The influence of music on plants: scientific discoveries and practical benefits

The influence of music on plants has been noted since ancient times. Thus, in Indian legends it is mentioned that when the god Krishna played the harp, roses opened right in front of the amazed listeners.

In many countries, it was believed that song or musical accompaniment improved the well-being and growth of plants and contributed to the most abundant harvest. But it was only in the 20th century that evidence of the influence of music on plants was obtained as a result of experiments conducted under strictly controlled conditions by independent researchers from different countries.

Research in Sweden

70s: scientists from the Swedish Music Therapy Society found that the plasma of plant cells moves much faster under the influence of music.

Research in the USA

70s: Dorothy Retellek conducted a whole series of experiments regarding the influence of music on plants, as a result of which patterns were identified related to the doses of sound exposure on plants, as well as with specific types of influencing music.

How long you listen to music matters!

Three experimental groups of plants were kept under the same conditions, while the first group was not “sounded” by music, the second group listened to music for 3 hours daily, and the third group listened to music for 8 hours daily. As a result, the plants from the second group grew significantly more than the plants from the first, control group, but those plants that were forced to listen to music eight hours a day died within two weeks from the start of the experiment.

In fact, Dorothy Retelleck obtained a result similar to that obtained earlier in experiments to determine the effect of “background” noise on factory workers, when it was found that if music was played constantly, workers were more tired and less productive than if there was no music at all;

Music style matters!

Listening to classical music increases crop yields, while heavy rock music causes plant death. Two weeks after the start of the experiment, the plants that “listened” to the classics became uniform in size, lush, green and actively blooming. The plants that received the hard rock grew extremely tall and thin, did not bloom, and soon died completely. Surprisingly, plants that listened to classical music were drawn towards the sound source in the same way as they usually are drawn towards a light source;

Instruments that sound matter!

Another experiment was that the plants were played music similar in sound, which can be conditionally classified as classical: for the first group – organ music by Bach, for the second – North Indian classical music performed by the sitar (string instrument) and tabla (percussion) . In both cases, the plants leaned towards the sound source, but in the dynamics with North Indian classical music the slope was much more pronounced.

Research in Holland

In Holland, confirmation of Dorothy Retellek’s conclusions regarding the negative influence of rock music was received. Three adjacent fields were sown with seeds of the same origin, and then “sounded” with classical, folk and rock music, respectively. After some time, in the third field the plants either drooped or disappeared completely.

Thus, the influence of music on plants, previously intuitively suspected, has now been scientifically proven. Based on scientific data and in the wake of interest, various devices have appeared on the market, more or less scientific and designed to increase yields and improve the condition of plants.

For example, in France, “super-yield” CDs with recordings of specially selected works of classical music are popular. In America, thematic audio recordings are turned on for targeted effects on plants (increasing size, increasing the number of ovaries, etc.); in China, “sound frequency generators” have long been installed in greenhouses, which transmit different sound waves that help activate the processes of photosynthesis and stimulate plant growth, taking into account “ taste” of a particular plant variety.