Electricity boosts crop yield by 30% while reducing pesticides and fertilizers

China uses electricity instead of chemical pesticides and fertilizers to boost the growth of vegetables and fruits.

Electricity boosted vegetable output by 20 to 30 percent. Pesticide use has decreased 70 to 100 percent. And fertilizer consumption has dropped more than 20 percent.

One hectare of electrified greenhouse requires about 15 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, which is about half the power usage of an average American family. In just two years the electrified vegetables had brought in extra revenue of nearly 1.2 million yuan (US$175,000) for one company.

Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm. Humidity is low and the plants rarely get sick.

The biggest expense is the installation cost which can be costing tens of thousands of yuan (a few thousand dollars per hectare).

China has been conducting the world’s largest experiment and the results are transforming agricultural production in the world’s most populous nation with a jolt.

Across the country, from Xinjiang’s remote Gobi Desert to the developed coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean, vegetable greenhouse farms with a combined area of more than 3,600 hectares (8,895 acres) have been taking part in an “electro culture” programme funded by the Chinese government.

The vegetables grow under bare copper wires, set about three metres (10 feet) above ground level and stretching end to end under the greenhouse roof. The wires are capable of generating rapid, positive charges as high as 50,000 volts, or more than 400 times the standard residential voltage in the US.

The high frequency electricity kills bacteria and virus-transmitting diseases in the air or soil. It also suppresses the surface tension of water on leaves, accelerating vaporization.

Within the plants, the transport of naturally charged particles, such as bicarbonate and calcium ions, speed up and metabolic activities, like carbon dioxide absorption and photosynthesis, also increase.

The electric current flowing through the wires is only a few millionths of an ampere by volume – lower than a smartphone cable’s workload.

“It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby,” he said.

Thanks to the positive findings of the study, the area devoted to electrified farms in China is now growing with unprecedented speed, according to Liu, from 1,000 to 1,300 hectares each year.

40% growth in electro culture farming could be achieved within the next 12 months.

246 thoughts on “Electricity boosts crop yield by 30% while reducing pesticides and fertilizers”

  1. Nothing to wonder… all life is an electric fenomen. 
    The strange thing is, that economic politicians do not intervene… after all, taxes from many different industries are lost due to this.

  2. The Dutch also grow vegetables in green houses. I think providing a protected environment and 24×7 lighting using LEDs and the proper level of hydration you could grow high quality vegetable very productively. There are high value crops like spices, vegetables, fruits and flowers that could be profitably grown in green houses

  3. It might be real. The soil is ground referenced so a 50kV (any referenced voltage) wire up top will leak some current onto the plants. Air has an ohm rating like everything. It might be miniscule but technically current flows. Amazing if it really is getting those results.

  4. So, the plants are just growing in an electric field. There is actually no current flowing through them. Can’t wait to read Goats take. Sounds like snake oil to me.

  5. The Dutch also grow vegetables in green houses. I think providing a protected environment and 24×7 lighting using LEDs and the proper level of hydration you could grow high quality vegetable very productively. There are high value crops like spices vegetables fruits and flowers that could be profitably grown in green houses

  6. It might be real. The soil is ground referenced so a 50kV (any referenced voltage) wire up top will leak some current onto the plants. Air has an ohm rating like everything. It might be miniscule but technically current flows. Amazing if it really is getting those results.

  7. So the plants are just growing in an electric field. There is actually no current flowing through them. Can’t wait to read Goats take. Sounds like snake oil to me.

  8. Faster growth due to electric fields? Maybe – but less fertilizer and pesticides is probably just due to the controlled greenhouse environment. No run-off, fewer pests getting to the plants.

  9. There should be some good data on growth beneath high transmission power lines. But going by drive by observation, stuff doesn’t appear to grow better or worse under power lines.

  10. Higher than natural light levels can have benefits for plant growing up to several sols. Especially for growing seedlings for transplant: You tend to get very stocky plants at high light levels, they’re not putting a lot of work into growing tall to get over their assumed competitors.

  11. Faster growth due to electric fields? Maybe – but less fertilizer and pesticides is probably just due to the controlled greenhouse environment. No run-off fewer pests getting to the plants.

  12. There should be some good data on growth beneath high transmission power lines. But going by drive by observation stuff doesn’t appear to grow better or worse under power lines.

  13. Higher than natural light levels can have benefits for plant growing up to several sols. Especially for growing seedlings for transplant: You tend to get very stocky plants at high light levels they’re not putting a lot of work into growing tall to get over their assumed competitors.

  14. I’ve seen plants growing tall under electric fences, but that might have just been because the cattle were a little nervous about eating them. 😉

  15. No mention of insects, the most significant pests of agriculture… (I don’t think bacteria and viruses even count as pests, they’re pathogens. )

  16. Good point. The only difference I see is this one uses DC pulses (maybe technically biased AC pulses). Perhaps traditional AC that has a true negative peak at the same level as the positive peak neutralizes the effect. If your high voltage positive pulse does something to the plants, maybe an identical negative pulse undoes whatever happened.

  17. That was my first thought too, but “smells like” is pretty subjective. Perhaps it is something else that smells like ozone, but if not, then yeah, what you said.

  18. I’ll believe it when I replicate the results. In the mean time: “Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm.” Hello! That’s ozone! Ozone is great in the high atmosphere, but when ozone forms at the surface (usually as pollution from cars reacts with UV rays), it is a pollutant itself, and can damage forests, crops and hmm, people. Specifically causing decreased lung function, throat irritation, severe asthma symptoms, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, irritation of lung tissue, and higher sensitivity to respiratory infection. Don’t tell me: “It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby”

  19. Lol I know. I was just pointing out that John’s article wasn’t much support, given the date it was written. He probably meant it as a joke.

