Moon phases

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Even in ancient times, various authors recommended planning certain agricultural activities such as sowing, tilling and harvesting according to the lunar calendar and carrying them out at specific moon phases and planetary constellations. The waxing moon was associated with growth, the waning moon with pruning and harvesting. Wine harvested when the moon was waxing was considered less durable than wine harvested when the moon was waning.

The clergyman Johann Rasch (1540-1612) from Austria also deals with this topic in detail in his famous standard work "Weinbuch: Von Baw, Pfleg und Brauch des Weins". The Palatinate vineyard owner and viticultural historian Armand Emil Friedrich von Bassermann-Jordan (1872-1959) refers to the Württemberg vine regulations of 1614 in his standard work "Die Geschichte des Weinbaus" (The History of Viticulture), published in 1909. It explicitly recommends observing the phases of the moon in the vineyard according to ancient models. Among other things, "(new vines) should be planted three shoes high and at the right depth when the moon is waning". In Baden, according to the "Autumn and Vineyard Regulations 1764", pruning could only be carried out when the moon was waning.

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Moon phases

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