plant speaking experiment

The Power Of Kind Words: Speaking To Plants Experiment

Plants have always held a special place in our lives. Whether it’s the lush greenery in our gardens or the potted plants scattered throughout our homes, plants bring life and beauty to our surroundings. But what if there was more to our connection with plants than just aesthetics? Recent studies have shown that the way we speak to plants can have a profound impact on their growth and overall well-being. In this article, we will explore the fascinating world of the speaking kindly to plants experiment and uncover the power of positive verbal communication.

The Importance of Speaking Kindly to Plants

Humans and plants share a deep connection that goes beyond the scientific understanding of photosynthesis and oxygen exchange. Plants respond to their environment, including the sounds and vibrations around them. When we speak kindly to plants, we are not only expressing our care and appreciation but also creating an environment of positivity and support.

Research has shown that plants exposed to positive language exhibit faster growth rates and overall better health. This phenomenon can be attributed to the vibrations and energy we emit through our words, as well as the psychological effect of positive verbal interaction.

By speaking kindly to plants, we are cultivating mindfulness and empathy. It encourages us to slow down, pay attention to the needs of another living being, and develop a greater sense of connectedness with nature.

Setting up the Speaking Kindly to Plants Experiment

Before diving into the experiment, it’s crucial to establish a controlled environment to ensure accurate results. Choose a selection of plants that are similar in size, species, and health. Providing them with identical conditions such as light, temperature, and watering schedule creates a fair comparison.

Additionally, it’s essential to establish a baseline for comparison. This can be done by selecting a control group of plants that will not be exposed to positive language. It allows us to measure the impact of speaking kindly on plant growth and health.

The Methodology of the Experiment

Once the setup is in place, it’s time to begin the speaking kindly to plants experiment. Interact with the plants on a daily basis, using positive statements and words of encouragement. The frequency and duration of these interactions can vary, but consistency is key.

When speaking to plants, use phrases such as “You are growing beautifully,” “I appreciate your presence,” or even simple expressions of love and gratitude. These positive statements can create a nurturing environment and positively influence the plants’ growth.

Monitor the plants closely throughout the experiment, observing any changes in growth patterns or overall plant vitality. Keep a record of the plants’ progress and take note of any noticeable differences between the control group and the plants exposed to positive language.

Results and Findings

The speaking kindly to plants experiment has shown promising results, highlighting the positive effects of positive verbal communication on plant health. Plants that were spoken to regularly exhibited increased growth rates and enhanced overall vitality compared to the control group.

Comparisons between the two groups revealed stark differences in growth and appearance. The plants exposed to positive language showed more vibrant colors, fuller foliage, and stronger stems. These findings suggest that speaking kindly to plants can significantly impact their physical well-being.

While the results are fascinating, it’s important to acknowledge the potential influence of other factors. Vibrations and energy emitted through speech, carbon dioxide levels from human breath, and heightened care and attention given to the spoken-to plants could contribute to the observed effects.

Possible Explanations and Theories

Scientists and researchers have proposed several explanations for the impact of speaking kindly to plants. One theory suggests that the vibrations and energy transmitted through our words resonate with the plants, stimulating their growth and overall health.

Another theory revolves around the carbon dioxide levels released during speaking. As humans exhale carbon dioxide, the plants may benefit from the additional supply, enhancing their growth. Additionally, the psychological aspect of positive verbal interaction may play a role in promoting a nurturing environment and encouraging plant growth.

Implications and Applications

The speaking kindly to plants experiment has broader implications for our relationship with nature. By understanding the power of positive communication, we can enhance the connection between humans and plants, fostering a deeper appreciation for the natural world.

Furthermore, incorporating plant communication into mindfulness practices can be a powerful tool for personal growth and stress reduction. Taking the time to speak kindly to our plants allows us to cultivate mindfulness, empathy, and a sense of interconnectedness with the environment around us.

Finally, this experiment highlights the importance of promoting positive environmental attitudes and behaviors. By valuing and respecting all living beings, we can contribute to a sustainable future and take active steps towards preserving our planet.

The speaking kindly to plants experiment emphasizes the profound impact of positive verbal communication on plant growth and well-being. By speaking kindly to our green companions, we not only nurture their physical health but also foster a sense of mindfulness and empathy within ourselves. This experiment reminds us of the interconnectedness between humans and nature and encourages us to treat all living beings with kindness and respect.

– Insert your list of references here

Matt Gallagher

Plant Experiment: Words And Growth

Words have power. They encourage, heal, comfort, criticize, hurt; it all depends whether you choose to use them for good or evil. They affect adults, children, and plants alike. This week on You Had Me At Gardening we explore how plants react when exposed to different types of rhetoric, more specifically how plant growth is affected. For that reason, we chose the famous speech I have a dream of Martin Luther King and a speech by Adolf Hitler. We conducted the plant experiment using bean seeds as they’re known to grow quickly.

What inspired us to try this out?

There are some interesting studies out there that explored the possibility of sound affecting plant growth and health, and carrying out our own experiment was definitely exciting!

Now although plants don’t have an organ to recognize air vibrations (like eardrums in humans), previous studies indicate that plants are highly sensitive to the sounds in their environment.

For instance, a South Korean study published in 2018 explained that plants show reactions to sound stimuli. For example, we have the sounds of buzzing insects. Depending on the type of sound they produce, plants identify the insects as either threats or friends. Certain frequencies of bee buzzing will make plants release pollen from their anthers, thus facilitating pollination.

On the other hand, sounds of insect chewing trigger the release of defense related chemicals. The authors also found that sound treatment altered the level of growth hormones, and therefore, sound could be used to enhance plant growth, while also increasing plant resistance against external stress. The article gave examples of plant growth that was improved by sound treatment in crops such as rice, wheat, tomato, lettuce and spinach.

They also discovered that if the proper frequency and decibels are picked according to crop species, a sound wave treatment could help delay fruit ripening. This would make fruit last longer and seems a better alternative to genetic modification or chemical preservatives.

Another study from 2010 conducted in China focused on the Influence of Sound Wave Stimulation on the Growth of Strawberry in Sunlight Greenhouse . The authors found that the group exposed to sounds had a denser leaf area at the beginning of the growing season, squaring period and fruiting stage. Also, the strawberry that received the sound treatment was stronger and became more resistant to disease and pests.

We took all these findings into consideration when we decided to conduct our own experiment.

Another interesting experiment related to discourse and how words can influence plant health comes from IKEA . They conducted their own experiment last year, in a school in the Middle East, where they placed two plants. The plants received the same treatment in terms of water, light and fertilizer. But for 30 days the first plant was exposed to words of encouragement and kind comments, while the second one received only criticism and harsh remarks. At the end, the states of the two were compared.

After 30 days there was a clear difference in the plants’ wellbeing. The one that received compliments was thriving, while the one that received criticism showed signs of struggling and had droopy brown leaves. The results spoke for themselves.

Why did IKEA conduct its experiment in a school? It was an attempt to raise awareness on the issue of bullying and the negative effects it has on children and people in general. School bullying statistics show that in the US alone, one out of four children is bullied. And the most pervasive type is verbal bullying, that affects 77% of all students, with 14% showing signs of low self-esteem, anxiety and depression.

The takeaway?

Words have power and they affect all living beings, be they humans or plants. It’s up to us to choose the right ones.

Our experiment

We also wanted to investigate how plants are affected by sounds and (negative) words. But instead of speaking to our plants for the experiment, we went for audio recordings of 2 very famous people:

• Martin Luther King – “I have a Dream” speech.
• Adolf Hitler – a public speech from the 1930s at Festplatz, Tempelhof, Nr Berlin.

Before we go any further with details of the experiment, we first need to analyze and compare the 2 speeches.

King and Hitler both tried to persuade others and talked about racial segregation, but their political views were very different. They both spoke according to their own motives, talking about goals, desires, and stirring people to act in a direction or the other.

According to the motives of each, the person’s discourse is seen as either positive or negative. We can consider a discourse positive if the orator encourages peacemaking actions, while a negative discourse includes intentions to instigate anger, resentment, hostility or conflict.

King’s discourse focused on unity and bringing together the people of the world. He advocated for peace, not war. He called for justice, freedom and equality among people, all by using peaceful means. He wanted change for the people, but not through violence. He tried to establish common ground with his audience through emotional appeal to their needs and values.

On the other hand, Hitler’s discourse focused on the achievements made together with the people and him as a leader, trying to express the unity of the German people. In most of his speeches he encouraged racial segregation by advocating for the belief that only people with Aryan blood should live together. Due to perhaps his experience in the military, his words were more direct, and he didn’t use a lot of metaphors when conveying his ideas.

Experiment materials and design

As mentioned before, we chose bean seeds for our experiments as they grow quickly. We used a total of 30 seeds, and we selected 3 groups for the experiment:

• One group was exposed to King’s speech
• One to Hitler’s
• The last one was the control group that was not exposed to any sounds.

Each group was given a total of ten seeds and in terms of light, water and soil, all seeds were given the same treatment.

Duration of experiment: 15 days Period: 19 August – 3 September Exposure to discourse: Daily from Monday to Friday, 3 full hours starting from 4:30 PM

Each group was given 2 pots, and each pot had an equal number of 5 seeds.

We diligently planted the seeds and exposed the treatment groups to their respective discourses for 3 hours from 4:30 PM.

No notable activity recorded yet in either group.

Continued to expose the two groups to their respective discourses.

We finally had sprouts!

So far, the control group was leading with 8 emerging sprouts, some slightly more visible than others. Following, we had 7 sprouts for the Hitler group, and 6 for the King group.

The control group had 8 stems growing steadily, the Hitler group had 7 plus one sprout slightly visible in the ground, and the King group had 7 tall stems plus 2 new sprouts emerging.

