Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/933/en

Decades before the aforementioned procedures for the destruction of weeds through the redirection of their life processes became worldwide practice, Rudolf Steiner — drawing on his research into the supra-nature of the cosmos and its participation in seed formation — opened up the procedure of incinerating weed seeds, the "burning experiment." It is a method of weed regulation that works against seed germination. The recommendation is to collect seeds from weeds, incinerate them — "a wood flame is best" — and scatter the resulting "pepper" across field and garden. Underlying this procedure is the recognition that growth and its intensification toward reproduction in seed formation stands in direct relationship to the sub-solar planetary working of Mercury, Venus, and above all the Moon. The Moon reflects back the rays of the Sun, of the planets, and of the wider cosmic periphery. The intensity of this back-radiation toward the Earth is governed by the phases of the Moon and reaches its greatest strength at full moon. The germination- and growth-stimulating effect of the waxing moon moving toward full moon has been experimentally documented many times over. Seeding weeds exhibit as a rule a high reproductive power — which for chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), for example, can amount to 10,000–20,000 per plant, and for creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) to approximately 4,500. With a mortality rate of up to 50%, one finds even in lightly weeded soils somewhere between 10,000 and 300,000 viable weed seeds per square metre, and in heavily weeded soils up to 30,000 per square metre. Where near-surface soil conditions are favourable for germination — soil warmth (above 9 °C) and soil moisture — the moon forces become active and accelerate both germination and growth.