  20. I’ve seen plants growing tall under electric fences but that might have just been because the cattle were a little nervous about eating them. 😉

  21. No mention of insects the most significant pests of agriculture… (I don’t think bacteria and viruses even count as pests they’re pathogens. )

  22. Good point. The only difference I see is this one uses DC pulses (maybe technically biased AC pulses). Perhaps traditional AC that has a true negative peak at the same level as the positive peak neutralizes the effect. If your high voltage positive pulse does something to the plants maybe an identical negative pulse undoes whatever happened.

  23. That was my first thought too but smells like”” is pretty subjective. Perhaps it is something else that smells like ozone”” but if not then yeah”” what you said.”””

  24. I’ll believe it when I replicate the results. In the mean time: Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm.””Hello! That’s ozone!Ozone is great in the high atmosphere”” but when ozone forms at the surface (usually as pollution from cars reacts with UV rays) it is a pollutant itself and can damage forests crops and hmm people. Specifically causing decreased lung function throat irritation severe asthma symptoms cough chest pain shortness of breath irritation of lung tissue”” and higher sensitivity to respiratory infection.Don’t tell me: “It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby””””””””

  25. Lol I know. I was just pointing out that John’s article wasn’t much support given the date it was written. He probably meant it as a joke.

  26. Some plants like it humid, some like it dry. For instance okra, chick peas, and peppers prefer dry weather, with water well below the surface of the ground, no mulch for them! On the other hand, tomatoes, and cucumbers like it wet, pour on the water, and the mulch.

  27. Tobacco mosaic virus is a huge problem when growing tobacco. People working in the starting bed, and transplanting the young plants can not use tobacco products, and must step in a pan of, and wash their hands in milk before touching the plants.

  28. So, they probably use a flyback transformer(used in a CRT) with lots loops of wire in the secondary, with the diode in the secondary circuit oriented so the secondary current creates positive voltage, when the switch in the primary opens, and the magnetic field collapses. The low voltage side of the secondary is tied to ground. voltage peak could be varied by changing the capacitance across the secondary. Presumably it’s positively charged ions that make the difference. A wire with tiny conducting fibers extending radially from the wire, ideally something like carbon nanotubes would be used. the “pointy” shape lets electrons leave the surface(tip) much more easily, and would allow the use of a much lower voltage. Maybe even a voltage that would not send a large enough current through you to be fatal. It’s a good thing the output wire is 3 meters above the ground, because you’d only touch it once, assuming you were grounded. I wonder how low the air pressure would need to be before it started making x-rays when free electrons struck the wire? You might be able to see a coronal discharge at night.

  29. Some plants like it humid some like it dry. For instance okra chick peas and peppers prefer dry weather with water well below the surface of the ground no mulch for them! On the other hand tomatoes and cucumbers like it wet pour on the water and the mulch.

  30. Tobacco mosaic virus is a huge problem when growing tobacco. People working in the starting bed and transplanting the young plants can not use tobacco products and must step in a pan of and wash their hands in milk before touching the plants.

  31. So they probably use a flyback transformer(used in a CRT) with lots loops of wire in the secondary with the diode in the secondary circuit oriented so the secondary current creates positive voltage when the switch in the primary opens and the magnetic field collapses. The low voltage side of the secondary is tied to ground. voltage peak could be varied by changing the capacitance across the secondary. Presumably it’s positively charged ions that make the difference. A wire with tiny conducting fibers extending radially from the wire ideally something like carbon nanotubes would be used. the pointy”” shape lets electrons leave the surface(tip) much more easily”” and would allow the use of a much lower voltage. Maybe even a voltage that would not send a large enough current through you to be fatal. It’s a good thing the output wire is 3 meters above the ground because you’d only touch it once”” assuming you were grounded. I wonder how low the air pressure would need to be before it started making x-rays when free electrons struck the wire? You might be able to see a coronal discharge at night.”””

  32. Tobacco is highly useful both for genetic research and in the production of nicotine which is a widely used poison.

  33. There’s no shortage of fraud in science anywhere. Nearly nine in 10 university clinical studies fail to report results in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) within the required 1-year time frame, a team from the Evidence-Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom reports today in The BMJ. “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine”– Dr. Marcia Angell, physician and longtime Editor-in-Chief of The New England Medical Journal (NEMJ) We have a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. There is South Korea’s Hwang Woo-suk who, in 2004, falsely claimed to have created the first human embryonic stem cells by means of cloning. A few years ago, Japan’s Haruko Obokata pulled a similar con when she announced to the world a new and simple – and fake – method of turning ordinary body cells into stem cells.Paolo Macchiarini’s fake stem cell surgeries at the Karolinska Institute. “much of what is called ‘scientific evidence’ is really disease mongering designed to sell more drugs”.— John Abramson, M.D. Japanese stem cell scientist Yoshiki Sasai hanged himself in the stairwell of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe after he was caught up in a stem cell scandal. Sato’s fraud was one of the biggest in scientific history. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/researcher-center-epic-fraud-remains-enigma-those-who-exposed-him Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, stated that every other scientific study is false. More than 50% of the data of scientific publications does not correspond to reality, and various studies are carried out without prior analysis. Most published research papers are useless

  34. There’s no shortage of fraud in science anywhere. Nearly nine in 10 university clinical studies fail to report results in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) within the required 1-year time frame a team from the Evidence-Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom reports today in The BMJ.“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine”– Dr. Marcia Angell physician and longtime Editor-in-Chief of The New England Medical Journal (NEMJ)We have a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. There is South Korea’s Hwang Woo-suk who in 2004 falsely claimed to have created the first human embryonic stem cells by means of cloning. A few years ago Japan’s Haruko Obokata pulled a similar con when she announced to the world a new and simple – and fake – method of turning ordinary body cells into stem cells.Paolo Macchiarini’s fake stem cell surgeries at the Karolinska Institute. much of what is called ‘scientific evidence’ is really disease mongering designed to sell more drugs””.— John Abramson”” M.D.Japanese stem cell scientist Yoshiki Sasai hanged himself in the stairwell of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe after he was caught up in a stem cell scandal. Sato’s fraud was one of the biggest in scientific history. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/researcher-center-epic-fraud-remains-enigma-those-who-exposed-himRichard Horton editor of The Lancet stated that every other scientific study is false. More than 50{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} of the data of scientific publications does not correspond to reality and various studies are carried o”

