Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
One last reason why improved calcium signaling can cause problems in certain plants
is due to the effect of “calcium memory”. This is a phenomena that occurs when plants
to getting into a state of sensory overload where a person's nervous system gets fried
from over-stimulation. In plants, this calcium over-stimulation can cause a lack of
responsiveness due to the plant's need for a mandatory rest period of several minutes to
several hours.
Thus, in terms of an electroculture-based growing system, it may be necessary to allow
plants to rest from stimulation, whether it's an overnight resting period or many smaller
rest periods spaced throughout the day. Of course this would be a species-dependent issue,
where for one set of plants a longer resting period may be needed over another set. This
is an area of electroculture research that has yet to be explored in terms of maximizing
efficiency.
It is also worth noting that this may provide a possible explanation as to why some of the
periods of time. Being overstimulated may have put too much of a strain on many of the
plants that were experimented upon back in the 1770s-1930s. In addition, they may have
been trying the same exact protocols on the same plants which simply respond differently
because they are different. If the seeds were saved and were used in the next generation of
planting, it's also conceivable that the plants had a memory of how much stimulation they
were capable of receiving, and were possible more easily over-stimulated.
On the other hand, since earth batteries were one of the most prevalent power sources of
the day, the problems that eventually caused the disbanding of the Committee may have
come about through problems with zinc soil toxicity, caused by many years of running the
same experiments on the same plots of land. In Chapter 13, covering system design, we'll
share some new practices that will help you avoid some of the shortcomings that plagued
experiments of the past.
Summary
By gaining a basic understanding of the fundamentals of soil science, electrochemistry,
and plant physiology, one can start to understand how the application of electric fields
to soils and to plants can bring about significant changes. These changes are real, and
understanding the mechanisms and processes involved will not only help with the
underlying comprehension of what's going on, but will help the reader in their use and
experimentation with electroculture. In the next chapter, the background knowledge just
