Gardening by the Moon Calendar

[Sahib Punjabi]

I searched the Forum but could not find any reference / discussion on this topic. Does anyone follow the planting dates per the Moon Calender ? I would love to see if this is applicable in Aquaponics.

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/

[Ian Hawkins]

this is a real interesting subject and the moon affects everything and especially fish behaviour also, so really it could be even more relevant in aquaponics than normal farming, the fish behaviour will increase with certain moon phases (although wich are best seems to be lost in memory at the minute) and therefore it may be best to plant with the increased fish feeding habits as this will speed up the cycles happening in your grow beds and the bacteria will be more active.

[Sahib Punjabi]

Love it :-)

 

Given Moon affects the tide, hence best fishing times, there may be a connection...

 

Ian, is that a Carp / Pond Koi that you are holding in your profile picture?

 

God bless,

 

Ian Hawkins said:

this is a real interesting subject and the moon affects everything and especially fish behaviour also, so really it could be even more relevant in aquaponics than normal farming, the fish behaviour will increase with certain moon phases (although wich are best seems to be lost in memory at the minute) and therefore it may be best to plant with the increased fish feeding habits as this will speed up the cycles happening in your grow beds and the bacteria will be more active.

[Ian Hawkins]

yeah even in small inland water bodies and non-tidal rivers it has a massive effect on fish behaviour. i have kept records of this with all the fishing i do and it certainly does affect them, as does the setting and rising of the moon also.

 

it is a fully scaled mirror carp in the picture, only photos i had on my pc are my fishing pictures so i thought why not?

Sahib Punjabi said:

Love it :-)

 

Given Moon affects the tide, hence best fishing times, there may be a connection...

 

Ian, is that a Carp / Pond Koi that you are holding in your profile picture?

 

God bless,

 

Ian Hawkins said:

this is a real interesting subject and the moon affects everything and especially fish behaviour also, so really it could be even more relevant in aquaponics than normal farming, the fish behaviour will increase with certain moon phases (although wich are best seems to be lost in memory at the minute) and therefore it may be best to plant with the increased fish feeding habits as this will speed up the cycles happening in your grow beds and the bacteria will be more active.

[Carey Ma]

I haven't done any record keeping or documentation but I too believe in moon cycle gardening and have my farms rough work schedule based around it. The thing I found is that sometimes I can't wait for cycles because I like to fill any space that opens up. I too was an avid fisherman before moving to China and can attest to the fact that fish are affected by cycles, (esp. feeding) though what, how and why are beyond my scope.

Side note:

My granny taught me that the goddess created birds to sing at dawn so the flora could wake up to a nice breakfast. It makes sense to me since today we know that the stomatas open the biggest at dawn and dust but does bird call actually trigger them to open? 

[TCLynx]

does the butterfly cause the storm on the other side of the planet?  Perhaps not as directly as would be required for use to see/understand but that does not mean cause and effect is not there.

 

I like the story of the birds singing to wake the flora even if the cause and effect isn't accurate.  Maybe the birds sing in anticipation of the beauty of the flowers opening and to call us to enjoy it.

 

I lately planted a bunch of seeds but they got planted on a day that was not recommended by the almanac so I'm now going to plant as close to the same combinations of seeds and see if I can compare the germination rates.  However it is really difficult to make sure all other things are equal and really compare progress when things are planted almost a week apart but I will try.