You may be one of them gardeners who talks away to themselves when you’re tending to your plants, maybe you even sing a little when you’re watering those hanging baskets or nurturing your house plants?
Well if you do, your plants are probably growing better as a result!
That’s right, plants respond favourably to sound, whether it’s the sound of you singing, playing music or even dancing.
There have been many trials on the effects of exposing plants to music, all show no ill effects and the majority show favourable outcomes.
These outcomes vary from increased seed germination, to stronger plants being produced.
There are even vine yards which play music across acres of land with the desired effect of improving yields and quality of grape production.
The most beneficial genre to play to plants is classical music, around the 50-90db range. In many controlled experiments plants responded much more favourably to classical music and disliked rock music.
Bean plants leaning towards classical music
It is not though that plants actually listen to the music, but the soundwaves and frequencies generated during these different musical styles certainly showed different effects, with plants actually leaning towards classical music and doing the opposite and actually leaning away from rock music.
Soundwaves caused by dancing have also been found to be beneficial for growth, so plants placed on busy stairways could benefit from the noise created by the passing footfall.
Now the effect of music within a greenhouse environment can be beneficial, as the plants then are smaller, tougher and establish better when planted out.