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#1
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seed dowsing
hello,
i am enjoying some old (and not so old, but certainly not new!!) gardening books that were my grandfather's, which my grandma's given me now she's moving on into assisted care. one of them is an esther deans book (she is lovely!!) in which she gets a bit into seed- and plant-dowsing (both to identify male and female plants, but mainly to identify "positive" plants over "negative" ones). i haven't got round to trying that yet, but i was wondering if anyone here has tried it? how did you go? is it worthwhile? i gather esther tests (tested??!) almost every seed & plant after she got into the method. i daresay every gardener has been frustrated by two of the same plant, right near one another in identical conditions, & one goes fabulously & the other is just a dud & nothing really improves it. certainly i have been frustrated by this. when i get to it, i'll dowse the suspects & the good plants & see what i find out. i wouldn't want to be dowsing every single carrot or oregano seed though ;-) kylie |
#2
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seed dowsing
"0tterbot" wrote in message ... hello, i am enjoying some old (and not so old, but certainly not new!!) gardening books that were my grandfather's, which my grandma's given me now she's moving on into assisted care. one of them is an esther deans book (she is lovely!!) in which she gets a bit into seed- and plant-dowsing (both to identify male and female plants, but mainly to identify "positive" plants over "negative" ones). i haven't got round to trying that yet, but i was wondering if anyone here has tried it? how did you go? is it worthwhile? i gather esther tests (tested??!) almost every seed & plant after she got into the method. i daresay every gardener has been frustrated by two of the same plant, right near one another in identical conditions, & one goes fabulously & the other is just a dud & nothing really improves it. certainly i have been frustrated by this. when i get to it, i'll dowse the suspects & the good plants & see what i find out. i wouldn't want to be dowsing every single carrot or oregano seed though ;-) kylie Heard of the dowsing and tried it a while back. But doing it with 300 seeds just wouldn't be happening for me. Dowsing will be useful for finding the female seeds hence more fruit. Also will be useful in finding the odd males if you need it as a pollinator. A good example is kiwi fruit, you need one male plant to I think 6 female plants. Dowsing seeds does work for me. Though trying to find water never worked. Yet I can go out to a spot and say here is ok and a water dowser will confirm it. This is more to do with landscape features not having a stick in my hand. For those that'd like to try you tie a gold ring, crystal or gem stone to a piece of string. When you place it over the seed it should start to move after short time. Clockwise is female, back and forth is male and no movement says the seed is no good. I am told it works on pregnant women for determining the sex of the unborn but haven't had someone willing to lie down so I could put it over their tummy to test it out. To get better results from seeds I have found moon planting is a good method to use. Is a bit complicated to explain though but here is a general overview:- · Plant seeds 36 - 48 hours before a full moon except on an eclipse either lunar or solar. Also not to plant a month either side. · For seed production plant at apogee. · Perigee produces weak plants that are susceptible to insect attack. · A waxing (filling up) moon stimulates growth. · Towards new moon there is more microbial activity underground. Time to plough in green crops. Also to cut hay or timber at this time as sap flow is at it's lowest. · Nodes are when the moon and the sun's orbit coincide. New moon will cause a solar eclipse. Full moon at a node will cause a lunar eclipse. Takes 27.2 days to complete this nodal cycle; it is called the draconic month. Avoid planting and fertilising at this time. Plants are stunted, germinate badly and are susceptible to insect attack. · When the arches of the moon are getting higher it is an ascending moon; when they get lower it is a descending moon. This takes 27.3 days to complete this cycle and is known as a tropical month. · Ascending moon is noted by an increase in sap flow and growth. Is an ideal time to take cuttings for grafting. Seeds also germinate better. · Descending moon is noted by an increase in growth below the soil. It is an ideal time to transplant and prune plants. Is also a good time to turn in green manure crops and compost. I generally plant plump seeds my belief they have all the attributes inside for a good crop. If the seed needs to be soaked before planting any that float regardless of how much it is pushed under is discarded. I figure it is seed coating only and has not got sufficient kernal. Rockdust with some native seeds produces plants quicker and healthier. They also grow better when transplanted. If anyone else has something that works for them pass it on. Cheers Richard |
#3
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seed dowsing
