Planting by lunar phase improves germination and yield.
No mechanism anyone can name, and the few small trials we found disagree with each other. Plant when the soil is warm and the frost risk has passed.
The evidence
Evidence: not yet confirmed. It is cited to 1 source, which a person has yet to read.
What this rests on - one pointer
We summarise this source in our notes rather than quote a line from it.
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Cite this page
Milpa Gardens. “Planting by lunar phase improves germination and yield.” Evidence grade: Contested. https://milpa.garden/beliefs/moon-lunar/
A garden planner built on graded evidence. Every claim states its evidence grade and links its sources on the page. Cite it with the grade, and add the date you read it.
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How we grade evidence
- Well established
- The rule names its mechanism and is settled, by sources a person has read and checked or by plain arithmetic and geometry.
- Promising
- The mechanism is named and the literature backs it. A few questions are still open.
- A good hunch
- Plausible by its mechanism, but field studies are thin, so treat it as a lean.
- Contested
- The evidence points both ways, or no study has tested it, so the planner does not enforce it.
- Contested here means nothing we found supports it.
- Refuted
- The claim did not survive its sources. It is kept so the folklore can be answered.