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Ditch the fertilizers and pesticides and tap into the natural currents of the earth by adding copper wire to your garden for increased plant growth and fewer pests, supposedly.
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Abbé Berthelon fed “electrified water” to his garden using an insulted barrel and a trolley to move between rows (Fig. I and Fig. II). In 1783, he published “De l’électricité des vegetaux” which includes an illustration of the world’s first electroculture tool, the electro-vegetato-meter (Pl. I). The device was invented by Berthelon to harness the natural electricity in the Earth and atmosphere. Visit thegardenstrust.blog/2021/09/04/electroculture to learn more.
The Electrifying World of Gardening Electroculture
When it comes to gardening, I tell no lies. (Then I remember I do claim to be a gardener and, perhaps, on one or two occasions, may have fibbed about the quality and quantity of my sweet potato harvest in 2021. Ok, and also in 2022. Sigh. And maybe in 2023. We’ll stop there.)
So, check that. I write no lies, at least not for The Local Scoop. It’s straight-up nonfiction.
But this gardening “electroculture” topic is, let’s say, charged. There’s a buzz about it, judging from social media trends, gardening influencer hype, and even articles in august publications such as The Washington Post and the online edition of the BBC.
Hey, Electroculture Works! Oops.
Electroculture is also open to interpretation. It’s been that way since the 1700s, ever since French physicist “Abbe” Jean-Antoine Nollet gave some plants the juice and claimed he noted better germination and improved transport of water and minerals in the plants.
Soon after, one of Nollet’s contemporaries, Abbé Berthelon, built an “electro-vegetato-meter” and electrified his whole garden. The idea was to stimulate the plants with electricity from the atmosphere. Alas, the device killed an entire plot of vegetables when it was installed elsewhere. For some reason, it fell out of favor.
Since then, electroculture has had its ups and downs. It’s up now, thanks in no small part to social media.
So, as I dig into electroculture, I do so with trepidation. This column is nonfiction, after all, and I don’t want to be suckered into the hype and spread disinformation.
Separating Fact from Fiction
We stick to truths here at Garden Guy Central, which are the things we can prove. Such as gardening in Virginia will break your heart.
We live for the beautiful squash, corn, carrots, beans, tomatoes, and okra we miraculously conjure from the ground. But we also know that lurking and meddling with our beloved veggies are the bugs, the critters—above and beneath the ground—the storms, the rain, heat, humidity, mildew, disease, unexpected frost, and the occasional hurricanes. To name just a few.
So, if there’s a hack that produces bountiful yields, we’re all for it. If there’s a simple, practical way to improve the health and production of our gardens, clue us in. Enter electroculture.
For starters, I’ve been intrigued by the intersection of electricity and gardening. After seeing corn pop out of the ground three days after sowing it following an intense thunderstorm, I had this idea that electricity spurred sprouting.
Little did I know I might be on to something. A master gardener recently told me that lightning is good for the garden. But is it really, or is it just wishful thinking?
A Little Zap for Fungus
In Japan, research published in 2020 showed a link between increased fruitage of shiitake mushrooms using an impulse voltage generator to create lightning strikes near beds of logs.
Chinese researchers claim to have improved pea yields with a $40 turbo-electric nanogenerator that creates an electric field over the crop. Another experiment in China claimed that positive voltage pulses bumped yields by 20-30%.
Alas, systematic scientific reviews of various electroculture claims yield less than positive results. But electroculture persists. “Nature is electric,” claims filmmaker Derek Dean Muller, who lives among the productive apple orchards of eastern Washington’s Lake Chelan region.
He’s got an electroculture company. There’s a Facebook group with 180,000 members, a $25 “Electroculture 101” guide for sale on Muller’s website, and Belgian agricultural engineer and electroculture pioneer Yannick Van Doorne has a website dedicated to the method.
Muller describes electroculture as applying atmospheric electricity—it’s free!—through the use of copper wire and magnets to boost plant growth through vitalizing the soil. Winding copper wire around dowels or placing magnets around plants are preferred methods.
He mentions increased yields of 100% to 300%! This means that in no way, shape or form try this on your zucchini.
Why Not Give it a Shot?
Here’s the thing. What’s the harm in trying? Go get some copper wire, wrap it around a dowel, make that classic Fibonacci spiral at the top and plop it in the ground next to your tomatoes or beans. Who wouldn’t want 300% more of anything from your garden? Except zucchini, of course.
One caveat: What I’d really like to see is someone come up with a death sentence for bugs. Marcelo Moretti, a horticulture professor at Oregon State University, is managing weeds in
hazelnut orchards by zapping them with electricity, a promising practice in the research and development stage.
I love it! I hope it becomes practical for the home gardener. But even better, I have visions of ravenous, veggie-munching bugs in little electric chairs. That’s electroculture I’d get behind.
For additional information, visit washingtonpost.com/home/2023/08/30/gardening-electroculture-explained and bbc.com/future/article/20230816-the-farmers-boosting-crops-with-electricity
