Homeopathy for plants

Beautiful gardens for everyone thanks to homeopathic remedies

On one of her long winter walks through the neighbourhood, Debbie happened to meet her friend Kim, who was just raking up the last fallen leaves in her front garden. Kim’s garden had been a real delight all year round, with healthy plants and vibrant colours. Debbie couldn’t help herself and paid Kim a big compliment. Kim told her about a hobby-gardeners’ group she had found on social media. There the members exchanged ideas about homeopathic remedies for the garden. She had ordered two books on the subject and had already tried some recommendations in the garden – with success. Last summer she was able to cure the sooty mould on her roses with Sulphur and save her heads of lettuce from slugs with Helix tosta. Several plants had also tolerated repotting well thanks to Arnica and Calendula.

Debbie had known about homeopathy for a long time. After all, she used homeopathic remedies for her family and pets. But the idea of treating plants homeopathically was new to her. Kim explained that plants are living beings too, just like people and animals, and Samuel Hahnemann had written in §32 of his Organon of the Healing Art: “Every true medicine acts at all times, under all circumstances and upon every living being and excites in it the symptoms peculiar to itself.”

Debbie had to admit she had never thought of giving her plants homeopathic remedies. We hear that very often! Although the use of homeopathic remedies on plants is not new, research and wider application are still in their infancy.

The history of agro-homeopathy

The use of homeopathic medicines on plants was first mentioned almost 200 years ago in the writings of Hahnemann’s son-in-law, Baron von Bönninghausen. Bönninghausen used to dispose of the remains of his homeopathic preparations in the potted plants of his house and observed that they reacted. Unfortunately, he did not pursue research on this topic further.

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) also worked homeopathically and developed his own teachings on healing with dynamised remedies. His work includes six lectures on the use of homeopathic and biodynamic remedies in organic farming.

Lili Kolisko (1889–1976), a pupil of Rudolf Steiner, conducted her own experiments with potentised substances. She wanted to find out how homeopathically potentised remedies affected the germination of seed. Specifically, her experiments were aimed at finding the correct potency for an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Steiner advised her to sow wheat and water it with differently potentised waters. The data obtained, presented as a diagram or curve, would give her the desired insights. Lili continued these experiments throughout her life, generating thousands of curves and thus making a valuable contribution to our understanding of potentised substances in agriculture.

It was the Dutch homeopath Vaikunthanath Das Kaviraj (1946–2013) who significantly expanded this understanding and brought it to a new level. Kaviraj was visiting a family in Switzerland when the mother asked him if plants could also be treated homeopathically. Kaviraj said yes, although he knew nothing about the subject. The mother then asked him to treat her apple trees, whose leaves were covered in bright red spots, similar to a rust disease. The apples did not ripen and remained sour. The other trees had been infected very quickly and were noticeably thirsty. The picture reminded Kaviraj of the childhood disease scarlet fever.

He based his diagnosis on the three pillars of homeopathy and considered the following:

1. The speed at which the disease was spreading
2. The spots
3. The thirst

These three symptoms pointed to the remedy Belladonna! After only a few days of treatment with Belladonna the spots had disappeared and the apples were sweet and juicy again. This experience was a real aha moment for Kaviraj and he decided to devote himself further to agro-homeopathy. He researched the subject in Australia for 12 years and published his findings (including a homeopathic repertory for plants) in his work Homoeopathy for Garden and Agriculture.

The German homeopath Christiane Maute (b. 1949) and her daughter Cornelia (b. 1969) ultimately made homeopathy accessible to a broad audience. Their book Homoeopathy for Plants is a practical guide that will delight every hobby gardener.

Plan ahead!

While the cold wind still sweeps through the gardens and the soil sleeps through the winter, it's time to plan the new gardening season. Every homeopath knows that you can only be truly successful if you have knowledge and remedies at hand at all times.

Among the best books on the market are Homoeopathy for Plants by Christiane Maute and Homoeopathy for Garden and Agriculture by V.D. Kaviraj. Both have matching remedy kits so you can be prepared for every pest and disease. As homeopaths we all know the wonderful feeling when plants grow and thrive under the gentle action of homeopathic remedies.

Overwintering plants

Many hobby gardeners put their houseplants out on the balcony or terrace for the summer. Often, when the plants come back indoors for the winter, unwelcome pests come in too. Our short materia medica can help here:

• Coccinella C6 for all types of spider mites and aphids.
• Nux vomica C30 for stressed and sickly plants bought at supermarkets.
• Petroleum C30 against scale insects and spider mites on plants with tough leaves and for plants suffering from warm, dry indoor air.
• Silicea C200 for true and false mildew; for plants sensitive to draughts; for neglected plants or as a strengthening remedy for plants recovering from pest infestation (we recommend a single application).
• Sulphur C200 for thirsty plants that cannot take up water; a good remedy for many problems such as whitefly, mealybugs, scale insects, aphids and spider mites.

For application, dissolve a few globules in a screw-top jar filled with water (approx. 150 ml). Screw the lid on tightly and shake the liquid 20 to 40 times. To do this, hold the jar in your hand and strike it against a thick paperback or the palm of your outstretched hand. Allow sufficient time for the remedy to take effect. The remedies should only be repeated at considerable intervals.

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Sources: Shutterstock_1443758708, Copyright: FotoHelin

Homoeopathy for Plants by Christiane Maute and Homoeopathy for Garden and Agriculture by V.D. Kaviraj.

Footnotes:

1. All names have been changed.
2. Rentea R; Kamsler M. The Kolisko validation method: improving the quality control of homeopathically potentized OTC drugs. True Botanica, http://www.kiliskoinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Kolisko-Validation-9-4-2014_v3pdf. Published September 2014. Accessed November 18, 2019.
3. The concept of the three-legged stool (as formulated by Dr Adolph Lippe) stipulates that three guiding symptoms of a remedy must match the symptoms of the patient; it means that a remedy prescribed in accordance with at least three symptoms is more reliable than a remedy selected on the basis of a single symptom.

About the authors

Ted and Sherri Maines are the owners of Turning Ranch Homeopathics (TRH). The couple founded the family business in 2017 to promote homeopathy in gardening and agriculture. They work with leading homeopaths worldwide to make this gentle and sustainable method available to as many people as possible. You can find them online at TRHomeopathic.us and on Facebook under “Gardening with Homeopathy”.

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