Moon calendar

For Christmas I got gifted a little book about the moon cycles with a moon calendar for 2025 at the end.

So far, I've been reading up on the different cycles of the moon and some of them appear plausible to me as to how the moon could affect plant growth, harvest and animal life. It is an intriguing idea and going forward I will take note of those cycles and see what effects they have on my plants.

Do you have experience with the moon cycles? Do you swear by them? Do you think it's woo woo?


Quick recap what I learned so far and what I think about them:

1. Moon phases (waxing and waning moons): makes sense to me that more or less moon light affects plant and animal life alike.
2. Ascending and descending moon (the moon appears higher or lower each day): appears plausible as it results in more or less direct moon light and more or less gravitational pull.
3. Perigee and Apogee (moon is closest or furthest away): there is a 10% difference between the two extremes, meaning the moon will appear brighter and have a stronger pull when it's closest and less bright with weaker pull when it's furthest. Also plausible
4. Moon passing through lunar nodes and lining up with the earth & sun (causes for lunar and solar eclipses): double gravitation pull during new moons, weaker gravitation pull during full moons (as moon opposes the pull of the sun)
5. Lunar standstills: It wasn't mention in the book but I remember Mollison talking about it and that depending on where in the 18.6 year phase the moon is, there would be more or less wet/dry periods in either hemisphere.
6. The moon signs: here I am getting lost and don't see how the moon being at a certain star constellation would tell the farmer what to plant and to do. I suppose it's simply a way to time certain action, thinking of the moon of being a gigantic clock.
7. The planets' position in relation the the moon: here I am completely lost because I don't see how the position of the planets would influence us here on earth.

we've had a few threads here on this topic (just two, https://permies.com/t/8189/permaculture/Planting-Signs and https://permies.com/t/17457/biodynamic-Planting-moon-signs, for example) that you might find interesting.

I personally find it completely unconvincing, or at least found it so until I started experimenting. Planted 50 bean seeds on a "do not plant" day and 1 came up. Planted again on the "ideal" day and they all came up. I can't explain why, but I do find my plants do better if I follow the moon cycle (and I use an online calendar, as simple as possible). I encourage you to experiment on your own and see how it goes for you.

I can sympathize with Tereza's position. Generally I don't think much of planting and harvesting by the moon. But then I find myself having severe insomnia on nights with a full moon... and no trouble when it's less. The moon affects things. I'm not sure we know very much about how or to what extent... but it affects things.

Here are a few More, I especially like the one about Phenology:

https://permies.com/t/phenology

https://permies.com/t/259875/Planting-Moon-signs

https://permies.com/t/228591/permaculture/influence-moon-plants

I could see it being useful for things with a fall harvest. A full moon would let you work a little longer in the evenings.

Some people believe that, just as the moon pulls the tides, the moon pulls water up and pushes water down in the water table and that soil will stay moist more at certain times of the moon phases.  I don't know whether its true, if so it would be a mildness of that, not anything massively noticeable.  But maybe in the desert it could matter?

I do like to plant seeds a few days before full moon. I noticed they come up a lot easier and en masse.
A fellow gardener once did a test and they do come up easier, but harvest wise there was no difference.
Try it in flats and see, easy enough to do.
I'm a seed saver, so mostly have abundant seed, but if you have to buy seed it seems to me to be of greater importance.
The ancestors not long ago where i live used to cut down trees at certain moons for wood to last much longer, my neighbor says they were super sure about it.
It was a question ten years ago when i came to this site and hoped for answers too, but it's still about the same, it's weird. Could be because there are so many variables, so much pressure and stresses on people, so many things to think about, in the past lives where harder, they had less, but also , less distraction, and were more traditional, but people had to be observers, the base of permaculture.

Tereza Okava wrote:
I personally find it completely unconvincing, or at least found it so until I started experimenting. Planted 50 bean seeds on a "do not plant" day and 1 came up. Planted again on the "ideal" day and they all came up. I can't explain why, but I do find my plants do better if I follow the moon cycle (and I use an online calendar, as simple as possible). I encourage you to experiment on your own and see how it goes for you.

There's a tendency in some people (sometimes including me, sadly) to deem things "unscientific" when we don't understand the reasons behind them or there is no conclusive evidence either way. But... that's not a very scientific standpoint. Science is not dogma. The scientific method is about testing every testable hypothesis, looking at all available data, and trying to draw conclusions from it. If there is a significant difference in seed germination rates during different parts of the lunar cycle, all other factors being equal, then that's data. Ignoring it or dismissing it because we don't yet understand why isn't "science", it's rather the opposite of the scientific method.

I read an interesting thing recently about how the moon affects living things. Apparently the bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) in the Baltic sea only reproduces during certain moon phases (new moon and full moon, I believe, but not in between). How exactly it senses the moon phase is still an open question. It's probably not tidal water movement, since there aren't really any tides as such in the Baltic. It doesn't appear to be light. There is now a research project started at Stockholm University to send bladderwrack into space, to see if what it reacts to is gravity. More information here. If seaweed can sense the moon, then why wouldn't other living organisms, including beans and humans, be capable of the same thing?

Edit to add: It does confuse me a bit, though, that certain dates would be better for sowing seeds. In nature, a lot of seeds remain dormant for many months before germinating. If the seeds react to the moon phase, wouldn't seeds sown on a "bad" day just wait a bit longer and then germinate on a "good" day?

If the seeds react to the moon phase, wouldn't seeds sown on a "bad" day just wait a bit longer and then germinate on a "good" day?

If you're testing, that'd be worth adding to the data tracked. It might turn out they adjust their germination time to be closer or in a particular moon phase.

Thank you for the links to other threads Tereza and Anne. I somehow missed all but one thread before starting this one.

Using phenology as a timing system is especially interesting to me. I keep taking notes of occurrences in my area, for example when almonds begin blooming. But it's of course not a bullet proof method. For example, we had cases here where almonds began blooming before the last frost and then didn't grow much fruit that year.

I am positively surprised to see that many permies are planting by moon signs and having great successes! I am encouraged and will give it a try! I will do similar experiments to see how good and bad timing will compare. It's difficult (if not impossible) to isolate variables but I think if repeated over many times one could draw more solid conclusions.


Another thought that comes to mind while thinking about timing action is that following the moon gives an easy idea about the natural rhythms and help to align ourselves and plan what to do at certain times. For me personally, I am a homesteading-freshling, I still try to find my rhythms.