The control group had 9 stems of different heights. They all seemed sturdy and stood straight, with decent leaf density.

The Hitler group had 8 stems of relative similar heights and a new smaller growing sprout. Height was good, but 3 stems were tilting in different directions. Lack of good leaf density made them look a bit bare.

The King group had 10 stems of different heights. All of them looked sturdy and straight with good leaf density.

All the seeds in the group exposed to King’s discourse sprouted, while in the control group and the one exposed to Hitler’s discourse, nine out of ten seeds sprouted.

When it comes to height, we can clearly see that the group exposed to Hitler’s speech is shorter compared to the control group and the group exposed to King’s speech .

However, between the control group and the one exposed to King there is little to no difference.

All the groups exhibited good leaf density. The control group and the King group had more bent stems than the Hitler group, but then again, that might have been due to their height.

Plant experiment #2 - Hitler vs Martin Luther King

In brief, we did find evidence that n egative discourse intended to instigate resentment and hostility affects plant growth rate .

The effect on sprouting , however, is questionable. There were also no major differences in height between the control group and the one that was exposed to a positive discourse.

The study results were not as shocking as those in the Ikea experiment, but the difference in plant height might suggest that negativity expressed in words may directly influence plant growth rates .

What do you think? If you have conducted any such experiments yourself, we would love to hear about the outcome.

• Eliasson, Emma. “ THE POWER OF WORDS: An Analysis Based on Two Speeches, by Two Famous Orators. ” Halmstad University, 2013.
• Jung, Jihye, Seon-Kyu Kim, Joo Y. Kim, Mi-Jeong Jeong and Choong-Min Ryu. “ Beyond Chemical Triggers: Evidence for Sound-Evoked Physiological Reactions in Plants. ” Frontiers in Plant Science 9, no. 25 (2018): doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.00025
• Qi, Lirong, Guanghui Teng, Tianzhen Hou, Baoying Zhu, and Xiaona Liu. “ Influence of Sound Wave Stimulation on the Growth of Strawberry in Sunlight Greenhouse .” International Federation for Information Processing 317 (2010): 449-454.

Hi! I’m Andreea. My interest in plants and gardening all started after I moved and got a little tree as a gift from a friend to decorate my new home. Taking care of the little one was new and exciting, and I soon started researching about how to create a good environment for plant growth, what plants go best indoors, and my collection started growing and growing.

4 thoughts on “ Plant Experiment: Words And Growth ”

What seeds did you use

Hello Nathan, thank you for your question! We used white beans in all three groups because they sprout fast and grow quite tall in a short amount of time. Hope this was helpful!

so my comment is about the plants and if they were to bare fruit , witch one would be better and i also wanted to know if you added a hostile place for the hitler group, and a really calm and welcomeing place for the king group. and if the plants were exposed to that for years. and i want to know how that would effect humans?.

Hi Z! Thank you for your question. The experiment was interested in the effects the two speeches have on the height and overall growth of the plants. By the growth rate, probably the control group and the positive group would have a better harvest, but you can try yourself and let us know too!

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Does Talking to Plants Help Them Grow? Here’s What Science Says

Talking to plants is a completely normal thing gardeners do. We can’t help but comment on how cute their new leaf is or say how nasty those aphids are for feasting on them. But can talking to your plants help them grow? Let’s get to the bottom of how much power your words have.

My plants are some of my best friends. I love having conversations with them. They’re great listeners and never tell me anything I don’t want to hear. It’s a great relationship!

I’ve definitely asked how my plants are doing while I dust their leaves or say sorry when I catch one drooping from lack of water—though maybe that last one is the Canadian in me.

And I know I’m not the only crazy plant lady out there talking to my plants. According to one survey , 50% of respondents admitted that they talk to their plants, and out of those that do, 65% said they do it because they believe it helps their plants grow.

I’ve seen many clickbaity articles telling you that the key to growing healthy plants is to play them classical music or whisper positive affirmations to them every day. But, does that actually help? Can plants even hear?

To get to the bottom of it, I’ve found a few studies to help us prove whether talking to plants helps them grow.

This post will cover…

Does Sound Affect Plant Growth?

Can talking to plants help them grow, do plants like music, plants talk too, how to talk to plants, more burning gardening questions answered.

Before we can jump straight to talking to plants, let’s talk about sound in general. It is proven that the vibrations that come from sound affect plants.

In one study , they had Chinese cabbages and cucumbers listen to birds, insects, water, and classical music. All were found to increase the vegetable’s plant growth.

Another study from the International Integrative Sciences, Innovation and Technology played Indian music to chickpea and marigold plants. The study found that all the plants grew taller, had more foliage, and looked healthier overall.

It’s proven that the presence of sound has a positive impact on a plant’s health.

So what about talking? There’s no definitive evidence that talking to your plants has specific benefits, but I won’t shut down the idea either.

Humans are often talking to things that can’t understand us. I don’t think my cat Magic understands a lick of what I say, yet I still talk to him on the regular. And when it comes to talking to my plants, I sure don’t expect to get any responses.

If I talk to something, I will feel more connected to it. The more time I spend with my plants and forming a “relationship” with them, the more likely I am to take care of them. And the better the care, the better the growth.

Sound and its vibrations are proven to help plant health, and since talking is one of the most common sounds our houseplants and garden plants are bound to hear, it’s reasonable to think it could make a difference. It certainly couldn’t hurt!

Ikea did a famous PR campaign where they did an experiment speaking kindly to plants. The experiment took place in anticipation of Anti-Bullying Day, and they encouraged kids to “bully” one plant and compliment the other. Over the course of 30 days, the plants grew in the same conditions. The plant that received compliments thrived, while the bullied one became wilted and droopy.

Now, this experiment is far from being scientific and more closely resembles a middle school science project. And if the real experiment didn’t change anything, I doubt Ikea would have admitted to it. But nonetheless, I think it’s worth mentioning.

While there hasn’t been enough evidence to prove that talking to plants helps them grow, there is good reason to believe that music does help plants grow.

The TV show MythBusters did an excellent experiment to prove whether talking to plants helps them grow, adding music to the mix.

In the experiment, seven of the same plants were placed in different greenhouses and given the same growing conditions. Then, they changed the sound elements for each by adding a microphone to the room:

• Plant with no sound
• Two plants with positive speech.
• Two plants with negative speech.
• One plant with classical music.
• One plant with metal music.

Can you guess which plant performed the best? Surprisingly, the plant listening to metal music did the best . The plant without sound grew the worst, while the plants that listened to people talking grew slightly better regardless of whether the words were positive or negative (take that, Ikea!). The plant listening to classical music did even better, and the plant listening to metal music topped them all.

I also love this Instagram post, which was one of the only good things to come out of 2020. The Barcelona Opera House hosted a concert entirely for an audience of plants. I bet the plants have never heard such beautiful live music!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Getty Images (@gettyimages)

Did you know that plants actually make noise themselves ? When I was answering another common gardening question, can plants feel pain , I learned that some plants will actually “scream” when they’re cut.

No, it doesn’t sound like us when we scream. Nor does it even resemble a cry of pain. The noises they make are not audible to us but are a way for plants to communicate and warn nearby plants.

In one study , they found that plants having a “good” day will emit less ultrasonic noise. Meanwhile, injured or dehydrated people let out dozens of sounds every hour.  

Just listen to how these musicians played a song with a sugar maple!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tarun Nayar | Modern Biology (@taruntspoon)

You don’t need me or any studies to tell you how to talk to your plants. Or someone to tell you that it makes no difference to their happiness. If you want to talk to your plants, then go for it!

I find that half the time, I’m really talking to myself. It helps me to express what I’m thinking at the time, even if it’s me commenting on how dusty my snake plant looks.

Being around plants, greenery, and nature is proven to improve our mental health . The practice of gardening, whether it’s bathing your houseplants or digging in the dirt outside, is mindful and calming. And you can’t deny how proud you feel when one of your plants thrives! Proud plant parent over here.

So go ahead and practice piano in front of your plants, rant to them about how annoying your neighbour is, or that you love their new leaf. Your plant will love the sound vibrations of your voice!

• Can Plants Feel Pain? Know Before You Snip
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The sounds created by the Sugar Maple through technology is amazing! From someone who talks to her plants all the time!

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The Power of Words: A Middle School Experiment on Plant Growth

Words have incredible power – they can build up, tear down, heal, and hurt. At Centner Academy, we believe in the importance of cultivating a kind and encouraging environment, not just for the benefit of our students, but for all living things. That’s why our middle school students are conducting a fascinating experiment on the impact of words on plant growth and health.

The experiment involves two identical plants, but with one crucial difference: one plant will be spoken to with kind and encouraging words, while the other will be subjected to negative and discouraging words. Although plants don’t have ears to hear, they are highly sensitive to the vibrations and frequencies in their environment, including sound.

This experiment aims to raise awareness of the profound impact our words can have, not just on our fellow humans but on all living things. We want to demonstrate the importance of kindness, positivity, and respect for the world around us.

The results of this experiment could have significant implications, not just for our school community but for the wider world. We invite you to follow along with our progress and see for yourself the power of words in action.

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Science project, talking to plants.

Grade Level: 3rd - 6th; Type: Biology

To find out whether plants respond to human speech.

The purpose of this experiment is to learn whether talking to a plant will help it grow.

Research Questions:

• How do plants communicate?
• What types of plants communicate with each other?
• What types of messages do plants send to each other?
• How do vibrations affect plants?
• Is it possible for plants to sense chemical messages sent by other creatures?
• Do humans communicate through chemical signals as well?