"Loosecanon" wrote in message
... "0tterbot" wrote in message ... hello, i am enjoying some old (and not so old, but certainly not new!!) gardening books that were my grandfather's, which my grandma's given me now she's moving on into assisted care. one of them is an esther deans book (she is lovely!!) in which she gets a bit into seed- and plant-dowsing (both to identify male and female plants, but mainly to identify "positive" plants over "negative" ones). i haven't got round to trying that yet, but i was wondering if anyone here has tried it? how did you go? is it worthwhile? i gather esther tests (tested??!) almost every seed & plant after she got into the method. i daresay every gardener has been frustrated by two of the same plant, right near one another in identical conditions, & one goes fabulously & the other is just a dud & nothing really improves it. certainly i have been frustrated by this. when i get to it, i'll dowse the suspects & the good plants & see what i find out. i wouldn't want to be dowsing every single carrot or oregano seed though ;-) kylie Heard of the dowsing and tried it a while back. But doing it with 300 seeds just wouldn't be happening for me. er, no. :-) Dowsing will be useful for finding the female seeds hence more fruit. Also will be useful in finding the odd males if you need it as a pollinator. A good example is kiwi fruit, you need one male plant to I think 6 female plants. Dowsing seeds does work for me. Though trying to find water never worked. Yet I can go out to a spot and say here is ok and a water dowser will confirm it. This is more to do with landscape features not having a stick in my hand. i think dowsing is a skill/ability that some people innately have more of than other people do. and yes, some of it is quite possibly observation (just like other "spooky" skills which aren't really that spooky). For those that'd like to try you tie a gold ring, crystal or gem stone to a piece of string. When you place it over the seed it should start to move after short time. Clockwise is female, back and forth is male and no movement says the seed is no good. I am told it works on pregnant women for determining the sex of the unborn but haven't had someone willing to lie down so I could put it over their tummy to test it out. we dowse people in my family :-). & in fact nobody has to lie down, you don't need to go over the tummy (hand or arm or lap is fine). you can dowse women in retrospect (all the children they had will show) or speculatively (this can change depending on life circumstance though, & hence may not be very "predictive".) i've dowsed people with necklaces, a needle & thread, & all sorts. To get better results from seeds I have found moon planting is a good method to use. Is a bit complicated to explain though but here is a general overview:- · Plant seeds 36 - 48 hours before a full moon except on an eclipse either lunar or solar. Also not to plant a month either side. · For seed production plant at apogee. · Perigee produces weak plants that are susceptible to insect attack. · A waxing (filling up) moon stimulates growth. · Towards new moon there is more microbial activity underground. the biodynamicists say that. & also i've heard you should worm chooks just before full moon for the same reason (i've not done that though - i assume my chooks don't have worms tbh ;-) although, i put a wormwood plant in with some of them & this was just before full moon recently - they scoffed it almost down to sticks but haven't touched it since, even though there is more for them should they want it.... Time to plough in green crops. Also to cut hay or timber at this time as sap flow is at it's lowest. · Nodes are when the moon and the sun's orbit coincide. New moon will cause a solar eclipse. Full moon at a node will cause a lunar eclipse. Takes 27.2 days to complete this nodal cycle; it is called the draconic month. Avoid planting and fertilising at this time. Plants are stunted, germinate badly and are susceptible to insect attack. · When the arches of the moon are getting higher it is an ascending moon; when they get lower it is a descending moon. This takes 27.3 days to complete this cycle and is known as a tropical month. · Ascending moon is noted by an increase in sap flow and growth. Is an ideal time to take cuttings for grafting. Seeds also germinate better. · Descending moon is noted by an increase in growth below the soil. It is an ideal time to transplant and prune plants. Is also a good time to turn in green manure crops and compost. I generally plant plump seeds my belief they have all the attributes inside for a good crop. If the seed needs to be soaked before planting any that float regardless of how much it is pushed under is discarded. I figure it is seed coating only and has not got sufficient kernal. Rockdust with some native seeds produces plants quicker and healthier. They also grow better when transplanted. If anyone else has something that works for them pass it on. those are interesting ideas! do you plant at those times, or are you talking about ideally, because we all have a bit of a tendency to plant when it's convenient time-wise g kylie Cheers Richard |
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