"They say..."

[Oliver Buckle]

Gardening is full of anecdotes and lore, I just saw Anniekay post "They say roots crops, like carrots, for example take faster if planted during a waning moon and crops that you don't grow for roots should be planted during a waxing moon", (She didn't say she believed it). What have you been told presented as fact, but that is just hearsay with no scientific basis? I would love to see some horticultural college investigate some of these things.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

"You must clean/sterilise secateurs and knife blades after use to prevent spreading disease."
I never have, and can't remember having any problems because of it .

 

[Oliver Buckle]

"You must plant these seeds the right way up"
It makes no odds, the root will always grow down, and the leaf shoot grow up. Some will actually turn themselves over in the soil.

 

[Anniekay]

"You must plant these seeds the right way up"
It makes no odds, the root will always grow down, and the leaf shoot grow up. Some will actually turn themselves over in the soil.

I've dug up spider lilies that were, without a doubt, self seeded into my lawn from those that were planted decades ago in an old flower bed. Half were laying sideways in the ground. Nobody planted them that way but the bulb grew on it's side and the flower stem grew up.

 

[Anniekay]

"You must clean/sterilise secateurs and knife blades after use to prevent spreading disease."
I never have, and can't remember having any problems because of it .

There is logic in that but, if you are "sharp" enough to notice you have a diseased plant you are smart enough to not go chopping it up with your secateurs then go ahead and use them to prune a healthy plant which would be susceptible to the same disease.

I do dip my secateurs in alcohol after pruning a rose which has black spot so as not to introduce that disease to another healthy rose. But if next I'm pruning azaleas, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Meadowlark]

I haven't been told this, no...rather I have proven to myself through careful experimentation that it is factual.

Corn seed should definitely all be planted in the same direction/orientation in a home garden.

I prefer to plant mine tip down but the important thing is to plant every seed the same way, same direction, same depth.

Why? Because in home gardens pollination is absolutely critical for corn. The optimum pollination comes when each corn plant comes out of the soil at the same time making tassels at the same time and silks at the same time and most critical pollen at the same time.

Don't believe me? Call it hearsay? Before you do that and make a fool of yourself, try it yourself.

Point the seeds in all different directions/orientations and note when each one breaks through the soil. Several days of difference in the time of breaking through the soil will result...at least it does for me 100% of the time.

The photo below illustrates the point I'm making. This is three distinct plantings of corn stagger planted with the seed all in one direction to optimize pollination in each crop and harvest time in each crop. It works!!

Before you call it hearsay, maybe one should find out for themselves.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Of course not everything is hearsay, I followed your advice when i planted corn last year, but it is a bit of a special case, and even corn will grow planted any which way, I bet farmers don't bother orienting every niblet as they go in the ground, but rely on there being some close by of every sort. Of course I was only planting a 4x4 block of sixteen, but I think having the block rather than a row is more important for pollination, unless of course you have six rows forty foot long

 

[Anniekay]

I'll be the one to ridicule now.

I accidently lost a corn seed. It came up in a bed all by itself. One lonely corn stalk sprouting after my whole crop had been harvested, eaten and the stalks composted.
I got two ears off it. Not huge but still fully formed and sweet.

I suppose it's best planted in blocks but seed doesn't need th be "oriented" a certain direction, IMHO. Winds don't need to be strong to polinate corn, just walking past causes enough breeze to distribute pollen.

You don't need to orient it to prevailing winds and it grows no matter which way it lands.

 

[Sean Regan]

They Say?

Start of one of my favourite tunes, recorded by Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane.

 

[Meadowlark]

...I bet farmers don't bother orienting every niblet as they go in the ground...

They don't need to worry about it. Large blocks of area planted in corn has plenty of pollen to go around. That is why I said "home gardens" . It makes a difference in home gardens. In my garden, a significant difference.

 

[Charlie 001]

Gardening is full of anecdotes and lore, I just saw Anniekay post "They say roots crops, like carrots, for example take faster if planted during a waning moon and crops that you don't grow for roots should be planted during a waxing moon", (She didn't say she believed it). What have you been told presented as fact, but that is just hearsay with no scientific basis? I would love to see some horticultural college investigate some of these things.

Well. I have to say I did a couple of assignments on “moon phase horticulture “ while I was at college. It is quite an old farming method that is coming back into vogue in certain circles of the “organic “ movement Just as the tides rise and fall so to does the moisture levels in soil. The moon also impacts plant growth through geotropism (gravity). It’s an interesting concept. However I draw the line at astrological zodiac signs for planting— an actual thing