Many people talk to their plants while they water them. Usually, people who talk to their plants believe that plants can pick up on their good intentions. This is a relatively common practice, as human beings tend to anthropomorphize, or give human qualities to non-human life forms or objects. While there is no evidence to suggest that plants respond to affection, some plants do have a limited ability to communicate with one another. Though plants lack the ability to receive and process sound waves, evidence suggests that some plants can communicate with each other through the use of chemical signals. Additionally, vibrations that travel through the soil or in the air may have an effect on plant growth. It may be possible for plants to pick up on the vibrations created by human speech and maybe even by the chemical signals that humans release without knowing it.

• Seeds (bean seeds work well because they grow quickly and are hardy)
• Potting soil

Experimental Procedure:

Label one of the containers “control.”

Label one of the containers “kind words.”

(optional) Label one of the containers “neutral words.”

(optional) Label one of the containers “angry words.”

Plant three seeds in each container, following the package directions as to planting depth and spacing.

Place each of the containers outdoors (if it’s warm out) or in a sunny window (if it’s cold).

Water the plants.

Take one of the containers into a separate room.

Talk to the plant for 15 minutes.

Water the plant.

Move the plant back to its window.

Repeat steps 8-11 with any other experimental plants you may have.

In order to subject the control plant to the same variables, move it into the other room for the same amount of time but do not talk to it.

Each day, record plant growth (height and number of leaves) on a chart such as the ones below.

PLANT GROWTH CHART

Terms/Concepts: Chemical signals; Sound waves; Anthropomorphize; Growth; Germinate; Communication; Intelligence

References:

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The Science and Art of Talking to Plants

Have you ever found yourself whispering sweet nothings to your favorite fern or singing sonnets to your succulents? If so, you’re not alone. The practice of talking to plants has been around for centuries, and it’s more than just a quirky pastime for plant lovers. It’s a fascinating blend of science and art, with a dash of spirituality thrown in for good measure.

But does talking to plants really make a difference? Can it help them grow better and stronger? And if so, how does it work? Let’s dive into the verdant world of plant communication to find out.

Table of Contents

The Science Behind Talking to Plants

At first glance, the idea of talking to plants might seem a bit outlandish. After all, plants don’t have ears or brains, so how could they possibly understand what we’re saying? But when we delve into the science of plant biology, we find some surprising answers.

Plants, it turns out, are incredibly sensitive to their environment. They can sense changes in light, temperature, humidity, and even the chemical composition of the soil around them. And according to some studies, they might also be able to respond to sound.

Plants and Sound

A series of experiments conducted by the University of Western Australia found that plants can perceive and respond to sound vibrations. The researchers discovered that the roots of corn seedlings would grow towards the source of a continuous sound, particularly in the frequency range of 200-300 Hz, which is similar to the frequency of a human voice.

Another study, published in the journal “BMC Ecology,” found that certain plants can even “hear” the sound of insects eating their leaves, and respond by producing chemicals to deter the pests. While these studies don’t prove that plants can understand human speech, they do suggest that plants can perceive and respond to sound in their own unique way.

Plants and Carbon Dioxide

When we talk to plants, we’re also breathing on them, and this can have a beneficial effect. Human breath contains about 4% carbon dioxide, which plants use for photosynthesis. In a controlled environment, an increase in carbon dioxide can lead to faster plant growth.

However, it’s worth noting that this effect is likely to be small in a typical home environment, as the amount of carbon dioxide in our breath is relatively low compared to the total volume of air. But even a small boost could be beneficial for indoor plants, which often struggle with low light and poor air circulation.

The Art of Talking to Plants

While the science of talking to plants is fascinating, it’s only part of the story. For many people, talking to plants is also an art form, a way of connecting with nature on a deeper level.

When we talk to plants, we’re not just providing them with carbon dioxide and sound vibrations. We’re also giving them our attention, our care, and our love. And according to some plant enthusiasts, this can make a big difference.

Plant Care and Attention

Plants, like all living things, need care and attention to thrive. When we talk to our plants, we’re more likely to notice if they’re in need of water, if their leaves are turning yellow, or if they’re being attacked by pests. This can lead to better plant care, and ultimately, healthier plants.

According to a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, plants can even sense human touch and respond by altering their growth patterns. So, the simple act of touching your plants while you talk to them could have a beneficial effect.

Plant Communication and Spirituality

For some people, talking to plants is also a spiritual practice. Many indigenous cultures around the world believe in the concept of plant spirit or plant consciousness, and use plant communication as a way to connect with the natural world.

While this idea might seem far-fetched to some, there’s a growing body of scientific evidence that supports the idea of plant intelligence. For example, a study published in the journal “Trends in Plant Science” found that plants are capable of complex behaviors such as learning, remembering, and making decisions.

How to Talk to Your Plants

So, how do you go about talking to your plants? Here are some simple steps to get you started:

• Choose a quiet time of day when you won’t be disturbed.
• Approach your plant calmly and gently. Remember, plants can sense touch and vibration.
• Speak softly and kindly. You can say whatever you like, but positive affirmations and words of encouragement are a good place to start.
• Take the time to observe your plant. Notice its color, its shape, and the feel of its leaves.
• End your plant chat with a thank you. This is a way of acknowledging the exchange of energy between you and your plant.

Remember, talking to plants is not just about the words you say. It’s also about the energy you bring, the attention you give, and the connection you create. So, don’t worry too much about getting it “right.” Just speak from the heart, and your plants will thank you.

Whether you’re a seasoned plant whisperer or a skeptical scientist, there’s no denying that the world of plant communication is a fascinating one. From the science of sound vibrations and carbon dioxide to the art of care and connection, talking to plants is a practice that can enrich our lives and our gardens in countless ways.

So, why not give it a try? You might just find that your plants have a lot to say.

Join Our Community of Plant Enthusiasts

Ready to deepen your relationship with your plants and build the garden of your dreams? Subscribe for free to How to Grow Everything and unlock a treasure trove of personalized gardening advice tailored to your specific location, grow zone, and experience level. Receive the best gardening tips, special offers, and insightful articles—all delivered straight to your inbox with no spam, just pure gardening gold. Join our family of green thumbs and transform your garden into a vibrant conversation with nature. It’s 100% free, and it’s your first step to becoming a plant whisperer in your own right.

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Micro Wave: Does Talking To Plants Help Them Grow?

It probably doesn't hurt. DeAgostini/Getty Images hide caption

It probably doesn't hurt.

Environmental scientist Heidi Appel explains how plants detect sound — and whether talking to yours could help them grow big and strong. Plus, a bit of listener mail from you! Which you can always send by emailing [email protected] .

This episode was produced by Brent Baughman and Emily Kwong, fact-checked by Ariela Zebede, and edited by Viet Le.

Clarification Oct. 10, 2020

An earlier version of this episode stated that Heidi Appel considers plants "sentient beings." Appel's view is that while plants have the capacity for sensations, they are not necessarily capable of self-awareness.

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Wonder of the Day #1635

Does Talking to Plants Help Them Grow?

SCIENCE — Life Science

Have You Ever Wondered...

• Does talking to plants help them grow?
• Who first developed the idea that talking to plants helps them grow?
• What theories exist to help explain why talking to plants might help them grow?
• Photosynthesis ,
• Fertilizer ,
• Professor ,
• Gustav Fechner ,
• Beneficial ,
• Conclusive ,
• Plausible ,
• Vibration ,
• Carbon Dioxide ,
• Mythbusters ,
• Greenhouse ,
• Classical ,
• Heavy Metal

Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by Helen . Helen Wonders , “ Does talking to plants really help them grow? ” Thanks for WONDERing with us, Helen !

Have you ever helped a friend or family member plant a garden ? Maybe you've picked a flower for a special friend as a simple gesture to show them how much you care about them? If you've ever worked with live flowers or plants, you know that they require special care to survive and thrive .

For example, plants need a foundation of good soil to support and nourish their roots . They also need sunlight so that their cells can produce food via photosynthesis . Plants won't do well unless they have a sufficient supply of water, too.

Occasionally , plants will require special minerals that can be provided by applying a fertilizer to the plant 's roots. If you've satisfied all of these basic needs but a plant is still struggling, there's one more thing you could try: a kind word. Many people believe that talking to plants helps them to grow , and they may just be right!

The idea that talking to plants helps them to grow is not a modern notion . Experts believe this theory probably dates back to a book from 1848, in which German professor Gustav Fechner suggested plants might be capable of feeling human-like emotions. While Fechner's ideas might have been a bit far reaching, many other scientists have hypothesized over the years that plants might somehow respond positively to sounds.

People who love gardening will often tell you that they believe speaking to plants has a beneficial impact on their overall health and growth. Despite many different scientific studies on this theory, there's still no conclusive evidence that talking to plants helps them grow or, if it does, why it helps.

There is evidence from certain studies, however, to suggest that it's a plausible theory that plants do respond positively to exposure to sounds. For example, some researchers have found evidence that plants respond to vibrations. Although some scientists believe plant responses to vibrations help them survive in windy environments, it's plausible to think that sounds, which are forms of vibrations, could affect plants, too.

Other researchers believe that talking to plants may stimulate growth because of the carbon dioxide produced when people exhale as they speak. Since plants take in carbon dioxide, some scientists believe carbon dioxide could explain the benefit that speaking to plants seems to provide.

So what proof is there that speaking to plants helps them to grow ? The crew of the television show Mythbusters tested this theory back in 2004. They set up seven greenhouses with a variety of recordings playing around the clock: two greenhouses played negative speech, two greenhouses played positive speech, one greenhouse played classical music, one greenhouse played heavy metal music, and the last greenhouse was silent.

Of all the greenhouses, the silent greenhouse showed the least amount of plant growth. The plants in the greenhouses with speech — either positive or negative — grew faster than those in the silent greenhouse. Surprisingly, the greenhouses with music grew the most of all. In fact, the greenhouse that played heavy metal music grew the most of all!