  35. Tobacco is highly useful both for genetic research and in the production of nicotine which is a widely used poison.

  36. How is it used for genetic research. (We have poisons enough without tobaccos, so that’s not really interesting)

  37. There is some truth to all this. Search Wheaton 1968, Effects of various electrical fields on seed germination. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the subject. Plants have ion channels, so they react to electricity, some very little, some a lot, some well, others not so well. Each plant, or seed, has its optimum “electro-culture” ionization. All this has been looked at for at least a few hundred years. The problem lies in commercialization. The cost of set-up and maintenance seems to outweigh eventual yield improvements. Basically you are performing controlled lightning strikes on seeds and plants. And of course this takes place where water and humidity are necessary. The Chinese effort is secret. The scientists leading the effort haven’t published their findings so it’s impossible to check their work. They do hint, however, that power usage was pretty high. Put it this way: if you have a very high-value crop (e.g., artisanal tomato) and each plant is looked after meticulously and has it’s own controlled environment, AND you also deploy air-ions, it just might be worth it. But then you need to have your own source of power.

  38. There is some truth to all this. Search Wheaton 1968 Effects of various electrical fields on seedgermination. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the subject. Plants have ion channels so they react to electricity some very little some a lot some well others not so well. Each plant or seed has its optimum electro-culture”” ionization. All this has been looked at for at least a few hundred years. The problem lies in commercialization. The cost of set-up and maintenance seems to outweigh eventual yield improvements. Basically you are performing controlled lightning strikes on seeds and plants. And of course this takes place where water and humidity are necessary. The Chinese effort is secret. The scientists leading the effort haven’t published their findings so it’s impossible to check their work. They do hint”” however that power usage was pretty high. Put it this way: if you have a very high-value crop (e.g. artisanal tomato) and each plant is looked after meticulously and has it’s own controlled environment AND you also deploy air-ions”” it just might be worth it. But then you need to have your own source of power.”””

  39. Actually, I have seen some research that shows at least some plants can utilize light up to several sols intensity. But, of course, that’s expensive light compared to the Sun.

  40. Ten, but it’s easy enough to put a resistor in line so the maximum current draw isn’t damaging; He doesn’t electrocute himself on his plasma globe, after all. It’s the current that gets you, not the voltage. Additionally I’d use a high frequency anyway, as I’d probably be generating the voltage with ladder multiplier.

  41. It’s a highly studied and well characterized plant, thanks to the tobacco industry, so if you’re doing something with genetic research in plants, you start out with a lot of your work already done. Which is no small advantage.

  42. I have walked past a field of tobacco growing. I was lucky to get upwind of it still alive, I’m violently allergic. Made my life Hell until smoking became unpopular.

  43. Actually I have seen some research that shows at least some plants can utilize light up to several sols intensity. But of course that’s expensive light compared to the Sun.

  44. Ten but it’s easy enough to put a resistor in line so the maximum current draw isn’t damaging; He doesn’t electrocute himself on his plasma globe after all. It’s the current that gets you not the voltage. Additionally I’d use a high frequency anyway as I’d probably be generating the voltage with ladder multiplier.

  45. It’s a highly studied and well characterized plant thanks to the tobacco industry so if you’re doing something with genetic research in plants you start out with a lot of your work already done. Which is no small advantage.

  46. I have walked past a field of tobacco growing. I was lucky to get upwind of it still alive I’m violently allergic. Made my life Hell until smoking became unpopular.

  47. Look at all the articles about genetic research on plants (even on NBF). The applied research is on rice or whatever, but most of the basic research is on tobacco. It’s like the zebrafish or fruitfly of the plant world.

  48. Are there long term profits though? Agriculture is not that good a business in most parts of the world. You need rich land, good water and close markets to make serious money. (And for some crops cheap labour.) Having to make one of those requirements from scratch is going to be more expensive than your competitors who already have it falling out of the sky for them. How are you going to compete with free?

  49. Look at all the articles about genetic research on plants (even on NBF). The applied research is on rice or whatever but most of the basic research is on tobacco.It’s like the zebrafish or fruitfly of the plant world.

  50. Are there long term profits though? Agriculture is not that good a business in most parts of the world. You need rich land good water and close markets to make serious money. (And for some crops cheap labour.)Having to make one of those requirements from scratch is going to be more expensive than your competitors who already have it falling out of the sky for them. How are you going to compete with free?

  51. Hopefully it works well for them. I think the economics of the process will pan out, no chemicals and only 15Kwh per day per hectare. You could offset your cost with solar on the roof.

  52. Actually this is near identical to a negative ion generator which is known to kill mold and bacteria. Normally a negative ion generator gets fine tips to maximize ion flow though.

  53. Hopefully it works well for them. I think the economics of the process will pan out no chemicals and only 15Kwh per day per hectare. You could offset your cost with solar on the roof.

  54. Actually this is near identical to a negative ion generator which is known to kill mold and bacteria. Normally a negative ion generator gets fine tips to maximize ion flow though.

  55. You’re right. Good comment. There’s the rub. Providing good, local food at far lower cost than the locals can make it puts lots of subsistence farmers out of an income and they can no longer grow food or earn money to buy it. Plopping down money for lots of good water, green house food, and other things to fit scale has its bane and boon in economic terms. From what I be reading, much of poverty is from government and thug / terrorist/ war causes. Someones would have to come up with meaningful employments. What happens in China to farmers if this gets big there? Or in Canada, USA, or other nations?

