What did the Issue 034 snow-pea trial actually report?

Across 124 untreated and 120 treated plants, the untreated half produced 145 pods weighing 513.75 grams, while the treated half produced 297 pods weighing 1,024.85 grams. Average pod weight was nearly identical, so the difference was pod number.

Why is the result not yet causal proof?

The trial used one unrandomized split row with no water-only spray control, no replication, and no reported blinding. Position, soil, light, moisture, pests, or observer expectations could therefore contribute to the difference.

How can the BD 506 result be repeated confidently?

Use randomized replicated blocks with untreated and water-only controls, fixed baseline and harvest dates, identical management, and blinded flower, pod, and weight measurements. Repeat across seasons and farms.

How can the ten-minute mixing claim be tested separately?

Compare water-only, BD 506 mixed for ten minutes, and BD 506 stirred for sixty minutes at the same dose and spray volume. Randomization and replication can show whether any response comes from BD 506, mixing duration, or field variation.

Applied Biodynamics archive

Applied Biodynamics — Issue 034 (Fall 2001)

Issue 034 reports a BD 506 snow-pea comparison, offers Michaelmas reflections after September 11, and reviews Rudolf Steiner’s lectures to workers at the Goetheanum.

December 30, 2025 Published by The Josephine Porter Institute Download PDF

Issue 034 combines a documented snow-pea comparison using BD 506 dandelion with Michaelmas reflections and an extended guide to Rudolf Steiner’s informal lectures for workers at the Goetheanum.

Download Issue 034 PDF

Patricia Smith’s “Preparing for Michaelmas” describes the festival as a time for courage, initiative, responsibility, and individual freedom. Written after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the essay draws on Steiner’s Michaelmas lectures and records Smith’s personal practice of attending to impressions on waking. It is a spiritual and autobiographical reflection, not an empirical claim.

Hugh Courtney and Michael Green’s “Practical Observations: Observing the Forces Inherent in the Dandelion Preparation” reports a garden comparison involving approximately equal rows of snow peas. One section received BD 506 dandelion as a fine foliar mist on April 24 and again on May 21; the other was left unsprayed. Green mixed one unit in slightly less than half a gallon of water with a lemniscate motion for ten minutes.

The printed table reports 124 plants in the untreated section and 120 in the treated section. Across ten harvest dates, the untreated side produced 145 pods weighing 513.75 grams, while the treated side produced 297 pods weighing 1,024.85 grams. Average pod weights were close: 3.54 grams untreated and 3.45 grams treated. The twofold difference in total pods and weight is an observation from one non-randomized comparison. It does not by itself establish that BD 506 caused the result.

The article itself acknowledges that the trial lacks scientific rigor. Treatment was assigned to one side of an existing row rather than randomized among replicated plots; the investigators were not blinded; no water-only spray control is reported; and position, soil, shade, water, disease, or other local differences could contribute. The mislabeled column heading in the printed table—both sides read “Untreated,” although the text identifies the second as treated—is another reason to retain the original data and document future trials carefully.

A stronger test would use multiple randomized blocks with untreated, water-only, and BD 506 treatments. Count plants before spraying; apply equal spray volumes on the same dates; hold irrigation, fertility, and picking constant; and predefine measurements for height, bloom, pod number, total weight, average pod weight, disease, and plant survival. Repeat the design across more than one season or site before drawing broader conclusions.

Hugh J. Courtney’s “Rudolf Steiner Down to Earth” introduces Steiner’s question-and-answer lectures to Goetheanum workers and reviews The Human Being in Body, Soul and Spirit and The Evolution of the Earth and Man and the Influence of the Stars. Courtney presents the series as an accessible route into concepts also encountered in the Agriculture Course. The cosmological and physiological statements discussed belong to Steiner’s spiritual-scientific framework; they should not be presented as current scientific consensus.

Patricia Smith’s “Introduction to the Lectures” and shorter reviews survey From Comets to Cocaine, From Limestone to Lucifer, Bees, From Elephants to Einstein, and From Beetroot to Buddhism. Courtney reviews From Mammoths to Mediums. The pieces cover the breadth of the worker lectures—from health, nutrition, and social questions to plants, animals, weather, and spiritual interpretation—while the archive preserves the reviewers’ historical perspective.

Articles

Preparing for Michaelmas (P. Smith)
Practical Observations: Observing the Forces Inherent in the Dandelion Preparation (H. Courtney with M. Green)
Rudolf Steiner Down to Earth: Introduction and Reviews of The Human Being in Body, Soul and Spirit and The Evolution of the Earth and Man and the Influence of the Stars (H. J. Courtney)
Introduction to the Lectures (P. Smith)
Reviews and summaries of From Comets to Cocaine, From Limestone to Lucifer, Bees, From Elephants to Einstein, and From Beetroot to Buddhism (P. Smith)
Review: From Mammoths to Mediums (H. J. Courtney)

Key Topics Covered

BD 506 dandelion preparation, lemniscate mixing, foliar application, snow-pea growth, bloom, pod count, and harvest weight.

The difference between a promising single comparison and replicated controlled evidence.

Randomization, water-only controls, matched spray volume, fixed harvest rules, transparent tables, and multi-season replication.

Michaelmas, courage, initiative, responsibility, and personal spiritual practice after September 11.

Rudolf Steiner’s lectures to Goetheanum workers and the distinction between historical spiritual-scientific interpretation and current scientific consensus.

Repeatable Practice

Map uniform ground and randomly assign several blocks to untreated, water-only, and BD 506 treatments.
Count plants before spraying and record preparation batch, dose, water, mixing action and duration, spray volume, timing, weather, and applicator.
Hold seed, soil, fertility, irrigation, cultivation, pest management, and harvest rules constant.
Measure height, bloom, pods, total weight, average pod weight, disease, and survival on fixed dates; retain raw data and repeat across seasons or sites.