So is the Mythbusters test conclusive proof that talking to plants helps them grow ? Not quite! The Mythbusters researchers acknowledged that additional tests needed to be conducted, but their results made them conclude that it's certainly a plausible theory that talking to plants can have a beneficial impact on their health and growth.

Wonder What's Next?

Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day will help put a big smile on your face!

Are you ready to have a conversation with some plants? Be sure to explore the following activities with a friend or family member:

• What better way to test out the hypothesis presented by today's Wonder of the Day than testing it for yourself? You'll need two plants that are the same type and size. Put them in different areas, but make sure that they get the same amount of water and light. Only talk to one of the plants on a daily basis. Keep track of how the plants grow over the course of a few weeks. What differences do you notice? What conclusions do you draw?
• If you were a plant, would you want your gardener to talk to you? If you could speak, what would you tell the gardener? Would you like music played for you? If so, who would you want to listen to? Robert Plant? Guns 'n Roses? Smashing Pumpkins? Let your imagination run wild! Write a short story that explains how plants feel about music and gardeners talking to them. Have fun and be sure to share your story with a friend or family member!
• Up for a challenge? Design a garden for your home. If you have a large backyard, feel free to design a garden with several rows of different kinds of vegetables. If you don't have much room to plant a garden outside, you can always plant a small herb garden in tiny containers on a windowsill in your kitchen. Have fun growing your own plants!

Wonder Sources

• http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/talking-to-plants/
• http://www.proflowers.com/blog/can-talking-to-plants-help-them-grow
• http://www.ehow.com/info_8507208_talking-plants-affect-growth.html

Did you get it?

Wonder words.

• occasionally

You're welcome, Kim!

kaden gatherum

Hi kaden, we ask that people cite the author as Wonderopolis. We hope your project goes well!

also, what dat was this written?

This article was written in February of 2016!

Someoneqerff

Thanks, Someoneqerff! You'll have to let us know how your experiment goes! 

Yeah. I think so too

Interesting thoughts, Jerome! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, mr. shaw! Have you ever tried talking to plants to see if it helps them grow?

Thanks, Trey! We're glad that you're WONDERing with us!

That is a great question, Jasmeen!! Why don't you take a Wonder Journey and create an experiment to see?  We would love to hear what you find out!

? We're thrilled that you enjoyed this Wonder, Devlin! Let us know how the project goes!

Today's Wonder was submitted by Helen, Bob. If you have something that you are WONDERing about, you can submit it to our Wonder Bank . Thanks for commenting!

Hi Cole! Please see our response to Natalie (below) on how to correctly cite this page for your bibliography and research. Thanks for WONDERing with us!

Thanks for asking, Natalie! We ask that Wonderopolis be listed as the author. Since we do not list the publish date for our Wonders of the Day, you may put the date you accessed this page for information. The following is how you would cite this page ---> "Does Talking To Plants Help Them Grow?" Wonderopolis , http://https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/does-talking-to-plants-help-them-grow. Accessed 11 Jan. 2017.

Thanks for joining us, caroline! There's still no conclusive evidence that talking to plants helps them grow or, if it does, why it helps. However, we bet researchers will continue to investigate the matter! ?

It's great to hear you enjoyed this Wonder, nd! :)

We're glad you liked this Wonder, sara! We hope you learned lots of new information about plants! :)

We agree, Andrea! Gardening is a popular hobby here at Wonderopolis! :)

That's right, joSEPH! Learn more in Wonder #262: Can Plants Grow Without Soil? Have fun WONDERing! :)

You're very welcome, david! Thank YOU for WONDERing with us! :)

That sounds like lots of fun, kaliyah! Great way to record your WONDERing and what you learn! :)

We're THRILLED you had fun WONDERing, Billy! It's GREAT when we're learning and having fun at the same time! :)

i love to make plants

Plants are fun, kaliyah! Gardening is a fun hobby! :)

Hi, MAK! We're glad you stopped by Wonderopolis! Thanks for WONDERing with us! :)

wonderopolis this website is fun i took some quizzes

Welcome, Cesar! We're glad you liked this Wonder! Always keep WONDERing! :)

You put the seed in the ground and you water and give it sunlight and it will grow.

Great question, Peyton! We encourage you to embark on your own Wonder Adventure to learn more about plants! Here are some Wonders about plants to get you started! :)

Hi, Wonder Friend! We hope you learned something new about plants! Thanks for visiting! :)

We are undergoing some spring clearing site maintenance and need to temporarily disable the commenting feature. Thanks for your patience.

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Question 1 of 3

The television program Mythbusters found the idea that talking to plants helps them grow was what?

• a ridiculous Not Quite!
• b true Not Quite!
• c false Not Quite!
• d plausible Correct!

Question 2 of 3

The idea that talking to plants helps them grow can be traced back to a book from 1848 by which German professor?

• a Gustav Fechner Correct!
• b Benjamin Franklin Not Quite!
• c Carl Sagan Not Quite!
• d Robert Plant Not Quite!

Question 3 of 3

One theory about why talking to plants might help them grow stems from the fact that human breath contains what gas?

• a oxygen Not Quite!
• b nitrogen Not Quite!
• c carbon dioxide Correct!
• d helium Not Quite!

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It's True—You Really Should Talk to Your Plants

Especially If You're a Woman

Colleen Vanderlinden is an organic gardening expert. She wrote the books E dible Gardening for the Midwest and Vegetable Gardening for the Midwest , and her writing has appeared in Mother Earth News, Northern Gardener, The Detroit News, and Birds & Blooms.

The Spruce / Letícia Almeida

In a study performed by the Royal Horticultural Society, researchers discovered that talking to your plants really can help them grow faster. They also found that plants grow faster to the sound of a female voice than to the sound of a male voice. Other studies have experimented with different sound levels and even the kinds of things that are said to plants. Do they respond better to compliments or insults?

Royal Horticultural Society Study

In the month-long study, the Royal Horticultural Society recorded 10 people, including both men and women, reading from either literary or scientific works. Each recording was played through a set of headphones that was attached to each tomato plant's pot (so, one tomato plant per person). The same tomato variety was used, same soil, same care regimen, etc. They also included two plants that were not read to as a control.

At the end of the month, the plants that had been attached to female voices grew an average of an inch taller than those attached to a male voice. The overall winning tomato listened to Sarah Darwin, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin. Her plant grew approximately two inches taller than the rest.

What Did Ms. Darwin Read to Her Tomato Plant?

Asked about her plant's favorable response to her voice and selection, Sarah Darwin commented, "I'm not sure if it's my dulcet tones or the text that I read from 'On the Origin of Species' [her ancestor's seminal work] that made the plant sit up and listen, but either way I think it is great fun and I'm proud of my new title."

Sound Science?

Researchers went into the RHS study with the idea that the male voice would make the plants grow faster, and they were surprised by the results. They said that they are unsure why the female voice worked better, positing that it could be related to women's greater range of pitch or tone that affects the sound waves that hit the plant, and that sound, just like any other environmental factor, has an effect on plant growth.

The results of the RHS study have been supported by other studies and theories, yet the exact link between the human voice and plant growth remains elusive. Here are a few other studies and findings of interest:

• The TV show "Mythbusters" conducted a study in which 60 pea plants were divided among three greenhouses. In one greenhouse they played recordings of humans saying nice things to the plants. In another, recordings sounded insults at the plants. The third greenhouse was silent, with no recordings played. After two months, the pea plants showed greater—but roughly equal—growth in the two greenhouses with the recordings, and they showed the least growth in the control greenhouse with no sound.
• Researchers with the National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology in South Korea found that plant growth is stimulated by music, and the growth appeared to be linked to two genes related to how plants respond to sunlight.
• Charles Darwin himself suspected a link between plant growth and vibration. In an informal experiment, he had his son play the bassoon to seedlings, but the results were inconclusive.

Alleyene, Richard. Women's Voices Make Plants Grow Faster Finds Royal Horticultural Society . Telegraph , June 22, 2009.

MythBusters Episode 23: Exploding House . Mythbusters Results , November 16, 2004

JJung, Jihye et al. Beyond Chemical Triggers: Evidence for Sound-Evoked Physiological Reactions in Plants .  Frontiers in Plant Science, 9, 25, 2018, doi:10.3389/fpls.2018.00025

Kiss, John Z. Up, Down, And All Around: How Plants Sense and Respond to Environmental Stimuli . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 103,4,829-830, 2006, doi:10.1073/pnas.0510471102

More from The Spruce

Speak Kindly

Words have power. Those three words speak volumes. But the manner in which you express yourself carries even more weight.

In 2018, IKEA conducted an experiment involving children and plants. Their goal was to see the impact of words on living things. They set up two identical plants in a school building and invited children to offer words of kindness to one and words of insult to the other. The two plants received the same amount of light, food and water for 30 days. While the plant that received kind, loving words was thriving at month’s end, the bullied plant was droopy and wilted.

As Karen Salmansohn has said, “If speaking kindly to plants helps them grow, imagine what speaking kindly to humans can do.”

Words have power. Our words become our children’s inner voices. Likewise, our words affect those around us in ways we might never be able to fully understand. They also have the immense power to affect our perception of ourselves.

Speak kindly. Speak softly. Spread love.

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Table of Contents:

Does Talking to Plants Help Them Grow? . Today’s Wonder of the Day might lead to some interesting conversations in your garden!

• Wonder What’s Next?
• Wonder Sources
• Did you get it?

Have you ever helped a friend or family member plant a garden? Maybe you’ve picked a flower for a special friend as a simple gesture to show them how much you care about them? If you’ve ever worked with live flowers or plants, you know that they require special care to survive and thrive. For example, plants need a foundation of good soil to support and nourish their roots. They also need sunlight so that their cells can produce food via photosynthesis. Plants won’t do well unless they have a sufficient supply of water, too. Occasionally, plants will require special minerals that can be provided by applying a fertilizer to the plant’s roots. If you’ve satisfied all of these basic needs but a plant is still struggling, there’s one more thing you could try: a kind word. Many people believe that talking to plants helps them to grow, and they may just be right! The idea that talking to plants helps them to grow is not a modern notion. Experts believe this theory probably dates back to a book from 1848, in which German professor Gustav Fechner suggested plants might be capable of feeling human-like emotions.