  56. You’re right. Good comment. There’s the rub. Providing good local food at far lower cost than the locals can make it puts lots of subsistence farmers out of an income and they can no longer grow food or earn money to buy it. Plopping down money for lots of good water green house food and other things to fit scale has its bane and boon in economic terms. From what I be reading much of poverty is from government and thug / terrorist/ war causes. Someones would have to come up with meaningful employments. What happens in China to farmers if this gets big there? Or in Canada USA or other nations?

  57. I don’t think that solves anything unless they sterilize every piece of dirt and is hermetically sealed thereafter, with people inside. Any egg laying insect that makes it’s way inside will have the greatest feast ever.

  58. I don’t think that solves anything unless they sterilize every piece of dirt and is hermetically sealed thereafter with people inside. Any egg laying insect that makes it’s way inside will have the greatest feast ever.

  59. It might be interesting to use a DC current, to see if the effect was dependent on varying voltage. Van Der Graaf generator anyone?

  60. Nicotine sulfate is a very useful insecticide, because at levels highly toxic to insects, it is not toxic to most mammals, birds, or reptiles, and is readily metabolised, unlike some synthetics. It is a particularly desirable insecticide for aphids, which are resistant to many insecticides since they feed on sap, from inside a plant. Also, unlike some insecticides it is not concentrated in the food chain.

  61. I’d tell you to read the article I linked, but Vuukle(crappy) deleted the link. I miss all the other commenting software this site has tried. Seems like they would compile a list of links to delete, or a list of domains to allow.

  62. It might be interesting to use a DC current to see if the effect was dependent on varying voltage. Van Der Graaf generator anyone?

  63. Nicotine sulfate is a very useful insecticide because at levels highly toxic to insects it is not toxic to most mammals birds or reptiles and is readily metabolised unlike some synthetics. It is a particularly desirable insecticide for aphids which are resistant to many insecticides since they feed on sap from inside a plant.Also unlike some insecticides it is not concentrated in the food chain.

  64. I’d tell you to read the article I linked but Vuukle(crappy) deleted the link. I miss all the other commenting software this site has tried. Seems like they would compile a list of links to delete or a list of domains to allow.

  65. Tobacco has a number of alkaloids in it, so it would likely be bitter. There is one that is supposed to be a fantastic anti-inflammatory, and may be effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes called anabasine. You might want to leave that one in.

  66. Tobacco has a number of alkaloids in it so it would likely be bitter. There is one that is supposed to be a fantastic anti-inflammatory and may be effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes called anabasine. You might want to leave that one in.

  67. Tobacco has a number of alkaloids in it, so it would likely be bitter. There is one that is supposed to be a fantastic anti-inflammatory, and may be effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes called anabasine. You might want to leave that one in.

  68. Tobacco has a number of alkaloids in it so it would likely be bitter. There is one that is supposed to be a fantastic anti-inflammatory and may be effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes called anabasine. You might want to leave that one in.

  69. It might be interesting to use a DC current, to see if the effect was dependent on varying voltage. Van Der Graaf generator anyone?

  70. It might be interesting to use a DC current to see if the effect was dependent on varying voltage. Van Der Graaf generator anyone?

  71. Nicotine sulfate is a very useful insecticide, because at levels highly toxic to insects, it is not toxic to most mammals, birds, or reptiles, and is readily metabolised, unlike some synthetics. It is a particularly desirable insecticide for aphids, which are resistant to many insecticides since they feed on sap, from inside a plant. Also, unlike some insecticides it is not concentrated in the food chain.

  72. Nicotine sulfate is a very useful insecticide because at levels highly toxic to insects it is not toxic to most mammals birds or reptiles and is readily metabolised unlike some synthetics. It is a particularly desirable insecticide for aphids which are resistant to many insecticides since they feed on sap from inside a plant.Also unlike some insecticides it is not concentrated in the food chain.

  73. I’d tell you to read the article I linked, but Vuukle(crappy) deleted the link. I miss all the other commenting software this site has tried. Seems like they would compile a list of links to delete, or a list of domains to allow.

  74. I’d tell you to read the article I linked but Vuukle(crappy) deleted the link. I miss all the other commenting software this site has tried. Seems like they would compile a list of links to delete or a list of domains to allow.

  75. Tobacco has a number of alkaloids in it, so it would likely be bitter. There is one that is supposed to be a fantastic anti-inflammatory, and may be effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes called anabasine. You might want to leave that one in.

  76. Nicotine sulfate is a very useful insecticide, because at levels highly toxic to insects, it is not toxic to most mammals, birds, or reptiles, and is readily metabolised, unlike some synthetics. It is a particularly desirable insecticide for aphids, which are resistant to many insecticides since they feed on sap, from inside a plant.
    Also, unlike some insecticides it is not concentrated in the food chain.

  77. I’d tell you to read the article I linked, but Vuukle(crappy) deleted the link. I miss all the other commenting software this site has tried. Seems like they would compile a list of links to delete, or a list of domains to allow.

  78. I don’t think that solves anything unless they sterilize every piece of dirt and is hermetically sealed thereafter, with people inside. Any egg laying insect that makes it’s way inside will have the greatest feast ever.

  79. I don’t think that solves anything unless they sterilize every piece of dirt and is hermetically sealed thereafter with people inside. Any egg laying insect that makes it’s way inside will have the greatest feast ever.

  80. You’re right. Good comment. There’s the rub. Providing good, local food at far lower cost than the locals can make it puts lots of subsistence farmers out of an income and they can no longer grow food or earn money to buy it. Plopping down money for lots of good water, green house food, and other things to fit scale has its bane and boon in economic terms. From what I be reading, much of poverty is from government and thug / terrorist/ war causes. Someones would have to come up with meaningful employments. What happens in China to farmers if this gets big there? Or in Canada, USA, or other nations?

  81. You’re right. Good comment. There’s the rub. Providing good local food at far lower cost than the locals can make it puts lots of subsistence farmers out of an income and they can no longer grow food or earn money to buy it. Plopping down money for lots of good water green house food and other things to fit scale has its bane and boon in economic terms. From what I be reading much of poverty is from government and thug / terrorist/ war causes. Someones would have to come up with meaningful employments. What happens in China to farmers if this gets big there? Or in Canada USA or other nations?

