Nearly two-thirds of gardeners play music to their plants, research claims (2024)

FAQs

Nearly two-thirds of gardeners play music to their plants, research claims? ›

Nearly two thirds of gardeners play music to their plants, according to new research. Studies have shown that music helps plants to grow, with the vibrations stimulating their growth. In a survey by music licensing company PPL PRS, which studied 1,000 gardeners, 63 per cent said they played music to their plants.

For most plants playing classical or jazz music caused growth to increase, while harsher metal music induced stress. This may be because the vibrations of metal music are too intense for plants and stimulate cells a little too much. We think of this like massaging your plant with a song – they prefer a gentler touch.

Most people think that classical music is the go-to for plants, and they'd generally be correct. Most studies have found that plants react positively to music featuring stringed instruments, as well as Jazz, meditative sounds, and other softer genres.

The popular Discovery Channel TV show, Mythbusters, ran their own experiment to test this and concluded that it is "plausible" that talking helps plants grow. They also determined that classical music and heavy metal music made the plants grow better than the control plants that received neither talk nor music.

Explanation: A possible hypothesis for your experiment could be: 'Exposure to different genres of music will significantly influence the growth rate of plants. ' This hypothesis is based on the idea that vibrations from the sound waves of music can stimulate growth factors in plants.

Ratnesh Mishra, a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Functional Plant Biology at the University of Ghent in Belgium, says in an email interview that the sound we hear as synthesizer music at a "plant concert" at Damanhur comes from movement inside the plant during the cavitation process where air bubbles are ...

Re: How does music affect plant growth? Clearly the music (or the different genres of music) is the independent variable and the plant growth is the dependent variable.

Plants thrive when they listen to music that sits between 115Hz and 250Hz, as the vibrations emitted by such music emulate similar sounds in nature. Plants don't like being exposed to music more than one to three hours per day. Jazz and classical music seems to be the music of choice for ultimate plant stimulation.

Plants can perceive light, scent, touch, wind, even gravity, and are able to respond to sounds, too. No, music will not help plants grow—even classical—but other audio cues can help plants survive and thrive in their habitats.

Through patented sonification technology, PlantWave measures biological changes within plants, graphs them as a wave and translates the wave into pitch. With PlantWave, every single note you hear is a real-time expression of a shift in a plant.

Does singing to plants really work? ›

This is a question that I am often asked because I do research on how plants respond to the vibrations that occur naturally in their environment. Sound is perceived as vibrations. There is no consistent scientific evidence that talking or singing to plants helps them grow better or produce more fruit.

“But some research shows that speaking nicely to plants will support their growth, whereas yelling at them won't. Rather than the meaning of words, however, this may have more to do with vibrations and volume. Plants react favourably to low levels of vibrations, around 115-250hz being ideal.”

New research has also shown that music can help plants grow

Like people, plants enjoy listening to music, while different plants prefer different genres. Classical music is most effective on the growth of roses, while chrysanthemums thrive after just 30 minutes of play.

If plants don't respond well to rock music, it isn't because they “like” classical better. However, the vibrations produced by loud rock music create greater pressure that isn't conducive to plant growth.

Sound promotes plant growth by regulating the plant growth hormones indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and gibberellin (Bochu et al., 2004; Ghosh et al., 2016). Second, induction of plant defense responses against pathogens.

Listening to (or making) music increases blood flow to brain regions that generate and control emotions. The limbic system, which is involved in processing emotions and controlling memory, “lights” up when our ears perceive music.

While studies have found that vibrations caused by sound do affect plants, the jury's still out on whether the human voice offers any specific benefit. For many plant owners, though, the science is beside the point.

All the bacteria and yeasts used as test organisms were found to register better (3.15–40.37% higher) growth under the influence of music, except Serratia marcescens.