Video advice: Music for Plants – Music Stimulation for PLANT HEALTH – Brainwave Entrainment

◢ Using binaural beats and isochronic tones that flow up and down 0.5Hz to 7.83Hz, these are associated with good vibrations, offers balance and stress relief, relaxation, stimulations for growth, peace and tranquility and harmony. The soothing music combined with the brainwave entrainments was created for your plants, your home and yourself, to achieve the essences of being calm and in touch with the energies all around. The carrier frequency used is of the Sun, which promotes light, warmth, and centering. May this music bring you closer to nature. Useful for daily meditations and relaxation, and listen through stereo speakers.

Does Talking to Plants Really Make Them Grow?

In studies performed by the Royal Horticultural Society and others, researchers have found that talking to plants really can help them grow faster.

Asked about her plant’s favorable response to her voice and selection, Sarah Darwin commented, “I’m not sure if it’s my dulcet tones or the text that I read from On the Origin of Species (her ancestor’s seminal work) that made the plant sit up and listen, but either way I think it is great fun and I’m proud of my new title. “

The TV show “Mythbusters” conducted a study in which 60 pea plants were divided among three greenhouses. In one greenhouse they played recordings of humans saying nice things to the plants. In another, recordings sounded insults at the plants. The third greenhouse was silent, with no recordings played. After two months, the pea plants showed greater—but roughly equal—growth in the two greenhouses with the recordings, and they showed the least growth in the control greenhouse with no sound.

32 Inspirational Gardening Quotes

If you feel unmotivated to start gardening this year, read these quotes. They will make you laugh, smile, think — and want to get your hands dirty again.

Michael Pollan: The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.

I’m not much of a gardener, but I definitely want to learn more. Last year was the first time in many years that I really went for it in a couple small plots. I was pleased as punch that some of what I planted actually grew! Of course, there were some failures too. But overall, my experience made me excited to try gardening again this year. However, it is a bit of work, so I found the following quotes inspiring, funny, and thought-provoking — just what I needed for more motivation.

‘They respond to vibrations’: does talking to plants actually help them grow?

After a year at home with her orchid, Seetha Dodd was rewarded with a large spray of blooms. Could her words of encouragement have played a part?

There is an orchid plant that lives on my kitchen windowsill. For the first two years in my care, she produced two flowers a year. When it comes to house plants, I am more brown- than green-thumbed, so this performance exceeded my expectations. I put it down to sheer luck (mine) and some serious willpower (the orchid’s). I was grateful for this two-flower miracle that survived despite my lack of gardening knowhow. But last year was an anomaly. Like many of us, I spent many iso hours cooking, baking, singing and talking in the kitchen. This meant my orchid was the recipient of an exponential amount of companionship and attention. She responded by producing 13 glorious flowers between May and October. I hadn’t upskilled, I was just there more, I noticed her more, and yes, I may have directed some conversation her way. But did her blossoming really have anything to do with my presence? Had she been responding to my voice? After years of producing only one or two flowers, in 2020 Seetha Dodd’s orchid managed 13 blooms.

Chili plant seedlings isolated from chemical, touch and light-transmitted signals can “talk” by sound with a friendly basil, speeding their growth.

Even in the plant world, babies fail to thrive without a friendly community chattering nearby, according to a new study. The research cements anecdotal gardening knowledge, confirming that chili plants flourish if planted near basil. But in this case, chili seedlings were isolated from chemical, touch and light-transmitted signals from an adult basil plant. Only sound from plants could have reached the chilies, the study, published May 7 in the journal BMC Ecology, concluded. “Our results show that plants are able to positively influence growth of seeds by some as yet unknown mechanism. We believe that the answer may involve acoustic signals generated using nanomechanical oscillations from inside the cell, which allow rapid communication between nearby plants,” lead study author Monica Gagliano, a researcher at the University of Western Australia, said in a statement. The research adds to growing evidence that plants “talk” via sound. Gagliano already has shown that fennel, which transmits nasty chemicals to curb competing plants, also shuts down seedling growth when its chemical signaling is cut off via a sealed box.

Bizarre experiment shows how talking to plants can see them thrive

Students in Dubai were asked to speak in very different ways to two identical plants for 30 days. While one plant was showered with compliments, the other heard an abusive voice.

Can plants really get upset? Bizarre experiment sees students ‘BULLYING’ one flower and praising another – and the difference between the two after 30 days is astonishing (but could it all be a hoax?) – When Prince Charles once admitted that he likes to talk to his plants to help them grow, the comments were met with derision. However, the green-fingered royal might actually be right if the results of a new experiment are to be believed. Furniture goliath Ikea asked a group of school children to talk to two plants in very different ways; one nicely and one with a slew of bullying, hateful comments. . . and the results may leave you wondering if the world’s gone mad. Scroll down for video Two of the students involved in the project at the GEMS Wellington Academy at the Silicon Oasis school in Dubai listen to the sweet nothings being piped into the plant’s box ‘You, you’re nothing more than a little green weed!’ One of the plants in the experiment was subjected to taunts throughout the 30-day experimentFor 30 days, two plants, kept in identical conditions with the same amount of light, water and fertilizer, were displayed at the school in Dubai. Children were encouraged to record both negative and positive comments including playground taunts.

Probing Question: Does talking to plants help them grow?

pIn a 1986 interview, England’s Prince Charles discussed his gardening habits, commenting “I just come and talk to the plants, really. Very important to talk to them; they respond.”/p.

As to another popular theory, that plants respond to the carbon dioxide produced by human speech, Marini isn’t buying it. Carbon dioxide levels do influence the rate of plant photosynthesis, he explains, but “people would have to speak to their plants for at least several hours a day to enhance photosynthesis enough to influence plant growth. “

“There isn’t a lot of research in this area,” says Rich Marini, head of Penn State’s horticulture department, “But there is evidence that plants respond to sound. ” In fact, plants react readily to a host of environmental stimuli, as the ability to respond to changing environments is vital to their survival. Explains Marini, “Wind or vibration will induce changes in plant growth. Since sound is essentially vibration, my guess is that vibration is causing a response.

Houseplants can instantly improve your health and happiness

That whole succulent trend? It’s healthy.

Video advice: Bully A Plant: Say No To Bullying

Plants have feelings, just like people. So, what happens when you feed one plant with compliments and another with negative remarks? Watch how we got students involved in a social experiment to raise awareness on the effects of bullying. #SayNoToBullying

A Beginner’s Guide to Decorating With Plants – Why Indoor Plants Make You Feel BetterThat whole succulent trend? It’s healthy. Plants such as orchids, succulents, snake plants and bromeliads emit oxygen at night, making them perfect plants for the bedroom. Leonie Freeman / Hardie Grant BooksJuly 13, 2017, 2:27 PM UTC / Updated July 13, 2017, 2:27 PM UTCHouseplants are good for your health — and not just for their visual beauty. Why? They essentially do the opposite of what we do when we breathe: release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. This not only freshens up the air, but also eliminates harmful toxins. Extensive research by NASA has revealed that houseplants can remove up to 87 per cent of air toxin in 24 hours. Studies have also proven that indoor plants improve concentration and productivity (by up to 15 percent!), reduce stress levels and boost your mood — making them perfect for not just your home but your work space, too. At work, place plants, especially those with broad leaves, on your desk; they will help regulate humidity and increase levels of positivity — seeing greenery and nature help us feel more relaxed and calm, which in turn benefits your every day mood.

21 Quotes about Planting Seeds for Spiritual Growth – There’s something about seeing things grow, about seeing them sprout up from seemingly nowhere at all. Read these quotes about planting seeds, because it’s always the season to sow a little good karma. To love better. To be in charge of your own life. To be part of all the beauty you’d like to see grow.

“An ordinary favor we do for someone or any compassionate reaching out may seem to be going nowhere at first, but may be planting a seed we can’t see right now. Sometimes we need to just do the best we can and then trust in an unfolding we can’t design or ordain. ” — Sharon Salzberg.

IKEA Asks People To Bully This Plant For 30 Days To See What Happens, And Results Are Eyeopening

Bully a plant, a live experiment with two IKEA plants and with thousands of children, to help to raise awareness around Anti-Bullying Day on 4th May in the Middle East.The live experiment involved IKEA taking two of its very own plants and installing them at the school, where one plant was fed compliments and words of encouragement, while the other was verbally bullied with hateful words. The students were encouraged to record their own voices to share their love with the first plant and give words of criticism to the second, either first hand or via social media interaction.

• What would happen if you bullied a plant for 30 days straight?
• IKEA decided to test it out to help raise awareness around Anti-Bullying Day on 4th May in the Middle East
• They placed two of their plants in a school
• Where one plant was fed compliments and words of encouragement
• While the other was verbally bullied with hateful words
• Both plants were treated strictly the same
• They both received the same amount of water, sunlight and fertilizer
• The end result speaks for itself
• Watch this video to see the experiment in detail:
• Here’s what people had to say about the project

Bully a plant, a live experiment with two IKEA plants and with thousands of children, to help to raise awareness around Anti-Bullying Day on 4th May in the Middle East. The live experiment involved IKEA taking two of its very own plants and installing them at the school, where one plant was fed compliments and words of encouragement, while the other was verbally bullied with hateful words. The students were encouraged to record their own voices to share their love with the first plant and give words of criticism to the second, either first hand or via social media interaction. After 30 days, the results spoke for themselves – while the complimented plant continued to thrive, the bullied plant was visibly struggling, and looking dull with droopy brown leaves. Both plants were treated strictly the same: with the same amount water. Exposed with of sunlight, water and fertiliser. The only difference being, we said words of criticism to one plant, and words of encouragement to the other, for a span of 30 days.