  82. Hopefully it works well for them. I think the economics of the process will pan out, no chemicals and only 15Kwh per day per hectare. You could offset your cost with solar on the roof.

  83. Hopefully it works well for them. I think the economics of the process will pan out no chemicals and only 15Kwh per day per hectare. You could offset your cost with solar on the roof.

  84. Actually this is near identical to a negative ion generator which is known to kill mold and bacteria. Normally a negative ion generator gets fine tips to maximize ion flow though.

  85. Actually this is near identical to a negative ion generator which is known to kill mold and bacteria. Normally a negative ion generator gets fine tips to maximize ion flow though.

  86. I don’t think that solves anything unless they sterilize every piece of dirt and is hermetically sealed thereafter, with people inside. Any egg laying insect that makes it’s way inside will have the greatest feast ever.

  87. You’re right. Good comment. There’s the rub. Providing good, local food at far lower cost than the locals can make it puts lots of subsistence farmers out of an income and they can no longer grow food or earn money to buy it. Plopping down money for lots of good water, green house food, and other things to fit scale has its bane and boon in economic terms. From what I be reading, much of poverty is from government and thug / terrorist/ war causes. Someones would have to come up with meaningful employments. What happens in China to farmers if this gets big there? Or in Canada, USA, or other nations?

  88. Hopefully it works well for them. I think the economics of the process will pan out, no chemicals and only 15Kwh per day per hectare. You could offset your cost with solar on the roof.

  89. Actually this is near identical to a negative ion generator which is known to kill mold and bacteria. Normally a negative ion generator gets fine tips to maximize ion flow though.

  90. Look at all the articles about genetic research on plants (even on NBF). The applied research is on rice or whatever, but most of the basic research is on tobacco. It’s like the zebrafish or fruitfly of the plant world.

  91. Look at all the articles about genetic research on plants (even on NBF). The applied research is on rice or whatever but most of the basic research is on tobacco.It’s like the zebrafish or fruitfly of the plant world.

  92. Are there long term profits though? Agriculture is not that good a business in most parts of the world. You need rich land, good water and close markets to make serious money. (And for some crops cheap labour.) Having to make one of those requirements from scratch is going to be more expensive than your competitors who already have it falling out of the sky for them. How are you going to compete with free?

  93. Are there long term profits though? Agriculture is not that good a business in most parts of the world. You need rich land good water and close markets to make serious money. (And for some crops cheap labour.)Having to make one of those requirements from scratch is going to be more expensive than your competitors who already have it falling out of the sky for them. How are you going to compete with free?

  94. Actually, I have seen some research that shows at least some plants can utilize light up to several sols intensity. But, of course, that’s expensive light compared to the Sun.

  95. Actually I have seen some research that shows at least some plants can utilize light up to several sols intensity. But of course that’s expensive light compared to the Sun.

  96. Ten, but it’s easy enough to put a resistor in line so the maximum current draw isn’t damaging; He doesn’t electrocute himself on his plasma globe, after all. It’s the current that gets you, not the voltage. Additionally I’d use a high frequency anyway, as I’d probably be generating the voltage with ladder multiplier.

  97. Ten but it’s easy enough to put a resistor in line so the maximum current draw isn’t damaging; He doesn’t electrocute himself on his plasma globe after all. It’s the current that gets you not the voltage. Additionally I’d use a high frequency anyway as I’d probably be generating the voltage with ladder multiplier.

  98. It’s a highly studied and well characterized plant, thanks to the tobacco industry, so if you’re doing something with genetic research in plants, you start out with a lot of your work already done. Which is no small advantage.

  99. It’s a highly studied and well characterized plant thanks to the tobacco industry so if you’re doing something with genetic research in plants you start out with a lot of your work already done. Which is no small advantage.

  100. I have walked past a field of tobacco growing. I was lucky to get upwind of it still alive, I’m violently allergic. Made my life Hell until smoking became unpopular.

  101. I have walked past a field of tobacco growing. I was lucky to get upwind of it still alive I’m violently allergic. Made my life Hell until smoking became unpopular.

  102. There is some truth to all this. Search Wheaton 1968, Effects of various electrical fields on seed germination. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the subject. Plants have ion channels, so they react to electricity, some very little, some a lot, some well, others not so well. Each plant, or seed, has its optimum “electro-culture” ionization. All this has been looked at for at least a few hundred years. The problem lies in commercialization. The cost of set-up and maintenance seems to outweigh eventual yield improvements. Basically you are performing controlled lightning strikes on seeds and plants. And of course this takes place where water and humidity are necessary. The Chinese effort is secret. The scientists leading the effort haven’t published their findings so it’s impossible to check their work. They do hint, however, that power usage was pretty high. Put it this way: if you have a very high-value crop (e.g., artisanal tomato) and each plant is looked after meticulously and has it’s own controlled environment, AND you also deploy air-ions, it just might be worth it. But then you need to have your own source of power.

  103. There is some truth to all this. Search Wheaton 1968 Effects of various electrical fields on seedgermination. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the subject. Plants have ion channels so they react to electricity some very little some a lot some well others not so well. Each plant or seed has its optimum electro-culture”” ionization. All this has been looked at for at least a few hundred years. The problem lies in commercialization. The cost of set-up and maintenance seems to outweigh eventual yield improvements. Basically you are performing controlled lightning strikes on seeds and plants. And of course this takes place where water and humidity are necessary. The Chinese effort is secret. The scientists leading the effort haven’t published their findings so it’s impossible to check their work. They do hint”” however that power usage was pretty high. Put it this way: if you have a very high-value crop (e.g. artisanal tomato) and each plant is looked after meticulously and has it’s own controlled environment AND you also deploy air-ions”” it just might be worth it. But then you need to have your own source of power.”””

