Can Plants Hear Music? Does It Affect their Growth?

It has been detected that listening to music has contributed in the development of plants. Studies have suggested that plants exposed to music exhibit positive responses such as increased growth rates, enhanced biomass, earlier flowering, improved disease resistance, etc. 

For instance, one study found that exposing balsam plants to classical music led to a 20% increase in growth rate and a 72% increase in biomass. Another one showed that playing classical or jazz music for roses seemed to promote growth while harsher music like metal induced stress.

Source - Earth.com

But How Sure are we that the Growth was a Result of the Music and Not Other Factors?

Dorothy Retallack’s book, ‘The sound of Music and plants’ explores this through experiments. She discovered that plants exposed to an extended F note were healthier than a control group. Plants exposed to classical and jazz music grew towards the speaker, while those exposed to rock music grew away.

The TV show called MythBusters investigated the topic and found that plants exposed to death metal music showed more signs of rapid growth, followed by classical music and then those exposed to speech (both negative and positive). With the plant not being subjected to any sound showing the least growth.

What are the Identified Causes?

There have been multiple theories but for conclusive proof, further research is needed.

One theory suggests that due to the vibrations from music, cytoplasmic streaming gets stimulated in plants. Cytoplasmic streaming is the process by which plants transport nutrients and other essential substances within their cells. Plants might grow advantageously around areas with bird songs or breezes, crunching of leaves and flowing streams, which could have similar vibratory effects. However, some scientists have criticized these experiments, pointing to potential flaws and uncontrolled variables.

But the Question is, Do Plants Hear Music?

The simple answer is, plants don’t hear music, they respond to vibrations. The explanatory answer is a little more complicated than that.

Plants don’t hear sound the way we deem the term sound. They can feel vibrations.  When sound waves hit the walls of the cells in plants, an increase in the rate of transportation within the plant takes place, affecting the metabolism of the plant. Sound also affects the opening of leaves which improves its productivity and disease resistance.

Some studies have also suggested that plants may have mechanoreceptors which are fine, hairy structures that act like membranes to recognize noises. Exposure to vibrations may also lead to shifts in the hormonal landscape of a plant. It affects the growth hormones like indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellin (GA) 3, salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA).

Now, that we have established that sound does affect plants, we would also have to establish exactly what sound does your plant need.

Exactly What Sound is Music to a Plant’s Membrane?

As said before, plants generally prefer calming, rhythmic hits and classical music over jazz and rock.

Traditional Indian raga music is also known to significantly increase plant biomass. A study also revealed that exposure to Bharatnatyam music made flowers (experimentally petunias and marigolds) two weeks earlier than expected.

In a study displaying the effects of music on different flowers, it was observed that exposure to western country music led to roses growing more thorns, while other plants were not affected. The effects of music thus, are not always consistent across species and may come in various forms.

Plants can also distinguish between sounds. Non- rhythmic sounds like jam and steely noises affect a plant’s productivity negatively.

Final Thoughts

While there are no definitive proofs that music promotes plant growth, there is proof that sound in general does. Different plants respond to different sounds and frequencies in various ways.

Further research is needed to fully grasp the mechanisms behind these reactions of plants and to effectively deploy sound technology in agriculture.

A lot of people claim that music and plant growth do not have a defined relation and the established connection is only pseudoscientific, many others believe that playing music for plants wont hurt but on a spiritual level, be beneficial.  

The belief is largely based on personal will to expose your plants to the right kind of sounds, what the person believes might affect their growth.

Written By Dixitaa Jaisinghani

This article has been authored exclusively by the writer and is being presented on Eat My News, which serves as a platform for the community to voice their perspectives. As an entity, Eat My News cannot be held liable for the content or its accuracy. The views expressed in this article solely pertain to the author or writer. For further queries about the article or its content you can contact on this email address - dixitaajaisinghani@gmail.com