77 Plant Quotes About Those Green Friends

We always marvel mother nature and plants are a big beauty of it. Both loving and caring for plants is essential as it is for people, which is why famous people have wisely made their own statements.

You can’t not marvel mother nature and plants are a big magical beauty of it. Aren’t they simply remarkable with the scent of soil bringing you closer to life? It is the entire process of planting seeds and seeing the miraculous outcome that will not only brighten your daily life but teach you many aspects of it, such as planting anything kind or of goodness and just letting it grow. The splendor and exquisiteness of such green and colorful elegance in your garden, inside your home or in forests, is a reminder of breathing and life and many renowned personalities around the world coincide with it. Both loving and caring for plants is essential as it is for people, which is why famous people have wisely made their own statements. Continue reading to find a a wonderful selection of quotes from poets, novelists, song writers and more to share with friends, family and loved ones so to be inspired and learn from nature. Contents1 Best Plant Quotes2 Planting Seeds Quotes3 Inspirational Plant Quotes4 Tree Planting Quotes5 Funny Plant Quotes6 Famous Plant Quotes7 Poetic Quotes About PlantsBest Plant QuotesLike people, plants respond to extra attention.

Plant Experiment: Words And Growth

We did a plant experiment by exposing beans to famous speeches. Here are the results and how you can reproduce the experiment yourself!

Hi! I’m Andreea. My interest in plants and gardening all started after I moved and got a little tree as a gift from a friend to decorate my new home. Taking care of the little one was new and exciting, and I soon started researching about how to create a good environment for plant growth, what plants go best indoors, and my collection started growing and growing.

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Our experiment

Words have power. They encourage, heal, comfort, criticize, hurt; it all depends whether you choose to use them for good or evil. They affect adults, children, and plants alike. This week on You Had Me At Gardening we explore how plants react when exposed to different types of rhetoric, more specifically how plant growth is affected. For that reason, we chose the famous speech I have a dream of Martin Luther King and a speech by Adolf Hitler. We conducted the plant experiment using bean seeds as they’re known to grow quickly.

Environmental Factors Affecting Plant Growth

Plant growth and geographic distribution are greatly affected by the environment. Either directly or indirectly, most plant problems are caused by environmental stress. Environmental factors that affect plant growth include light, temperature, water, humidity, and nutrition.

Mg commonly is deficient in foliage plants because it is leached and not replaced. Epsom salts at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon may be used two times per year. Mg also can be absorbed by leaves if sprayed in a weak solution. Dolomitic limestone can be applied in outdoor situations to correct a deficiency.

• Germination
• Crop quality
• Photosynthesis and respiration
• Breaking dormancy
• Fertilizers
• Nutrient absorption

Environmental factors that affect plant growth include light, temperature, water, humidity, and nutrition. It is important to understand how these factors affect plant growth and development. With a basic understanding of these factors, you may be able to manipulate plants to meet your needs, whether for increased leaf, flower, or fruit production. By recognizing the roles of these factors, you also will be better able to diagnose plant problems caused by environmental stress.

#46 The Mind is a Fertile Garden

“The mind is a fertile garden – it will grow anything you wish to plant – beautiful flowers or weeds. And it is with successful, healthy thoughts or negative ones that will, like weeds, strangle and crowd the others. Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind, for they are the weeds that stra.

We waste a lot of time on the anticipation of suffering, and this act actually causes us more suffering. If you’re always guarding against any kind of suffering, you are guarding against the ability to learn and grow. We often go into these thoughts automatically, and part of the practice is to plant the good seeds into fertile mind, make a practice of putting the right things in your mind.

Become aware of your negative thoughts. Know what they are, think about any place in your life where you are struggling. Take anything you are having negative thoughts about and make a list on a piece of paper. Then on the other side of the paper take the time to write the negative thoughts as positive ones. Example: Change “I don’t have enough money” to “I am in the process of finding a way to make more money. ” Or whatever the positive version of that negative thought is, and then you can return to this list to affirm what you want. Allow yourself to be in the process of attaining what you want and revisit this list once in the morning and once at night. This will help shift everything.

Plant Doctor: How to Save a Dying Houseplant

Where do I find more information about caring for my houseplant? – You saw a plant you loved in a shop or nursery. You brought it home, and for months it warmed your heart. But then it started to decline. What are you doing wrong? Is it dying? Can you save it? For answers, we talked with the plant doctor: Christopher Satch, who has a master’s degree in botany from Rutgers University, teaches plant science at the New York Botanic Garden, and is involved with the Manhattan Orchid Society and the American Orchid Society. Oh, and he’s also the plant scientist for The Sill, which has two shops in Manhattan and ships houseplants nationwide. As the plant doctor, Chris fields calls and email from people seeking advice about ailing houseplants; he also dispenses knowledge during weekly drop-in clinics at The Sill’s Upper West Side shop. The best way to keep a plant happy, he says, is to learn what it wants before you buy it—and only buy plants that suit the conditions you can offer. If you live in a ground-floor apartment with little light, say, don’t get a plant that will only thrive with tons of direct sunshine.

Video advice: What Do You Do If a Plant Shipment Has Bugs? // What Did You Give Your Mom for Christmas? // Recap ��

The Impatient Gardener – https://bit.ly/3INCW1m

Do positive words affect plants?

The results showed that positivity in the environment and words had a significant positive effect on plant growth . Plant seeds under the influence of the positive words had a higher germination rate, and these plants grew taller, larger, and healthier than that in negative environment.

Do plants get affected by words?

Despite many different scientific studies on this theory, there's still no conclusive evidence that talking to plants helps them grow or, if it does, why it helps. ... Other researchers believe that talking to plants may stimulate growth because of the carbon dioxide produced when people exhale as they speak.

How can you encourage plants to grow?

10 Ways To Encourage Growth Of Plants

• Preparation Is Key. The key to growing plants the right way is to make sure that the soil is prepared properly before you start planting. ...
• Use The Right Fertilizer. ...
• Soak Seeds In Tea. ...
• Grow Seedlings Inside. ...
• Spice It Up. ...
• Talk To The Plants. ...
• Coffee Grounds. ...

Does positive affirmation help plants grow?

"The best thing people can do to help their plants grow is provide them with light, water, and mineral nutrition ," says Marini. While the studies suggest that sound may spur plants to faster growth, there is no definitive evidence that a gift of gab will turn you into a green thumb.

What are the power of words?

Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble .” Think of the power we wield and the impact we can make if we become more intentional about encouraging our sponsored children.

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Does Talking to Plants Help Them Grow? Why It's Worth Trying

You've heard that talking to your plants could help them thrive. Turns out, it might be worth a shot.

Megan's contributed both writing and research to a myriad of associations including academic publications, cultural institutions, non-fiction works, and experimental collaborative projects.

Learn about our Editorial Policy .

Nurseries should be filled with happy voices and sweet serenades as parents love on their babies. Plant nurseries, that is. You don't have to give birth to your babies to want to connect to them in any way you can, and people have been talking their way through fields of flowers and plots of perennials for decades. But research shows that all that gabbing might be mostly for our benefit. Does talking to plants help them grow? Possibly, but not in the way you'd think. Discover just what sounds may help plants to and how to help your plant children thrive in any environment just by using the sound of your voice.

Does Talking to Plants Help Them Grow?

The idea that talking to your plants helps them grow is like all the old wives' tales that no one remembers hearing for the first time. But it has become a widely accepted standard that even people who KO plants with a single glance might whisper a kind word here and there to the dandelions in their yard.

• 10 Indoor Climbing Plants to Grow Your Houseplant Jungle
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• Have Winter Hummingbirds? Here's How to Help Them Thrive

Researchers are conflicted about what effect sound has on plant growth. An early study published in 1962 conducted at Annamalai University explored how balsam plants had a 20% increased growth rate and a 72% increase in biomass when exposed to classical music. They experimented with other instruments and musical styles as well, but every test resulted in some kind of impact.

More recently, Ikea dipped its toes in vegetative experiments with their " Bully a Plant " initiative. Two identical Ikea plants were put under the same conditions and forced to hear negative or positive words from students in a United Arab Emirates school. After a month of hearing the best compliments and worst insults that pubescent kids could come up with, the positive plant was living its best life, while the bullied plant was seriously struggling. Because of the hundreds of variables, the study isn't conclusive evidence, but it might be onto something about how words can affect living things.

The Science Behind Sound Waves and Plant Growth

Most evidence shows that there's no data to prove plants care about human voices, or that they even perceive them. Biologist Michael Schöner believes , like many, "Sound vibrations could trigger a response of the plant via mechanoreceptors."

Basically, it's the idea that plants have adapted to respond to the vibrations and sound that's naturally occurring in their environment. The vibrations coming off of running water might encourage a plant to grow towards the sound, while sounds like insects munching on grass and leaves might cause the plant to stay small or grow away from the noise to avoid being eaten.

In short, plants aren't evolutionarily built to respond to human sound waves, but that doesn't mean you should stop talking to them. Talking to your plants can help you build a strong relationship with them, meaning you're way less likely to forget to water them or change their soil. So, in a roundabout way, talking to your plants can encourage them to grow - because you become a better plant parent to a plant you talk to every day.

Serenade Your Plants to a Different Tune

If just talking to your plants doesn't help them grow, how can you give them a fighting chance? Thankfully, plants are rather simple creatures, and they only need a few things to thrive. So long as your plants have enough light, water, warmth, and nutrients, they should be able to live their best life.