  104. Look at all the articles about genetic research on plants (even on NBF). The applied research is on rice or whatever, but most of the basic research is on tobacco.

    It’s like the zebrafish or fruitfly of the plant world.

  105. Are there long term profits though? Agriculture is not that good a business in most parts of the world. You need rich land, good water and close markets to make serious money. (And for some crops cheap labour.)
    Having to make one of those requirements from scratch is going to be more expensive than your competitors who already have it falling out of the sky for them. How are you going to compete with free?

  106. There’s no shortage of fraud in science anywhere. Nearly nine in 10 university clinical studies fail to report results in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) within the required 1-year time frame, a team from the Evidence-Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom reports today in The BMJ. “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine”– Dr. Marcia Angell, physician and longtime Editor-in-Chief of The New England Medical Journal (NEMJ) We have a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. There is South Korea’s Hwang Woo-suk who, in 2004, falsely claimed to have created the first human embryonic stem cells by means of cloning. A few years ago, Japan’s Haruko Obokata pulled a similar con when she announced to the world a new and simple – and fake – method of turning ordinary body cells into stem cells.Paolo Macchiarini’s fake stem cell surgeries at the Karolinska Institute. “much of what is called ‘scientific evidence’ is really disease mongering designed to sell more drugs”.— John Abramson, M.D. Japanese stem cell scientist Yoshiki Sasai hanged himself in the stairwell of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe after he was caught up in a stem cell scandal. Sato’s fraud was one of the biggest in scientific history. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/researcher-center-epic-fraud-remains-enigma-those-who-exposed-him Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, stated that every other scientific study is false. More than 50% of the data of scientific publications does not correspond to reality, and various studies are carried out without prior analysis. Most published research papers are useless

  107. There’s no shortage of fraud in science anywhere. Nearly nine in 10 university clinical studies fail to report results in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) within the required 1-year time frame a team from the Evidence-Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom reports today in The BMJ.“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine”– Dr. Marcia Angell physician and longtime Editor-in-Chief of The New England Medical Journal (NEMJ)We have a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. There is South Korea’s Hwang Woo-suk who in 2004 falsely claimed to have created the first human embryonic stem cells by means of cloning. A few years ago Japan’s Haruko Obokata pulled a similar con when she announced to the world a new and simple – and fake – method of turning ordinary body cells into stem cells.Paolo Macchiarini’s fake stem cell surgeries at the Karolinska Institute. much of what is called ‘scientific evidence’ is really disease mongering designed to sell more drugs””.— John Abramson”” M.D.Japanese stem cell scientist Yoshiki Sasai hanged himself in the stairwell of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe after he was caught up in a stem cell scandal. Sato’s fraud was one of the biggest in scientific history. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/researcher-center-epic-fraud-remains-enigma-those-who-exposed-himRichard Horton editor of The Lancet stated that every other scientific study is false. More than 50{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} of the data of scientific publications does not correspond to reality and various studies are carried o”

  108. Protein extracted from tobacco leaf is uniquely desirable as a food additive. That’s likely why the plant evolved nicotine to protect itself from being eaten. If you’ve ever walked by a field of tobacco you will notice, that unlike it’s smoke, the growing plant smells good enough to eat. The protein also has medical uses. BTW, did you know there is nicotine in tomatoes? https://www.acsh.org/news/1992/01/01/food-from-tobacco-a-well-kept-secret

  109. Ten, but it’s easy enough to put a resistor in line so the maximum current draw isn’t damaging; He doesn’t electrocute himself on his plasma globe, after all. It’s the current that gets you, not the voltage. Additionally I’d use a high frequency anyway, as I’d probably be generating the voltage with ladder multiplier.

  110. It’s a highly studied and well characterized plant, thanks to the tobacco industry, so if you’re doing something with genetic research in plants, you start out with a lot of your work already done. Which is no small advantage.

  111. Tobacco is highly useful both for genetic research and in the production of nicotine which is a widely used poison.

  112. Tobacco is highly useful both for genetic research and in the production of nicotine which is a widely used poison.

  113. There is some truth to all this. Search Wheaton 1968, Effects of various electrical fields on seed
    germination. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the subject. Plants have ion channels, so they react to electricity, some very little, some a lot, some well, others not so well. Each plant, or seed, has its optimum “electro-culture” ionization. All this has been looked at for at least a few hundred years.

    The problem lies in commercialization. The cost of set-up and maintenance seems to outweigh eventual yield improvements. Basically you are performing controlled lightning strikes on seeds and plants. And of course this takes place where water and humidity are necessary.

    The Chinese effort is secret. The scientists leading the effort haven’t published their findings so it’s impossible to check their work. They do hint, however, that power usage was pretty high.

    Put it this way: if you have a very high-value crop (e.g., artisanal tomato) and each plant is looked after meticulously and has it’s own controlled environment, AND you also deploy air-ions, it just might be worth it. But then you need to have your own source of power.

  114. Some plants like it humid, some like it dry. For instance okra, chick peas, and peppers prefer dry weather, with water well below the surface of the ground, no mulch for them! On the other hand, tomatoes, and cucumbers like it wet, pour on the water, and the mulch.

  115. Some plants like it humid some like it dry. For instance okra chick peas and peppers prefer dry weather with water well below the surface of the ground no mulch for them! On the other hand tomatoes and cucumbers like it wet pour on the water and the mulch.

  116. Tobacco mosaic virus is a huge problem when growing tobacco. People working in the starting bed, and transplanting the young plants can not use tobacco products, and must step in a pan of, and wash their hands in milk before touching the plants.

  117. Tobacco mosaic virus is a huge problem when growing tobacco. People working in the starting bed and transplanting the young plants can not use tobacco products and must step in a pan of and wash their hands in milk before touching the plants.

