According to almanac tradition, the waxing moon, the stretch from new moon to full moon, belongs to crops that bear above ground. Leafy crops such as lettuce and cabbage come first, then fruiting crops such as tomatoes and beans. No effect of the Moon on crops has been proven. The next waxing moon runs from October 10, 11:50 a.m. ET, to October 26, 12:11 a.m. ET.
What the tradition says about waxing moon
The old reasoning goes like this. As the Moon grows toward full, almanac gardeners say, the growth of a plant is drawn upward, so the waxing half of the cycle is kept for plants whose useful part sits above the soil. The waning half is kept for plants whose useful part sits below it. That is the whole logic, and it is a rule of custom. It has been handed down in farmers’ almanacs, and it has not been demonstrated.
The waxing half is split in two by the first quarter. According to almanac tradition, the first stretch, from new moon to first quarter, is for leafy crops such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli and celery. The second stretch, from first quarter to full moon, is for above-ground crops that carry their seed inside the fruit: tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash and corn. The calendar below shows where the waxing phase sits among the four quarters of the tradition.
| Quarter | Span | What the tradition assigns |
|---|---|---|
| 1. First quarter (waxing) | New moon to first quarter | Leafy crops that bear above ground (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, celery) |
| 2. Second quarter (waxing) | First quarter to full moon | Above-ground crops that bear seed inside the fruit (tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, corn) |
| 3. Third quarter (waning) | Full moon to last quarter | Root crops, bulbs, perennials (potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, beets) |
| 4. Fourth quarter (waning) | Last quarter to new moon | Rest: weeding, pruning, turning the soil, composting |
Many almanacs add a second filter, the zodiac sign the Moon is passing through. In the convention most moon-sign almanacs follow, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are labeled fruitful. Taurus, Libra and Capricorn are labeled semi-fruitful. Aries, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius are labeled barren, though sources differ on Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius. A traditional planting window is a day when the quarter and a fruitful or semi-fruitful sign line up.
A separate school, the biodynamic calendar associated with Maria Thun, ignores the quarters and sorts days by sign alone: root days (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), flower days (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius), leaf days (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) and fruit days (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius). The two systems do not agree, which is one more reason to treat all of this as custom, not as a rulebook.
The next waxing moon dates
The next two waxing phases, from new moon to full moon, are these (all times Eastern):
- October 2026: from the New Moon on October 10, 11:50 a.m. ET, through the First Quarter on October 18, 12:12 p.m. ET, to the Full Moon (Hunter’s Moon) on October 26, 12:11 a.m. ET.
- November 2026: from the New Moon on November 9, 2:02 a.m. ET, through the First Quarter on November 17, 6:47 a.m. ET, to the Full Moon (Beaver Moon) on November 24, 9:53 a.m. ET.
Between those two waxing phases the Moon wanes. That stretch runs from the October 26 full moon to the November 9 new moon, with the Last Quarter on November 1, 3:28 p.m. ET.
Inside each waxing phase, the traditional windows are the days when the quarter rule and a fruitful or semi-fruitful sign coincide. Here they are, with the sign times that mark their edges.
| Traditional window | Crop type in the tradition | Moon sign and clock times (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| October 10-13 | Leafy crops | New moon October 10, 11:50 a.m. Libra until October 11, 11:21 a.m., then Scorpio until October 13, 8:59 p.m. |
| October 16-18 | Leafy crops | Capricorn from October 16, 8:57 a.m. to October 18, 9:39 p.m. |
| October 21-23 | Fruiting crops | Pisces from the morning of October 21 (8:35 a.m.) to the afternoon of October 23 (3:53 p.m.) |
| November 9 | Leafy crops | New moon November 9, 2:02 a.m. Scorpio from November 7, 5:39 p.m. to November 10, 3:35 a.m. |
| November 13-14 | Leafy crops | Capricorn from November 12, 3:27 p.m. to November 15, 4:24 a.m. |
| November 18-19 | Fruiting crops | Pisces from November 17, 4:19 p.m. to November 20, 12:52 a.m. |
| November 22-23 | Fruiting crops | Taurus from November 22, 5:09 a.m. to November 24, 6:09 a.m. |
Notice the gap in October between the evening of October 18 and the morning of October 21. The Moon is in Aquarius for that stretch (from 9:39 p.m. on October 18 to 8:35 a.m. on October 21), and this convention labels Aquarius barren.
Which crops this phase is for, in the tradition
The waxing moon is an active phase in the almanac scheme, not a resting one. The tradition gives it two jobs, one for each half.
For the first half, from new moon to first quarter, almanacs list crops grown for their leaves or stalks:
- lettuce
- spinach
- cabbage
- broccoli
- celery
For the second half, from first quarter to full moon, they list crops grown for a fruit that holds its seed:
- tomatoes
- peppers
- beans
- squash
- corn
Root crops, bulbs and perennials such as potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions and beets are not part of the waxing phase. According to almanac tradition they wait for the third quarter, after the full moon. The fourth quarter, from last quarter to new moon, is the almanac’s rest period, given over to weeding, pruning, turning the soil and composting. A gardener who follows the custom would use the waxing phase for sowing and transplanting only the crops listed above.
One rule sits above all of this. Frost dates and soil temperature in your area decide whether a crop can go into the ground at all. The Moon, for gardeners who follow it, only chooses among days that the local calendar already allows. A traditional window that falls in a week when the ground is too cold or a frost is still ahead is simply skipped. For sowing and transplanting dates in your area, use your state’s planting guide.
Sign labels add a second layer of sorting that not everyone applies. Some gardeners follow only the quarter rule and ignore the signs. Others use only the signs. The windows in the table above apply both, which is the stricter reading.
How much weight to give it
The effect of the Moon’s phase on seeds and roots is unproven. A rough physical check points the same way. Using the constants in the NASA Moon Fact Sheet (a phase cycle of 29.53 days, an orbit against the stars of 27.32 days, a mean distance of 384,400 km), the Moon’s tidal pull at the Earth’s surface comes out, by calculation, at about 1.1 millionths of a meter per second squared. That is roughly one ten-millionth of gravity (1.1 x 10^-7 g) at its strongest. It is far too small to move anything as small as a seed or a root. This is a calculated figure, not a measured one.
So the practical weight is light. The planting calendar for your state, built on frost dates and soil temperature, decides the season. The waxing moon, if you follow the custom, is a way of picking among days that are already open. The question of whether the custom holds up gets a fuller treatment in the section on planting by the moon.
Questions
Is the waxing moon the same as the first quarter?
No. The waxing moon covers the whole stretch from new moon to full moon. The first quarter is only its first half, and the first-quarter moment is the midpoint, which falls on October 18 at 12:12 p.m. ET this month. Almanac tradition gives leafy crops to the part before that moment and fruiting crops to the part after it.
Do I need to follow the Moon’s sign as well as its phase?
That depends on the almanac. The quarter rule is the older and simpler layer. The sign labels (fruitful, semi-fruitful, barren) come from moon-sign almanacs, and the biodynamic calendar uses a different sign grouping altogether. Gardeners who plant by the Moon often pick one system and stay with it.
What does the tradition say about the days after the full moon?
Once the Moon starts to wane, the almanac rule changes. Root crops, bulbs and perennials belong to the third quarter, and the fourth quarter is for weeding, pruning, turning the soil and composting. For this autumn, the waning half starts at the full moon on October 26, 12:11 a.m. ET.