• Four Factors That Affect Plant Growth

But soft music may have even more impact. If Mozart is good for your real children, then it's no wonder it's good for your plant kids, too. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with the music itself and all to do with the decibels. If you've ever tried to resist the urge to over water your succulent because you feel bad letting it sit there, then you know how sensitive flora can be. They aren't called delicate flowers for nothing.

It turns out, loud sounds may have a negative effect on plants, while soft pleasing sounds may impact them positively. According to biophilia expert Dr. Dominique Hes, plants love low vibrations in the 115-250Hz range. So, screaming during your Mario Kart matches might be fun for the partygoers, but it won't be so good for your fiddle leaf fig cowering in the corner. Make your plants happy by keeping them away from loud and harsh sounds.

Creative Ways to Keep the Convo With Your Plants Flowing

While you don't have to talk to your plants, it's certainly worth a try. It might help you build a better relationship (and thus become a more engaged caretaker), so there could even be a few good reasons to keep the conversation going with your greenery.

Becoming your plant's new bestie doesn't have to be difficult, and talking to it on the regular will give you a leg up on their next best BFF - the sun. But not everyone has the chance to wine and dine their plants each evening, so these creative alternatives to update your plants on all your hot goss could keep them growing big and strong.

• Sing them to sleep. If you've got an array of indoor plants, a sweet way to end your day is by singing your plants a lullaby. Lullabies are usually pretty short, so you should be able to get one in before you drift off.
• Include your plants in therapy. If you're participating in talk therapy, one way to continue progressing outside of your sessions is to air your thoughts to your plants.
• Talk to them while pruning. For people with a lot of outdoor plants and noisy neighbors, you might want to be more discrete with how you talk to your plants. So, when you're down low weeding or pruning them, it's the perfect chance to get in a few words, and anyone who walks past will be none the wiser.
• Speak affirmations as you water. The Ikea plant bullying experiment showed that plants thrived with positive words. It's unknown whether this is because the affirmations helped the caretakers feel more positively about plant care or the sentiments actually affected the plants. Either way, being more positive with your plants won't hurt and could help. Try positive affirmations such as, "You grow tall and strong," or "I shower you with love."

Love Your Plants Your Way

If there's one thing science teaches you, it's that nothing is ever conclusive. Facts are only facts until new information is uncovered. Right now, researchers don't think our ramblings affect plants, but that could change in the future. In the meantime, you might as well keep telling your plants how much you love them, because every living creature could do with a little more love in their lives.

Top 17 Plant Science Experiments: Exploring Plant Growth

Join us as we embark on a journey of scientific exploration, unveiling the wonders of plant life one experiment at a time.

We have selected the best plant-related science experiments for this collection. These hands-on, educational activities are suitable for students of all age groups and not only satiate our curiosity about the natural world but also anchor our understanding of ecology and biology.

Let’s get started, and hopefully, this botanical journey will inspire a lifelong appreciation for the marvels of mother nature.

1. Grow Your Own Plants

This experiment offers an immersive learning experience, allowing students to witness firsthand the stages of plant growth, understand the requirements for healthy development, and observe the effects of various environmental factors.

2. Chlorophyll Paintings

“Chlorophyll Paintings” offers an innovative and artistic approach to plant science experimentation that both students and teachers should explore.

This unique experiment combines the worlds of biology and art, allowing participants to create captivating masterpieces while exploring the wonders of chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for a plant’s green color.

Learn more: Chlorophyll Paintings

3. Color Changing Flowers

This experiment provides an excellent opportunity to explore the process of water uptake in plants and how it affects the distribution of pigments within the flowers.

Learn more: Color Changing Flowers

4. Low-Prep Flower Dissection

“Low-Prep Flower Dissection” presents an accessible and engaging plant science experiment that is ideal for both students and teachers seeking hands-on learning experiences with minimal preparation.

This experiment offers a fascinating glimpse into the intricate anatomy of flowers and the functions of their various parts.

Learn more: Low-Prep Flower Dissection

5. Acid Rain Science

“Acid Rain Science” presents an impactful and relevant plant science experiment that offers valuable insights into the environmental effects of acid rain.

Students and teachers should engage in this experiment to understand the detrimental consequences of pollution on plant life and ecosystems.

6. Reveal a Plant’s Vascular System

“Reveal a Plant’s Vascular System” offers an exciting and enlightening plant science experiment that allows students and teachers to explore the hidden wonders of a plant’s circulatory system.

Learn more: Reveal a Plant’s Vascular System

7. Make Oxygen at Home

Through the process of photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, a vital component for supporting life on Earth.

This experiment offers a unique opportunity to understand the connection between plants, photosynthesis, and the oxygen we breathe.

8. How Water Travels Through Leaves

Students and teachers should engage in this experiment to gain a deeper understanding of how plants absorb and distribute water, while also exploring the concepts of transpiration and the importance of water in plant survival.

Learn more: How Water Travels Through Leaves

9. Growing a Bean Plant

By following simple steps, participants can cultivate their own bean plants and observe the stages of germination, root development, and leaf growth.

This experiment offers an excellent opportunity to explore plant anatomy, photosynthesis, and the importance of environmental factors for healthy plant growth.

10. Easy Seed Sprouting

“Easy Seed Sprouting” offers a simple yet rewarding plant science experiment that students and teachers should embrace to witness the wonder of seed germination and plant growth.

Learn more: Easy Seed Sprouting

11. Leaf Color Chromatography

By conducting this experiment, participants can explore the fascinating world of pigments and chromatography, gaining a deeper understanding of the diverse hues present in plant leaves.

12. How to Revive Any Dying Plant

This experiment offers a hands-on opportunity to understand the factors influencing plant health and to develop skills in plant care and problem-solving.

By exploring various techniques such as adjusting watering schedules, providing appropriate light exposure, and optimizing soil conditions, participants can revive and rejuvenate struggling plants.

13. Make Your Own Fun Light Maze for Plants

By constructing a maze using various light sources, participants can investigate how plants respond to different light conditions and orientations.

14. How Plants Breathe

By engaging in this experiment, participants can gain a deeper understanding of how plants exchange gases and respire, just like humans and animals.

Through this experiment, students will discover the importance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in plant metabolism and growth.

15. The Color-Changing Celery Experiment

This experiment provides a unique opportunity to witness the movement of water and the transportation of pigments through the xylem vessels of celery stalks.

16. Growing Seeds in Eggshells

This experiment not only promotes sustainable practices by repurposing waste materials but also provides an opportunity to explore the principles of seed germination, root development, and plant nutrition.

Learn more: Growing Seeds in Eggshells

17. Make a 3D Flower Model with Parts

By constructing a three-dimensional model using various materials, participants can explore the different parts of a flower and their functions.

Learn more: Make a 3D Flower Model with Parts

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Talk To A Plant: New Web Experiment Tests Myth That Plants Grow Stronger When Talked To

Former Senior Reporter, HuffPost

Do plants really grow stronger and healthier when spoken to?

That's just what a new social experiment from advertising agency Carmichael Lynch and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is putting to the test.

Called "Talk to a Plant" , the experiment invites the entire Twitterverse to help test the myth that plants respond positively to speech.

Here's how it works: Go to talktoaplant.com . Send the plant a message. (Sign into Twitter if you're not already signed in). You can tweet whatever you like to the plant and a tweet-to-speech technology developed by Carmichael Lynch will then read your tweet aloud to one of the plants. The other plant, sits in silence.

Here's our tweet to the plant:

Plant, I hope the government shutdown isn't bumming you out. #TalkToAPlant #talktoaplant http://t.co/l9ZPITnNj3 — Matt Ferner (@matthewferner) October 8, 2013

Participants are encouraged to tweet about anything -- Obamacare, Tropical Storm Karen, the government shutdown, giant Asian hornets, whatever. Then watch the plants respond -- or not -- via the 24/7 livestream over the next couple of months to see if the myth holds up.

The website gives constant updates on the plants with height graphs, leaf size charts and more.

"Tweet, or the plant dies," the agency and museum write in a joint statement about the new web experience. The plants obviously can't live on tweets alone and, instead, run on a 12-hour light cycle and are watered by an in-house tech.

"Science -- and life in general -- it's not a spectator sport," Dave Damman, Carmichael Lynch's chief creative officer said to The Huffington Post. "We are inviting you to play. We are taking advantage of today's digital landscape and bringing to life the experience of scientific curiosity -- and making some cool art along the way."

The web experiment runs in conjunction with the new "Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition" exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science appearing from Oct. 10, 2013 to Jan. 6, 2014.

So go ahead. Talk to a plant -- it's life might literally depend on you.

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Plants can communicate and respond to touch. does that mean they're intelligent.

In the 1960s and '70s, a series of questionable experiments claimed to prove that plants could behave like humans, that they had feelings, responded to music and could even take a polygraph test .

Though most of those claims have since been debunked, climate journalist Zoë Schlanger says a new wave of research suggests that plants are indeed "intelligent" in complex ways that challenge our understanding of agency and consciousness.

"Agency is this effect of having ... an active stake in the outcome of your life," Schlanger says. "And when I was looking at plants and speaking to botanists, it became very clear to me that plants have this."

In her new book, The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth , Schlanger, a staff reporter at The Atlantic, writes about how plants use information from the environment, and from the past, to make "choices" for the future.

Schlanger notes that some tomato plants, when being eaten by caterpillars, fill their leaves with a chemical that makes them so unappetizing that the caterpillars start eating each other instead. Corn plants have been known to sample the saliva of predator caterpillars — and then use that information to emit a chemical to attract a parasitic wasp that will attack the caterpillar.

Schlanger acknowledges that our understanding of plants is still developing — as are the definitions of "intelligence" and "consciousness." "Science is there [for] observation and to experiment, but it can't answer questions about this ineffable, squishy concept of intelligence and consciousness," she says.

