Let it grow! How a little quiet singing can boost your blooms: Plants that “hear” music grow more leaves, take in more sun and produce a lot more food, research has found
- Research has shown that plants that listen to music grow 10 percent more leaves
- Researchers say the findings could pave the way for a new type of “acoustic farming.”
King Charles is known to talk to his plants – but it seems he might want to try a little singing too.
According to researchers, plants that “listen” to music grow 10 percent more leaves, absorb more sun, and produce much more food.
They say the results are so impressive that they could pave the way for a new type of “acoustic farming.”
During the study, the song “The Purple Butterfly” by Bandari was played to duckweed, a common pondweed used as a protein-rich animal feed.
The song was played to the plants for five hours a day at 60-70 decibels – the volume of a normal conversation.
After seven days, the researchers compared the duckweed that had been played music with another group that had grown in silence. They found that the music had a significant – and almost immediate – impact.
During the study, the song “The Purple Butterfly” by Bandari was played to duckweed, a common pondweed used as a protein-rich animal feed
King Charles admitted that he had spoken to his plants when he was interviewed for a television program in 1986
After five days, the leaf growth rate of the “musical” plants was almost 10 percent higher than that of the “silent” batch, while their protein content increased by 60 percent.
They were also able to process sunlight more efficiently.
Although it’s not clear to the researchers why music has such an impressive effect, they found that the sound vibrations emitted from music changed the function of the plants’ 1,296 genes, including those involved in photosynthesis and hormone control. The researchers from China’s Tianjin Normal University wrote in the journal Plant Signaling And Behavior: “Our results provided reasonable evidence for increased photosynthesis during music treatment.”
“The results suggest that music improved the ability to harness light energy and provided new ideas for the study of plant acoustics.”
King Charles admitted that he had spoken to his plants when he was interviewed for a television program in 1986.
“I actually just come over and talk to the plants,” he said. “It’s very important to talk to them – I think they respond.”
Although the then-Prince of Wales’s comments were widely ridiculed, studies have since shown that plants do indeed respond to sound.