           Vangard  Sciences  address  as  listed  on the  first  page.

              Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.

           Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson

                             Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet

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                     If we can be of service, you may contact

                 Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346

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