Before You Judge the Bio-Mag...

Be careful not to judge results prematurely.

When you first start to experiment with the Bio-Mag it is okay to be skeptical, in fact it can beneficial. The most important thing is to avoid inadvertently treating the seeds. See our web page with tips on controlling experiments here to better understand the appliances and objects that may cause accidental seed treatment. Without proper control (untreated) seeds it is very difficult to see results - if a plant emerges a day earlier than it normally would, you will never know unless you have something to compare to.

The interesting thing about magnetic seed treating is the curiosity it provokes. The first time the results show the effect, it creates a feeling of astonishment. Even if you believe the things that I am writing, I am certain you will have a feeling of "Holy smokes, this thing does work!" the first time you see the results. Even after seeing it many times there is still a feeling excitement, sort of like watching a magician.

For whatever reason, we have never been able to get consistent results with the Bio-Mag. The effects are visible about 70% of the time: sometimes there is a big difference sometimes only a little. There are many factors that affect results and geographical location is very likely one of them. We have seen good results around Calgary and southern Alberta. Dr. Pittman's research was primarily southern Alberta also. The majority of Bio-Mags sold were in grain applications in southern Alberta and corn applications in the mid-western USA - both applications had good results in general. Another researcher Dr. Safwat Moustafa also found good results treating corn and soy beans at the Western Illinois University.

Of course there have been testing that found no effect such as the results presented in the PAMI report. Dr. Richard Vanderlip and his under-graduate student John Gardner found no effects in their testing on wheat, corn, sorghum and soy beans at Kansas State University.

The point is not to be discouraged if the effect does not appear but before giving up, think carefully about whether the control conditions are really under control. Also remember that seed you purchased may have been exposed to magnetic fields somewhere during it's processing. These days especially, it is very easy for seed to be exposed to magnetic fields or electromagnetic radiation (think about this for yourself too). Try various sources of seed before you give up.

If you do see the effects, I personally will be very pleased but be careful not to judge your results in terms of "good" and "bad". In drought conditions, invigorating plant growth can kill or stunt the plant. There are many factors that will contribute to overall plant growth and yield.

The other thing that has never been studied (to my knowledge) is the long term effect of invigorating plant growth with magnetics. While we may be able to reap 10-30% yield increases on some years, what happens if we treat seeds from plants grown from treated seeds for several generations? Will the effect reverse? Will the plant become susceptible to disease or develop any other weaknesses? There are many questions that should arise as our understanding deepens.

Some people ask: "Why did Qsine get involved with something like this in the first place?" As we are a machine design company, we have always answered: "I don't know, it was just interesting." My hope is that someone out there can take this research further. Whether there is commercial potential for this or not really depends on whether people can discover why it works and how to make the effect repeatable. The approach in the 70's of: "It shows up most of the time" killed the industry because too often it did not show up at the right time.

Whether magnetic seed treating has commercial value or not has little to do with why this web site exists anyway (but there needs to be commercial motivation for the research to continue). My feeling (and it's nothing more scientific than a feeling) is that the "Bio-Mag effect" is the result of a very fundamental principal in the mechanics life. Whether understanding it or not makes us better or worse inhabitants of this planet is open for debate... but do it on someone else's web site!