7/21/22, 3:15 AM Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity – Scientific Scribbles

Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity

Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity

(https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/files/2019/10/3764703498_6895f71ba5_o-1.jpg)

Image by Leo Kan vis Flickr

Electricity is everywhere you look, and you don’t. It is in your body cruising through your brain. Without
electricity, you would not be able to read this blog right now. Recent years, electrification has become
the key step to reducing carbon footprint. The power of electricity has been used to replace the
traditional petrol fuel power vehicle, stove and fertiliser.

Electricity Replacing Fertiliser?

China, the country with the largest population in the world, has the highest demands of food. However,
the calls of high food production mean more resources are required such as fertiliser, water, nutrients
and pesticides. Does it?

Recently, a group of researcher from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has
made a shocking food production discovery. To produce a larger amount of food without much burden
on finite resources. How does that possible?

Electricity is the answer.

The researchers from CAAS found that electricity boosted the yield of vegetable crops by 20 – 30%
and this results are based on 20% reduction in fertiliser used and 70 – 100% reduction in pesticide
consumption.

The History of Electro Culture

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7/21/22, 3:15 AM Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity – Scientific Scribbles

China is not the first country that discovers the electro culture. In fact, China is 200 years late in this
game.

Ever since 1746, a Scotland scientist Dr. Maimbray electrified two myrtles, and he noticed the rapid
growth of new branches in October which is something that had never happened before.

In 1902, a physics Professor Selim Lemstrom realised that the trees under the aurora borealis grew
faster than the same trees under a warmer climate. However, most of the earlier electro culture
experiments were fail as the experimental condition was varied from place to another. Any variation in
the wide range of the natural elements could lead to very different output

How Electricity Boost Plant Growth?

(https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/files/2019/10/Screenshot-2018-10-17-at-1.09.52-PM.jpg)

The setup of the electro culture is simple, with high voltage copper wires hanging three-metre above
the plant. Electro culture stimulates plant growth with three major mechanisms:

The introduction of high-voltage kills all the virus-transmitting diseases and bacteria both in the
soil and air.
The high-voltage wire suppresses the surface tension of water droplets on the plant leaves and
accelerates the evaporation.
The introduction of electricity accelerates the transportation of some naturally charged particles
such as calcium ions and bicarbonates, which boost the metabolism process of the plant.

“It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to those peoples standing nearby.” Said Prof. Liu Binjiang,
agriculture scientist from CAAS and the leader in this project. Electro culture only consumes a small
amount of electricity with15 kilowatt-hours per day for one hectare, which is about half of the electricity
usage of an Australian family.

For more information please find it:

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7/21/22, 3:15 AM Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity – Scientific Scribbles

China is making its vegetables grow bigger, faster and stronger … using electricity

https://revolution-green.com/china-making-vegetables-grow-bigger-faster-stronger-using-electricity/
(https://revolution-green.com/china-making-vegetables-grow-bigger-faster-stronger-using-electricity/)

China has made a shocking food production discovery – electro culture

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/china-has-made-a-shocking-food-production-discovery-
electro-culture/
(https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/china-has-made-a-shocking-food-production-discovery-electro-culture/)

October 21, 2019

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3 Responses to “Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity”

yuxuanl7 says:

October 25, 2019 at 11:36 am

(https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2019/10/21/electro-culture-the-boost-of-plant-
growth-with-electricity/#comment-591314)

Yes! You could use it for your Woolworth mini-farm as well. Lol.

Daniel Fry says:

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7/21/22, 3:15 AM Electro Culture – The Boost of Plant Growth with Electricity – Scientific Scribbles

October 24, 2019 at 5:43 pm

(https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2019/10/21/electro-culture-the-boost-of-plant-
growth-with-electricity/#comment-591297)

I didn’t expect that electricity could be used in this way. It’s such a cool new way to grow
more food! I do wonder how it effects growth of weeds though

yuzongc says:

October 24, 2019 at 12:17 am

(https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2019/10/21/electro-culture-the-boost-of-plant-
growth-with-electricity/#comment-591274)

This blog gives a good idea on how to reduce the starvation and feed the future
population. Our current agriculture system cannot meet the requirement of population
growth. We may get more food if we can use electricity to accelerate the growth of the
crops.

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