  118. So, they probably use a flyback transformer(used in a CRT) with lots loops of wire in the secondary, with the diode in the secondary circuit oriented so the secondary current creates positive voltage, when the switch in the primary opens, and the magnetic field collapses. The low voltage side of the secondary is tied to ground. voltage peak could be varied by changing the capacitance across the secondary. Presumably it’s positively charged ions that make the difference. A wire with tiny conducting fibers extending radially from the wire, ideally something like carbon nanotubes would be used. the “pointy” shape lets electrons leave the surface(tip) much more easily, and would allow the use of a much lower voltage. Maybe even a voltage that would not send a large enough current through you to be fatal. It’s a good thing the output wire is 3 meters above the ground, because you’d only touch it once, assuming you were grounded. I wonder how low the air pressure would need to be before it started making x-rays when free electrons struck the wire? You might be able to see a coronal discharge at night.

  119. So they probably use a flyback transformer(used in a CRT) with lots loops of wire in the secondary with the diode in the secondary circuit oriented so the secondary current creates positive voltage when the switch in the primary opens and the magnetic field collapses. The low voltage side of the secondary is tied to ground. voltage peak could be varied by changing the capacitance across the secondary. Presumably it’s positively charged ions that make the difference. A wire with tiny conducting fibers extending radially from the wire ideally something like carbon nanotubes would be used. the pointy”” shape lets electrons leave the surface(tip) much more easily”” and would allow the use of a much lower voltage. Maybe even a voltage that would not send a large enough current through you to be fatal. It’s a good thing the output wire is 3 meters above the ground because you’d only touch it once”” assuming you were grounded. I wonder how low the air pressure would need to be before it started making x-rays when free electrons struck the wire? You might be able to see a coronal discharge at night.”””

  120. I’ve seen plants growing tall under electric fences, but that might have just been because the cattle were a little nervous about eating them. 😉

  121. I’ve seen plants growing tall under electric fences but that might have just been because the cattle were a little nervous about eating them. 😉

  122. No mention of insects, the most significant pests of agriculture… (I don’t think bacteria and viruses even count as pests, they’re pathogens. )

  123. No mention of insects the most significant pests of agriculture… (I don’t think bacteria and viruses even count as pests they’re pathogens. )

  124. Good point. The only difference I see is this one uses DC pulses (maybe technically biased AC pulses). Perhaps traditional AC that has a true negative peak at the same level as the positive peak neutralizes the effect. If your high voltage positive pulse does something to the plants, maybe an identical negative pulse undoes whatever happened.

  125. Good point. The only difference I see is this one uses DC pulses (maybe technically biased AC pulses). Perhaps traditional AC that has a true negative peak at the same level as the positive peak neutralizes the effect. If your high voltage positive pulse does something to the plants maybe an identical negative pulse undoes whatever happened.

  126. That was my first thought too, but “smells like” is pretty subjective. Perhaps it is something else that smells like ozone, but if not, then yeah, what you said.

  127. That was my first thought too but smells like”” is pretty subjective. Perhaps it is something else that smells like ozone”” but if not then yeah”” what you said.”””

  128. I’ll believe it when I replicate the results. In the mean time: “Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm.” Hello! That’s ozone! Ozone is great in the high atmosphere, but when ozone forms at the surface (usually as pollution from cars reacts with UV rays), it is a pollutant itself, and can damage forests, crops and hmm, people. Specifically causing decreased lung function, throat irritation, severe asthma symptoms, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, irritation of lung tissue, and higher sensitivity to respiratory infection. Don’t tell me: “It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby”

  129. I’ll believe it when I replicate the results. In the mean time: Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm.””Hello! That’s ozone!Ozone is great in the high atmosphere”” but when ozone forms at the surface (usually as pollution from cars reacts with UV rays) it is a pollutant itself and can damage forests crops and hmm people. Specifically causing decreased lung function throat irritation severe asthma symptoms cough chest pain shortness of breath irritation of lung tissue”” and higher sensitivity to respiratory infection.Don’t tell me: “It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby””””””””

  130. Lol I know. I was just pointing out that John’s article wasn’t much support, given the date it was written. He probably meant it as a joke.

  131. Lol I know. I was just pointing out that John’s article wasn’t much support given the date it was written. He probably meant it as a joke.

  132. Faster growth due to electric fields? Maybe – but less fertilizer and pesticides is probably just due to the controlled greenhouse environment. No run-off, fewer pests getting to the plants.

  133. Faster growth due to electric fields? Maybe – but less fertilizer and pesticides is probably just due to the controlled greenhouse environment. No run-off fewer pests getting to the plants.

  134. There’s no shortage of fraud in science anywhere. Nearly nine in 10 university clinical studies fail to report results in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) within the required 1-year time frame, a team from the Evidence-Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom reports today in The BMJ.

    “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine”– Dr. Marcia Angell, physician and longtime Editor-in-Chief of The New England Medical Journal (NEMJ)

    We have a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. There is South Korea’s Hwang Woo-suk who, in 2004, falsely claimed to have created the first human embryonic stem cells by means of cloning. A few years ago, Japan’s Haruko Obokata pulled a similar con when she announced to the world a new and simple – and fake – method of turning ordinary body cells into stem cells.Paolo Macchiarini’s fake stem cell surgeries at the Karolinska Institute.

    “much of what is called ‘scientific evidence’ is really disease mongering designed to sell more drugs”.— John Abramson, M.D.

    Japanese stem cell scientist Yoshiki Sasai hanged himself in the stairwell of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe after he was caught up in a stem cell scandal. Sato’s fraud was one of the biggest in scientific history. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/researcher-center-epic-fraud-remains-enigma-those-who-exposed-him

    Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, stated that every other scientific study is false. More than 50% of the data of scientific publications does not correspond to reality, and various studies are carried out without prior analysis.

