Who’s listening?

Do plants have feelings? I’m sure all of us plant lovers have questioned this, and 90% of us definitely believe they do.

Can they hear sounds? Do they like music?

 

I, for one, fully believe that plants thrive when they are exposed to the sounds of music. Going through articles about this very topic has given me enough reasons to believe that I’m not totally wrong in my thinking. On the other hand, a direct ‘YES’ has yet to be declared, although numerous studies and experiments have been conducted to truly understand the science behind this fact.

 

Wouldn’t it be spectacular to watch plants dance and move to the sounds of music like us humans? Yes, it can happen in cartoon movies and in our imagination, but we all know that will never happen. Rather, it is the sound waves that stimulate the plant's cells.

 

One research shows that plants don’t really “listen” to music the same way we humans do, but they can ‘feel’ the vibrations of the sound of music, and this good vibration could possibly have a positive impact on their overall well-being.

 

In 2014, a study was done at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. Thirty roses were exposed to four different genres of music. Indian classical music, Vedic chants, Western classical music, and rock music. At the end of the 60-day experiment, the roses that had been subjected to Vedic chants and Indian classical music far outperformed the silent control group.

 

Another fascinating piece of research was done by the TV show “Mythbusters”. They selected the ‘sweet pea’ for this one-month-long experiment and put them in three different greenhouses. The peas in the first greenhouse had heavy metal music flowing through the airwaves; the second one had classical music; and the third greenhouse just had a lot of gossip and angry dialogue.

 

In your opinion, which greenhouse should have had the most healthy flowering sweet peas at the end of the experiment?

 

Surprise surprise!!! The heavy metal greenhouse produced the most robust sweet peas. The peas in the ‘talk’ group just got so bored they wilted away.

 

There is still a lot of research to be done with other genres of music like pop, country, or hip-hop but the overall findings seem to show that the more rhythmic the music, the better it is for plants.

 

Another study done by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2009 revealed that tomato plants responded positively to female voices rather than male voices. Ooops!!!! Male readers, please don’t let this revelation discourage you from your plant parenting just because the tomato said so.

 

There was this book published in 1973 titled "The Secret Life of Plants.” It was written by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird and has been described as “A fascinating account of the physical, emotional, and spiritual relations between plants and man.” Essentially, the subject of the book is the idea that plants may be sentient, despite their lack of a nervous system and a brain. There is a documentary on this very book with a soundtrack recorded by Stevie Wonder.

 

While experiments and research are still going on all over the world, we can in some way understand that plants do perceive sound as a mechanical stimulus, which can influence germination rates and increase plant growth and development. So what are we waiting for? Get your playlist ready, because it really can’t hurt to enjoy the sounds of music together on our way.

 

Happy listening from The Green Owl family.