It may sound crazy to you, but the phases of the moon can seriously affect the way your plants grow. In fact, while most people believe the sun and its light to have the biggest impact on their plants, the phases of the moon actually have a massive part to play in seed germination and final yield.
The phases of the moon all come down to timing; they describe the alternating angle between the moon, earth, and sun as they all orbit around one another. This shifting, or phasing, that the planets do totally changes the way the moon looks to us at night, and this is why sometimes the moon looks full and other times looks like a crescent.
The moon is always either waxing or waning, the former meaning that it is growing, and the latter denoting shrinkage. When the moon is getting bigger, its stages are, in order; the new moon, a crescent moon, a first-quarter moon, and a gibbous moon. On the other hand, when the moon is shrinking, its phases are called the full moon, disseminating, second-quarter moon, and balsamic.
Go up to the moon
The cycle happens through four major stages, and these stages can be looked at strategically from a grower's point of view. Firstly, the new moon shifts into the first quarter, this is when a grower would want to be planting their crop. The first quarter shifts, eventually, to the full moon, which is when a grower should be feeding their plants. Then, the full moon moves towards the second quarter, a perfect time to weed a grow - and, finally, the second quarter once again phases into the new moon, a time that is ideal for a grower to harvest their garden, this cycle happens once every month.
Essentially, when the moon is waxing and expanding, plants make more of an effort to grow more leaves and generally put more energy into themselves above the ground, while during the waning season, plants tend to develop their roots and underground network. For example, during the crescent moon phase, seeds that are sown will germinate much quicker, and during the gibbous moon phase, plants will absorb water and nutrients at a greater speed, because of the gravitational pull of the moon brings water upwards.
I know that this all sounds like complete and utter crap, but believe me, there really is tons of research to back it up. With more and more people starting to grow their own plants, why don't you stay one step ahead by applying this knowledge to your own, if you have one and if you don't grow cannabis personally, share some of these facts with a gardening friend! I promise that if they don't already know about it, they'll thank you.
