Justin TimeI’ll admit right off the bat that it does sound a little crazy to play music for plants. But research has demonstrated that music can have a profound effect on the growth of cannabis plants. The jury is indeed still out on this, but the stuff that’s been found so far is pretty mind-blowing.
Research has demonstrated that music can have a profound effect on the growth of cannabis plants.
Scientists have been studying the effect music has on plants for years. In 1962, Dr. T.C Singh conducted several studies that resulted in him seeing balsam plants grow by 20% taller and had increased the biomass of up to 70% when compared to the control group of plants he had kept in a silent room. Singh additionally stated that seeds grown in musical environments had a high vitality rate and had increased leaf production and larger leaves. Singh suggested that classical, most notably violin, music produced the best results.
More research has been done on music and plants, specifically when comes to genre. Yes, people have actually compared genres of music and how each benefit or inhibits the growth of plants. In 1973, Professor Dorothy Retallack set up an experiment. She had three groups; the first group of plants was playing rock music, whilst the second was playing classical and the third was played nothing. She found that plants who were exposed to the rock music had diverted their growth away from the speakers, as though they were trying to escape the music. She also noticed that, when exposed to rock music, the plants exhibited signs of stress. It is important to remember that plants obviously don’t know what musical genre means, and so it’s not necessarily genre that affects their growth rather the harmony and rhythm of the sound. Plants that are around calming, classical music tend to fare much better.
Plants react to music because the sound is part of their external environments.
Plants react to music because the sound is part of their external environments. For example, hot conditions result in plant leaves curling up to reduce perspiration. So it isn’t really so crazy to assume that sound, as well as temperature, can affect them. This is because the sound is made up of vibrations, and so whether its music or some other noise plants pick up on these vibrations and react accordingly. This explains why plants react badly to rock music because their evolutionary makeup has taught them that these low-frequency sound waves are a threat. High-frequency sound waves, then, signal to plants that conditions for growth are optimum and this type of frequency actually encourages the small pores on plant surfaces to open up, which allows for greater nutrient consumption.
It is widely known and accepted that as people, music moves us. Organisms react to music in ways that reduce stress and improve health. It shouldn’t really come as a shock then that plants are affected too.
