Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Plants Love Music
Plants love music. The right sounds can produce tremendous improvements in growth,
while the wrong notes can do just the opposite. They are more aware of their surroundings
than we think, in some ways more so than us.
If they had a choice between Gershwin's “Rhapsody In Blue” and Elvis Presley's “Blue
Suede Shoes.” they would probably choose the former. In fact, an experiment in Illinois
where Rhapsody In Blue was played 24 hours a day under controlled conditions yielded
thicker, greener plants with an increase of 40% in the weight of corn plants and 24% in soy
plants.
The topic
The Secret Life Of Plants
, by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, details
many such experiments. Another experiment showed that after two weeks, plants physic-
ally leaned 15-20 degrees towards a radio playing classical and jazz music, while they
scrambled to grow away from rock music and became sick. Marigolds “listening” to rock
music died within two weeks, whereas those in the classical music room six feet away were
flowering.
By far the most noticeable positive reactions have been to classical Indian music. T.C.
Singh, head of the department of botany at Annamalai University, did many experiments
with Indian music and plants, getting amazing results. Eventually, he stimulated rice har-
vests that were from 25-60% higher than average, and nearly 50% higher for peanuts and
tobacco. Experiments were done on many other plants and have “proven beyond any shad-
ow of doubt that harmonic sound waves affect the growth, flowering, fruiting, and seed
yields of plants”.
Of course, many people think this is absurd, especially when it comes to plants respond-
ing to music. Scientists often think it may be possible, but that it must all be happening
purely because of physics and not because plants prefer Debussy to Deep Purple.
It's romantic to think of plants having a taste more for the “intellectual” music, and I
strongly believe this relationship between music and plants is possible after all of my stud-
ies into the amazing world of plants. In terms of music, I don't know enough to argue one
way or the other. Still, I'm always more apt to listen to a sitar or string quartet over a Stra-
tocaster electric guitar when I'm out pulling weeds in my garden.
