Electroculture Experiments - Part 1
Side-by-side explorations into growing with electric fields!
In this post we’re going to share some side-by-side experiments that show off the real power of electroculture!
For those not in the know, today’s electroculture, is a remix of a series of ancient growth enhancement techniques that form a groundbreaking approach that transforms the way we grow our food. This cutting-edge technique, which intertwines the natural growing methods with the modern marvel of electricity, offers a beacon of hope for increasing crop yields, combating pests, and reducing environmental impact. Electroculture leverages the power of electric fields to stimulate plant growth, improve nutrient uptake, and bolster resistance to diseases, setting the stage for a greener, more bountiful future. Let’s dive in and take a look at a number of side-by-side experimental studies:
Starting off, as part of my research while writing my first book, Electro-Horticulture back in 2014, I did a deep dive into everything that made electroculture work, from soil conditions, electrical currents in soils, and so on… eventually leading my to getting heavily interested in plant electrophysiology.
As part of that research, I gained access to the book, Plant Electrophysiology by Springer Press via my university library and found a ton of great information! In the chapter, Electrochemical Potential Around the Plant Root in Relation to Metabolism and Growth Acceleration, by Tsutomu Takamura, he gets into some of the details of the mechanisms at play. We’ll skip those interesting tidbits for now, and focus on some of the side-by-side experiments that show the effect of DC electric fields on dicot and monocot seedlings:
and…
The image above shows 180 hour-old Zea Mays seedlings. The one on the right is electrified with 3.5 volts.
Moving on from some of the formal research studies are some of my own (David Wechsler’s) ad-hoc research experiments. In this example are a couple of pictures of experiments I’ve done on lettuce in the greenhouse using a single solar cell out of a broken solar lamp:
You can see the electrified one started to germinate faster and at a higher germination rate compared to all of the other control pots. Here’s another pic from later on:
Next up is Kevin Wilson, who’s made a fantastic post on our facebook group, Electroculture Beginners to Advanced… He’s done a series of one-off tests with a number of plants ranging from kale to apple tree. Here’s the link to Kevin’s original post for more information.
If you’ve read my story on my website, ElectricFertilizer.com, you’ll see that my very first experiment back in 2010 was on a variant of normal broccoli, Romanesco broccoli, known for it’s fractal-geometry flower formations… which had a similar effect as the one shown here - that totally blew me away and set me on this amazing path. I digress… here’s more of his experiments:
For the next one, while his results didn’t stand out, I’d like to give him credit for his diligence with testing out different voltages on his plants. Check out Nimthara Wijayalath, who in this post, applied different voltages ranging from 3 to 12 Volts DC.
The thing is, he tested 3 to 12 VDC on capsicum plants… and the reality with electroculture is that every plant responds differently. Some plants respond better to extremely weak electrical voltages (like antenna-culture), others respond better to high voltages, like 6000 volts or more. The timing, soil electrical parameters, soil health and more also affect growth. What works one time may not work another time also due to the consciousness of the grower - a topic I’ve written and spoken at conferences about.
Here’s a pic from Anita Lee’s post, showing some of the comparison photos from her garden:
While not a formal side-by-side, you can see the other flowers in the foreground not as tall as the one in the background. She also has some pictures comparing leaf size against the controls:
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Well that’s all I have for now… These majority of these posts go back to mid-summer, 2023, but since all of this exploded in Q1 of 2023, there’s a lot more to go through... all the way back to when I started in 2010. I’ll add more of my early experiments to a future post at some point. In the meantime, I’d like to encourage all of you to do more than just adding some electricity to your existing plants - set up some side-by-side experiments and let’s see what you discover! Tag them with #electroculture-experiment to make them easy to find.
This is David, electroculture researcher, author, consultant & product designer. Join Ray and I on our journey and check out our Facebook and other forms of social media. Learn the basics of energetic growing by exploring our website, EnergeticGrowers.com, the books & products available at our physical product store, HarvestStorm.com,
Or, by simply getting engaged with our community Facebook Group, Electroculture Beginners to Advanced.
In the meantime, I implore you to learn, experiment, and share your results! Join the rest of the Energetic Grower community and have some fun! If you have any questions, message us through the contact page on our website. Enjoy!