Researcher Says All Living Things Respond to Motions of the Moon
CHICAGO, IL, US, July 21, 2013 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In recent decades experiments have shown that the metabolism of plants, indicated by such things as their water absorption or oxygen metabolism, responds to the monthly lunar cycle.
At the University of Paris researchers have shown that plant DNA changes in tune to this cycle, says Nick Kollerstrom, PhD, a science historian and former honorary research fellow in Science and Technology Studies at University College in London.
Kollerstrom is author of several books, including Gardening and Planting by the Moon and Farmers Moon, a new title published by New Alchemy Press. He is a former gardening correspondent for the BBC and, over the years, has published numerous articles in scientific and astrological journals.
That’s right, astrological journals.
Kollerstrom reports that trees have electric fields around them, which can be measured by the potential gradient up the trunk. In the U.S., researcher Ralph Markson monitored this for years and showed that both fortnightly (every two weeks) and monthly lunar rhythms were present.
Kollerstrom explains that animal estrus (coming-on-heat) is cyclic. But traditions link animal fertility to the lunar cycle.
In the 2nd century AD, the astrologer Claudius Ptolemy reported that the practical, hard-headed farmers of the Roman Empire used the full moon to direct the copulation of their herds and flocks - and also to time the setting of plants or sowing of seeds.
“There is not an individual who considers these general precautions as impossible or unprofitable,” he said.
Kollerstrom says he has collected years of data from a Thoroughbred stud farm. Collected were dates of covering (bringing the stallion to the mare) and recorded conceptions.
“Mating takes place within just a few months in the spring of each year, which makes investigating the lunar cycle influence tricky. Yet the data clearly seems to show both increased fertility and increased coming-on-heat on the days around, and just after, the full moon,” he said.
“If correct, this has practical implications for horse breeding,” he believes.
Kollerstrom says investigations don’t always support traditional folklore but tend to suggest that there is something in it. For example, the belief that some part of the lunar month is best for pruning trees and the other part better for grafting.
Or the idea that calves should not be gelded around the full moon.
Kollerstrom says his own experiments with seeds grown at constant temperature tended to confirm the results published by Lilly Kolisko in the late 1930s. Kolisko found that seeds usually germinate better if sown around the full moon, and especially on the day or two prior to it.
“The Secret Life of Plants by Tompkins & Bird wasn’t just a hippy pipe-dream of the sixties. Plants are sensitive in ways we tend not to give them credit for,” he said.
Kollerstrom says the vital question of how final crop yield is affected by sowing date has been thoroughly investigated within the Bio-dynamic movement. But deep disagreement exists amongst experts in this area.
For several decades the late Maria Thun reported her results in a yearly moon calendar, which apparently show weight-yields in accord with the elements of the sidereal or star-zodiac. For example, as a root-crop, potatoes grow best when they are sown as the Moon is passing in front of so-called earth-element constellations in the astrological zodiac – Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn.
“This may seem more like some alchemical mandala than a scientific theory. But the question is, does it work? Is it practical for farmers to organize their work schedule around it?” he asks.
Kollerstrom believes it does.
Together with a market gardener Kollerstrom says he has personally tested Thun’s theory and has reviewed the researches of others. British experiments on the topic have involved about five hundred rows sown with diverse vegetables, he says.
“I have published many of these results, and have reviewed the researches of others. My view is that the theory stands up,” he said.
Kollerstrom says folklore ends and science begins when results are obtained that are repeatable.
“The classic Thun and Heinze results published in the early seventies described eight years of potato-yields (1964 -71). In my view, replications of the Thun effect are substantial enough for such a claim to be made,” he said.
“Each year about one hundred thousand copies of the Thun calendar are sold world-wide, in 21 different languages. For growers to use a calendar based upon the moon may be a sensible idea,” he noted.
CONTACT: Edward Snow
Astrology News Service (ANS)
Info@astrologynewsservice.com
At the University of Paris researchers have shown that plant DNA changes in tune to this cycle, says Nick Kollerstrom, PhD, a science historian and former honorary research fellow in Science and Technology Studies at University College in London.
Kollerstrom is author of several books, including Gardening and Planting by the Moon and Farmers Moon, a new title published by New Alchemy Press. He is a former gardening correspondent for the BBC and, over the years, has published numerous articles in scientific and astrological journals.
That’s right, astrological journals.
Kollerstrom reports that trees have electric fields around them, which can be measured by the potential gradient up the trunk. In the U.S., researcher Ralph Markson monitored this for years and showed that both fortnightly (every two weeks) and monthly lunar rhythms were present.
Kollerstrom explains that animal estrus (coming-on-heat) is cyclic. But traditions link animal fertility to the lunar cycle.
In the 2nd century AD, the astrologer Claudius Ptolemy reported that the practical, hard-headed farmers of the Roman Empire used the full moon to direct the copulation of their herds and flocks - and also to time the setting of plants or sowing of seeds.
“There is not an individual who considers these general precautions as impossible or unprofitable,” he said.
Kollerstrom says he has collected years of data from a Thoroughbred stud farm. Collected were dates of covering (bringing the stallion to the mare) and recorded conceptions.
“Mating takes place within just a few months in the spring of each year, which makes investigating the lunar cycle influence tricky. Yet the data clearly seems to show both increased fertility and increased coming-on-heat on the days around, and just after, the full moon,” he said.
“If correct, this has practical implications for horse breeding,” he believes.
Kollerstrom says investigations don’t always support traditional folklore but tend to suggest that there is something in it. For example, the belief that some part of the lunar month is best for pruning trees and the other part better for grafting.
Or the idea that calves should not be gelded around the full moon.
Kollerstrom says his own experiments with seeds grown at constant temperature tended to confirm the results published by Lilly Kolisko in the late 1930s. Kolisko found that seeds usually germinate better if sown around the full moon, and especially on the day or two prior to it.
“The Secret Life of Plants by Tompkins & Bird wasn’t just a hippy pipe-dream of the sixties. Plants are sensitive in ways we tend not to give them credit for,” he said.
Kollerstrom says the vital question of how final crop yield is affected by sowing date has been thoroughly investigated within the Bio-dynamic movement. But deep disagreement exists amongst experts in this area.
For several decades the late Maria Thun reported her results in a yearly moon calendar, which apparently show weight-yields in accord with the elements of the sidereal or star-zodiac. For example, as a root-crop, potatoes grow best when they are sown as the Moon is passing in front of so-called earth-element constellations in the astrological zodiac – Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn.
“This may seem more like some alchemical mandala than a scientific theory. But the question is, does it work? Is it practical for farmers to organize their work schedule around it?” he asks.
Kollerstrom believes it does.
Together with a market gardener Kollerstrom says he has personally tested Thun’s theory and has reviewed the researches of others. British experiments on the topic have involved about five hundred rows sown with diverse vegetables, he says.
“I have published many of these results, and have reviewed the researches of others. My view is that the theory stands up,” he said.
Kollerstrom says folklore ends and science begins when results are obtained that are repeatable.
“The classic Thun and Heinze results published in the early seventies described eight years of potato-yields (1964 -71). In my view, replications of the Thun effect are substantial enough for such a claim to be made,” he said.
“Each year about one hundred thousand copies of the Thun calendar are sold world-wide, in 21 different languages. For growers to use a calendar based upon the moon may be a sensible idea,” he noted.
CONTACT: Edward Snow
Astrology News Service (ANS)
Info@astrologynewsservice.com
Edward Snow
Astrology News Service
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