This is something we are doing over on our social media stories. And, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to share this experiment over here on debanddanelle.com. But, since I like to document pretty much everything we do on the property, I figured I had to. So…. have you heard of Electroculture? Wait, I guess I should start by saying that this isn’t going to be a post on the benefits of electroculture. Or how and why it works. Because you can google that. It’s going to be a post on the updates of our vegetable plants using electroculture.
Let me back up because I feel I’m all over the place and rambling. I will start from the beginning. As you know, we have been working really hard on our vegetable garden area. We got it all planned out to look like an English cottage garden area. We added a picket fence around the entire thing. And, then we added a few EXTRAS, like we normally do to our spaces, by adding steps to the front and to the back of this area using old pieces of concrete.
We usually get our plants in the ground the first half of May which is after the last frost here in Ohio. Well, since we just got our garden beds finished mid-may, it meant that I was already about a month behind. When I mentioned this over on social media stories, I received a message asking if I had ever tried electroculture.
You can google electroculture and find out lots of information. And, lots of people are sharing their results on TikTok and Instagram both. But this is a quick and brief definition that I found and reworded to make it easier to understand.
I had never heard of it. This gal said that she was late planting her garden and decided to give it a try. And, she saw AMAZING results. Her tomatoes were 4-5′ tall at the time of her message. She said they grew really fast and huge. I thought a bit about it but that’s it. A week or so later, my cousin and I were chit chatting about concerts. She is a music lover like I am. She said, “Oh… I forgot to ask you. Have you heard of electroculture?” She said she is seeing amazing results. So, I took that as a sign that I should try it.
My cousin used some copper rods that she found in the plumbing section at the hardware store. They weren’t expensive. And, she placed them in her garden beds. The pictures speak for themselves.
We grabbed a few copper pipes from the hardware store that we are using in some of the beds. Deb found some copper wire that I will be wrapping around a stick that I find in the woods to make an antenna looking thing. Ha! But that is exactly what the first girl told me she did. You can use dowel rods if you have them on had but sticks work just as well. You can get as fancy as you wish. I’ve seen some people using pieces of wire wrapped around each other to form a little decorative top.
I will be sharing the results of my electroculture garden. I just added my “antennas” last night, June 28. Ha! So I will be updating everything here in this post periodically with photos and my thoughts.
It sounds so crazy and almost makes me laugh. I believe there are people who debunked this theory but there are also people who swear by it. I’m one who is simply trying to get caught up with my vegetable plants. Will it work? I have no clue. I am out very little money and at the least, I will have some suspicious looking antennas in my garden that will be a conversation starter and maybe give us all a little laugh.
Stay tuned!
Have you ever done this? If so, let me know in the comments below. And, let me know what you think. If you are new here, you know that we will try anything once.
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Interesting, my only first concern would be the frequency it would put into the ground and attract ants. All of our solar equipment and the such always bring them in..
So far, we haven't had any issues with ants, but we will see if it stays this way.
I’ve never heard of that! My first thought is having metal near food intended to be consumed. I’ll have to look that up. I am very interested to see how your experiment turns out though! I always love how you share everything you two are doing! Your garden is turning out so awesome! We don’t have much property but my husband loves his garden area. We have been eating from it so much lately!
I can't wait until we can start harvesting and eating some of the produce from our garden! Fresh garden veggies are the best!
I’m very interested in how this comes out.
Everything I know about electricity and gardening and geology makes me think there is no way for this to work.
I am really intrigued to see how our plants turn out at the end of this year.
My Mom was a master gardener before that was a thing. This was back in the 60's, when she's planted any fruit trees or it vegetable garden each year, she always had a handful if pennies to throw in the hole. She always had the most beautiful trees and garden, so lush, so perfect. So there must be something to the copper addition. I use copper foliage spray to prevent fungus and diseases so maybe in the dirt it works systemically which maybe more sense. Really great idea I might need to try this. Thanks for the reminder!!
I have never heard of the penny trick. That is very interesting!
How did the copper wire goes?
Our plants were beautiful this year. We will definitely be using the copper wire again next year.
Oye D&D!
I see your last comment from 23 Nov 2023 reads "our plants were beautiful this year..."
WELLLLLLL?!?!?!
You got some updates?? Did you by chance keep some beds antenna-free to as a control for this experiment? I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to hear how it all worked out.
On that note, I've been reading a bit, and it seems the original design for this, as shared by CultivateElevate at https://cultivateelevate.com/content/Electroculture1927.pdf, shows copper wire attached to the antenna apparatus with a long wire that runs the length of a furrow and is buried and anchored at the end. Fabulous read, btw. Anyhoo, we're down here in zone 10, so things are just about to get going and I will be using some antennae this year. Just wanted to see how everyone else who is using this is doing with it and compare the different apparatus.
Love the raised beds too! Another project we have on the books, and I really like the aesthetic you've achieved. Picket fence is classy classic and so so homey.
Cheers and good growing!
Terry
Check your soil for worms. One way used to attract worms to the surface is using low voltage. I'd be interested in knowing if this provided electrical current provides for the worms to avoid the area. The plants may grow larger but you may have also negated "the worms" and what they do for the soil enrichment on several levels. It LOOKS like just poking copper pipe in proximity of the plants "worked" very well by itself. If that is the case, why go to the time and expense of stripping a lot of copper wire ?
Ever heard of soil cover? its the latest thing.
I just looked it up! I feel like the mulch that we use to cover our garden gives a very similar effect, but I would definitely use a soil cover in our potted plants.
Could you post an update as to how you tasted with this? Which worked better, the copper pipes or the wiring?
Sorry... not tasted, but "fared"