    Most published research papers are useless. And all the more useless is unpublished research is, apart from useless, orders of magnitude more voluminous. Official estimates indicate >50% (perhaps >80% according with some serious sources) of published empirical observations cannot be reproduced by trained peers. We can only imagine what led a given colleague to describe results that cannot be obtained by others. But in reality almost nobody cares. Add to this reality that roughly 10% of what is done in scientific research ever gets published. Conclusion: almost all academic scientific research is as useful as the forgotten dreams of every night, and everyone is paying to sustain this… monkey business.

  135. There should be some good data on growth beneath high transmission power lines. But going by drive by observation, stuff doesn’t appear to grow better or worse under power lines.

  136. There should be some good data on growth beneath high transmission power lines. But going by drive by observation stuff doesn’t appear to grow better or worse under power lines.

  137. Higher than natural light levels can have benefits for plant growing up to several sols. Especially for growing seedlings for transplant: You tend to get very stocky plants at high light levels, they’re not putting a lot of work into growing tall to get over their assumed competitors.

  138. Higher than natural light levels can have benefits for plant growing up to several sols. Especially for growing seedlings for transplant: You tend to get very stocky plants at high light levels they’re not putting a lot of work into growing tall to get over their assumed competitors.

  139. Protein extracted from tobacco leaf is uniquely desirable as a food additive. That’s likely why the plant evolved nicotine to protect itself from being eaten. If you’ve ever walked by a field of tobacco you will notice, that unlike it’s smoke, the growing plant smells good enough to eat. The protein also has medical uses. BTW, did you know there is nicotine in tomatoes?
    https://www.acsh.org/news/1992/01/01/food-from-tobacco-a-well-kept-secret

  140. The Dutch also grow vegetables in green houses. I think providing a protected environment and 24×7 lighting using LEDs and the proper level of hydration you could grow high quality vegetable very productively. There are high value crops like spices, vegetables, fruits and flowers that could be profitably grown in green houses

  141. The Dutch also grow vegetables in green houses. I think providing a protected environment and 24×7 lighting using LEDs and the proper level of hydration you could grow high quality vegetable very productively. There are high value crops like spices vegetables fruits and flowers that could be profitably grown in green houses

  142. It might be real. The soil is ground referenced so a 50kV (any referenced voltage) wire up top will leak some current onto the plants. Air has an ohm rating like everything. It might be miniscule but technically current flows. Amazing if it really is getting those results.

  143. It might be real. The soil is ground referenced so a 50kV (any referenced voltage) wire up top will leak some current onto the plants. Air has an ohm rating like everything. It might be miniscule but technically current flows. Amazing if it really is getting those results.

  144. So, the plants are just growing in an electric field. There is actually no current flowing through them. Can’t wait to read Goats take. Sounds like snake oil to me.

  145. So the plants are just growing in an electric field. There is actually no current flowing through them. Can’t wait to read Goats take. Sounds like snake oil to me.

  146. Some plants like it humid, some like it dry. For instance okra, chick peas, and peppers prefer dry weather, with water well below the surface of the ground, no mulch for them! On the other hand, tomatoes, and cucumbers like it wet, pour on the water, and the mulch.

  147. Tobacco mosaic virus is a huge problem when growing tobacco. People working in the starting bed, and transplanting the young plants can not use tobacco products, and must step in a pan of, and wash their hands in milk before touching the plants.

  148. So, they probably use a flyback transformer(used in a CRT) with lots loops of wire in the secondary, with the diode in the secondary circuit oriented so the secondary current creates positive voltage, when the switch in the primary opens, and the magnetic field collapses. The low voltage side of the secondary is tied to ground. voltage peak could be varied by changing the capacitance across the secondary. Presumably it’s positively charged ions that make the difference.
    A wire with tiny conducting fibers extending radially from the wire, ideally something like carbon nanotubes would be used. the “pointy” shape lets electrons leave the surface(tip) much more easily, and would allow the use of a much lower voltage. Maybe even a voltage that would not send a large enough current through you to be fatal.
    It’s a good thing the output wire is 3 meters above the ground, because you’d only touch it once, assuming you were grounded. I wonder how low the air pressure would need to be before it started making x-rays when free electrons struck the wire? You might be able to see a coronal discharge at night.

  149. No mention of insects, the most significant pests of agriculture… (I don’t think bacteria and viruses even count as pests, they’re pathogens. )

  150. Good point. The only difference I see is this one uses DC pulses (maybe technically biased AC pulses). Perhaps traditional AC that has a true negative peak at the same level as the positive peak neutralizes the effect. If your high voltage positive pulse does something to the plants, maybe an identical negative pulse undoes whatever happened.

  151. I’ll believe it when I replicate the results.

    In the mean time: “Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm.”

    Hello! That’s ozone!

    Ozone is great in the high atmosphere, but when ozone forms at the surface (usually as pollution from cars reacts with UV rays), it is a pollutant itself, and can damage forests, crops and hmm, people. Specifically causing decreased lung function, throat irritation, severe asthma symptoms, cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, irritation of lung tissue, and higher sensitivity to respiratory infection.

    Don’t tell me: “It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby”

  152. Faster growth due to electric fields? Maybe – but less fertilizer and pesticides is probably just due to the controlled greenhouse environment. No run-off, fewer pests getting to the plants.

  153. There should be some good data on growth beneath high transmission power lines. But going by drive by observation, stuff doesn’t appear to grow better or worse under power lines.

  154. Higher than natural light levels can have benefits for plant growing up to several sols. Especially for growing seedlings for transplant: You tend to get very stocky plants at high light levels, they’re not putting a lot of work into growing tall to get over their assumed competitors.

  155. The Dutch also grow vegetables in green houses. I think providing a protected environment and 24×7 lighting using LEDs and the proper level of hydration you could grow high quality vegetable very productively.

    There are high value crops like spices, vegetables, fruits and flowers that could be profitably grown in green houses

  156. It might be real. The soil is ground referenced so a 50kV (any referenced voltage) wire up top will leak some current onto the plants. Air has an ohm rating like everything. It might be miniscule but technically current flows. Amazing if it really is getting those results.

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