CLOSETGROWTH
Well-Known Member
Hello RIU 
Just wondering how many of you actually play music for your plants? I give my girls 4 hours of classical music a day. How about you? 
There are many different viewpoints on this. A selection of contributors' thoughts are included below.
Answer 1:
Many scientific studies have been done regarding the effects of music on plants. The simple answer is that past studies have suggested rock music seems to have a detrimental effect on plant growth.
There is a well-known study from the early 1970s, conducted by Dorothy Retallack at the Colorado Woman's College in Denver using the college's three Biotronic Control Chambers. In one series of studies, music was played daily for three hours a day in one laboratory, and it was played for eight hours a day in another. Those where the music was played for 3 hours a day grew twice as large and were twice as healthy as those in a music-free environment. However, plants in the laboratory where music was played for 8 hours daily died within two weeks of the experiment beginning.
Different types of music were then utilised. Rock music was played to one group of plants and soothing music to another. The "rock music" plants were sickly and small whereas the other group grew large and healthy, with the plants actually growing towards the radio just like they bend towards sunlight.
It is uncertain whether country music has been used in experiments, but the nature of the music is generally more melodious, so is likely to produce healthier plants than those exposed to jarring rock music. Either way, it would seem that even plants don't like "piped" music - it needs to be limited to three hours a day, rather than played continuously.
Effective experiments, however, would need to involve the following factors:
Answer 2:
Mythbusters have come up with a different result. Their experiments suggested that heavy metal seems to stimulate growth more than other types of music. The culprit is likely the rapid vibration that encourages activity. Perhaps these results could be pursued by searching the Mythbusters website on Discoverychannel.
Answer 3:
The effect is the same as random noise, i.e. just the physical stress of sound. Music as such has no effect because:
1) Plants are not intelligent. In fact, they don't have a central nervous system. Music can only affect you if you understand it, and plants can't understand anything.
2) Plants have no auditory organs. They can't hear any more than you could hear through your skin if you had no ears.
If you look this up on the net, you'll see plenty of small scale experiments with positive results. Unfortunately, these experiments are fatally flawed in several ways. First, they are typically done with just 3 or 4 plants, and with such a small sample size any difference is likely to be from random chance. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the control is silent when it should be random noise with the same frequency spectrum and periodicity as the music. This is the only way to test the effects of music as such, not just the effects of sound. When the experiment is done with a good sample size (thousands of plants) and controlled properly, the results may well be negative.
Answer 4:
I tried experimenting myself. After 4 week of experimenting, the following were the results. I observed that the one that was in the best condition was the plant that was in the room with classical music. It grew in the range of 9-16 degrees away from the CD Player. The second best plant was the one in the room with no music. It grew from the range of 11-15 degrees away from the CD Player. The one that didn't do so well was the one in the room with rock music. It grew from the range of 33-85 degrees away from the CD Player.
Answer 5:
Many people swear by Classical music, which is used in some professional greenhouses to stimulate plant growth. In the book, "The Secret Life of Plants," the results of exposure to various types of music on houseplants is explored, among other fascinating plant experiments.
Answer 6:
The effect of music on plants is drastic. It is found that music stimulates the brain, but it depends what kind of music. For example the high frequency of mechanical waves that run hand in hand with rap and acid rock are damaging to the plant.
Some studies have indicated that they do indeed germinate and grow faster and healthier when exposed to Classical music.
Just wondering how many of you actually play music for your plants? I give my girls 4 hours of classical music a day. How about you? There are many different viewpoints on this. A selection of contributors' thoughts are included below.
Answer 1:
Many scientific studies have been done regarding the effects of music on plants. The simple answer is that past studies have suggested rock music seems to have a detrimental effect on plant growth.
There is a well-known study from the early 1970s, conducted by Dorothy Retallack at the Colorado Woman's College in Denver using the college's three Biotronic Control Chambers. In one series of studies, music was played daily for three hours a day in one laboratory, and it was played for eight hours a day in another. Those where the music was played for 3 hours a day grew twice as large and were twice as healthy as those in a music-free environment. However, plants in the laboratory where music was played for 8 hours daily died within two weeks of the experiment beginning.
Different types of music were then utilised. Rock music was played to one group of plants and soothing music to another. The "rock music" plants were sickly and small whereas the other group grew large and healthy, with the plants actually growing towards the radio just like they bend towards sunlight.
It is uncertain whether country music has been used in experiments, but the nature of the music is generally more melodious, so is likely to produce healthier plants than those exposed to jarring rock music. Either way, it would seem that even plants don't like "piped" music - it needs to be limited to three hours a day, rather than played continuously.
Effective experiments, however, would need to involve the following factors:
- the same plant types across the different conditions
- a variety of species, also across the different conditions
- strict controls on all other external factors, e.g. light, warmth, etc
- consistency of human interaction across the different conditions
- music vo,ume would need to be maintained at a consistent level
Answer 2:
Mythbusters have come up with a different result. Their experiments suggested that heavy metal seems to stimulate growth more than other types of music. The culprit is likely the rapid vibration that encourages activity. Perhaps these results could be pursued by searching the Mythbusters website on Discoverychannel.
Answer 3:
The effect is the same as random noise, i.e. just the physical stress of sound. Music as such has no effect because:
1) Plants are not intelligent. In fact, they don't have a central nervous system. Music can only affect you if you understand it, and plants can't understand anything.
2) Plants have no auditory organs. They can't hear any more than you could hear through your skin if you had no ears.
If you look this up on the net, you'll see plenty of small scale experiments with positive results. Unfortunately, these experiments are fatally flawed in several ways. First, they are typically done with just 3 or 4 plants, and with such a small sample size any difference is likely to be from random chance. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the control is silent when it should be random noise with the same frequency spectrum and periodicity as the music. This is the only way to test the effects of music as such, not just the effects of sound. When the experiment is done with a good sample size (thousands of plants) and controlled properly, the results may well be negative.
Answer 4:
I tried experimenting myself. After 4 week of experimenting, the following were the results. I observed that the one that was in the best condition was the plant that was in the room with classical music. It grew in the range of 9-16 degrees away from the CD Player. The second best plant was the one in the room with no music. It grew from the range of 11-15 degrees away from the CD Player. The one that didn't do so well was the one in the room with rock music. It grew from the range of 33-85 degrees away from the CD Player.
Answer 5:
Many people swear by Classical music, which is used in some professional greenhouses to stimulate plant growth. In the book, "The Secret Life of Plants," the results of exposure to various types of music on houseplants is explored, among other fascinating plant experiments.
Answer 6:
The effect of music on plants is drastic. It is found that music stimulates the brain, but it depends what kind of music. For example the high frequency of mechanical waves that run hand in hand with rap and acid rock are damaging to the plant.
Some studies have indicated that they do indeed germinate and grow faster and healthier when exposed to Classical music.