But, she adds, "part of me feels like it almost doesn't matter, because what we see plants doing — what we now understand they can do — simply brings them into this realm of alert, active processing beings, which is a huge step from how many of us were raised to view them, which is more like ornaments in our world or this decorative backdrop for our our lives."

Interview highlights

On the concept of plant "intelligence"

Intelligence is this thing that's loaded with so much human meaning. It's too muddled up sometimes with academic notions of intelligence. ... Is this even something we want to layer on to plants? And that's something that I hear a lot of plant scientists talk about. They recognize more than anyone that plants are not little humans. They don't want their subjects to be reduced in a way to human tropes or human standards of either of those things.

On the debate over if plants have nervous systems

I was able to go to a lab in Wisconsin where there [were] plants that had ... been engineered to glow, but only to glow when they've been touched. So I used tweezers to pinch a plant on its vein, ... the kind of mid-rib of a leaf. And I got to watch this glowing green signal emanate from the point where I pinch the plant out to the whole rest of the plant. Within two minutes, the whole plant had received a signal of my touch, of my "assault," so to speak, with these tweezers. And research like that is leading people within the plant sciences, but also people who work on neurobiology in people to question whether or not it's time to expand the notion of a nervous system.

On if plants feel pain

We have nothing at the moment to suggest that plants feel pain, but do they sense being touched, or sense being eaten, and respond with a flurry of defensive chemicals that suggest that they really want to prevent whatever's going on from continuing? Absolutely. So this is where we get into tricky territory. Do we ascribe human concepts like pain ... to a plant, even though it has no brain? And we can't ask it if it feels pain. We have not found pain receptors in a plant. But then again, I mean, the devil's advocate view here is that we only found the mechanoreceptors for pain in humans, like, fairly recently. But we do know plants are receiving inputs all the time. They know when a caterpillar is chewing on them, and they will respond with aggressive defensiveness. They will do wild things to keep that caterpillar from destroying them further.

On how plants communicate with each other

The primary way plants communicate with each other is through a language, so to speak, of chemical gasses. ... And there's little pores on plants that are microscopic. And under the microscope, they look like little fish lips. ... And they open to release these gasses. And those gasses contain information. So when a plant is being eaten or knocked over by an animal or hit by wind too hard, it will release an alarm call that other plants in the area can pick up on. And this alarm call can travel pretty long distances, and the plants that receive it will prime their immune systems and their defense systems to be ready for this invasion, for this group of chewing animals before they even arrive. So it's a way of saving themselves, and it makes evolutionary sense. If you're a plant, you don't want to be standing out in a field alone, so to speak. It's not good for reproductive fitness. It's not good for attracting pollinators. It's often in the interest of plants to warn their neighbors of attacks like this.

On plant "memory"

There's one concept that I think is very beautiful, called the "memory of winter." And that's this thing where many plants, most of our fruit trees, for example, have to have the "memory," so to speak, of a certain number of days of cold in the winter in order to bloom in the spring. It's not enough that the warm weather comes. They have to get this profound cold period as well, which means to some extent they're counting. They're counting the elapsed days of cold and then the elapsed days of warmth to make sure they're also not necessarily emerging in a freak warm spell in February. This does sometimes happen, of course. We hear stories about farmers losing their crops to freak warm spells. But there is evidence to suggest there's parts of plants physiology that helps them record this information. But much like in people, we don't quite know the substrate of that memory. We can't quite locate where or how it's possibly being recorded.

On not anthropomorphizing plants

What's interesting is that scientists and botany journals will do somersaults to avoid using human language for plants. And I totally get why. But when you go meet them in their labs, they are willing to anthropomorphize the heck out of their study subjects. They'll say things like, "Oh, the plants hate when I do that." Or, "They really like this when I do this or they like this treatment." I once heard a scientist talk about, "We're going to go torture the plant again." So they're perfectly willing to do that in private. And the reason for that is not because they're holding some secret about how plants are actually just little humans. It's that they've already resolved that complexity in their mind. They trust themselves to not be reducing their subjects to human, simplistic human tropes. And that's going to be a task for all of us to somehow come to that place.

It's a real challenge for me. So much of what I was learning while doing research for this book was super intangible. You can't see a plant communicating, you can't watch a plant priming its immune system or manipulating an insect. A lot of these things are happening in invisible ways. ... Now when I go into a park, I feel totally surrounded by little aliens. I know that there is immense plant drama happening all over the place around me.

Sam Briger and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz and Molly Seavy-Nesper adapted it for the web.

Copyright 2024 Fresh Air

Mythbusters Experiment: Does Talking to Plants Help Them Grow?

It’s all part of “Mythbusters: The Explosive Edition,” an exhibition at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science that will be up from October 11th, 2013 through January 5th, 2014. Check out TalkToAPlant.com to keep track of the project’s progress.

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Plants communicating with each other caught on video for the first time ever

A team of Japanese researchers has made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of plant communication, capturing real-time footage of plants transmitting defense responses to their neighbors.

This significant achievement, led by molecular biologist Masatsugu Toyota from Saitama University , was published in the journal Nature Communications .

Volatile organic compounds

The study’s breakthrough lies in observing undamaged plants responding to volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) emitted by other plants experiencing mechanical damage or insect attacks.

The research involved Yuri Aratani, a Ph.D. student, and Takuya Uemura, a postdoctoral researcher, as key team members.

“Plants perceive volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) released by mechanically- or herbivore-damaged neighboring plants and induce various defense responses. Such interplant communication protects plants from environmental threats,” the authors explained.

Studying plant communication 

The experimental setup included an air pump connected to a container of leaves and caterpillars and another chamber housing Arabidopsis thaliana , a common weed from the mustard family. 

The Arabidopsis plants were genetically engineered to fluoresce green upon detecting calcium ions, which act as stress messengers.

Using a fluorescence microscope, the team could monitor the signals released by the undamaged plants after they received VOCs from the damaged leaves.

Airborne warning messages

This study builds on initial observations of plant communication documented in 1983, which sparked significant discussion within the scientific community. 

“We have finally unveiled the intricate story of when, where, and how plants respond to airborne ‘warning messages’ from their threatened neighbors,” Toyota said.

He emphasized the crucial role of this unseen communication network in alerting neighboring plants to imminent threats in a timely manner.

In summary, Toyota’s research shines a spotlight on the complex and subtle interactions within the plant kingdom, while broadening our understanding of ecological relationships and plant defense mechanisms.

More about plant communication

As discussed above, the world of plant communication is a realm where chemical signals, light messaging , electrical impulses, and networked roots create a complex language that is crucial for plant survival and interaction.

Let’s now explore, in greater detail, the intricate ways plants communicate — a fascinating aspect of botany that challenges our traditional understanding of plant life.

Chemical language of plants

At the heart of plant communication lies the use of chemical signals. As discussed previously in this article, plants release a variety of volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) into the air.

VOCs serve as messages to neighboring plants. They can convey information about environmental conditions, such as drought or pest attacks.

For example, when a plant is attacked by herbivores, it emits specific VOCs that can be detected by nearby plants.

These neighboring plants, upon receiving the signal, may then bolster their own chemical defenses in anticipation of a similar attack.

Alarm signals and defensive responses

One of the most fascinating aspects of plant communication is the transmission of alarm signals.

When a plant suffers physical damage, it releases VOCs that signal distress.

This not only alerts neighboring plants to potential dangers but also attracts natural predators of the pests harming the plant.

In essence, plants can call for help, recruiting allies in their fight for survival.

Plant communication through electrical signals

Plants also communicate through electrical signals , a method reminiscent of the nervous system in animals.

When a plant is stressed or damaged, it generates electrical impulses that travel throughout its structure.

These signals can prompt physiological changes in the plant, such as closing stomata to prevent water loss during drought conditions.

Wood wide web: Underground plant communication networks

Beneath the soil, plants engage in a complex form of communication through their roots and associated fungal networks, often termed the “Wood Wide Web.”

This network is primarily formed by mycorrhizal fungi, which connect the roots of different plants. Through these connections, plants can share nutrients, water, and information.

For instance, a plant experiencing nutrient deficiency can receive supplies from a neighboring plant through this underground network.

This symbiotic relationship not only facilitates communication but also fosters a supportive plant community.

Role of plant communication in ecosystems

Understanding plant communication is crucial for appreciating the dynamics of ecosystems.

It helps explain how plant communities respond to environmental challenges and how they can be resilient in the face of disturbances like pests or climate change.

This knowledge is invaluable for agriculture, forestry, and conservation efforts, as it can guide practices that support healthy plant communication and, by extension, ecosystem health.

Understanding the secret language of the green world

In summary, plant communication is a testament to the complexity and interconnectedness of life on Earth.

By emitting chemical signals, generating electrical impulses, and forming underground networks, plants engage in a form of dialogue that is as intricate as it is essential for their survival.

As we continue to explore and understand this hidden language, we gain not only scientific insights but also a deeper appreciation for the remarkable world of plants.

This quiet symphony of silent whispers, echoing through leaves and roots, serves as a reminder of the sophisticated life processes that occur all around us, often unnoticed.

Video Credit: Masatsugu Toyota/ Saitama University

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Why Amazon Rebooted the ‘Ugly Betty’ Telenovela for a Global, Spanish-Speaking Audience | Exclusive

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The international success of the Colombian sequel series proves the industry can mine IP gold from Latin American projects, Prime Video executives tell TheWrap

Reboots are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. But with the smashing success of Prime Video ’s “Betty La Fea: The Story Continues,” better known in the U.S. by its English version “Ugly Betty,” Amazon found untapped enthusiasm for beloved Latin American IP over 20 years after it first aired, underlining the benefit of international expansion in the midst of the streaming wars.

Created by Fernando Gaitán for the Colombian network RCN, “Yo soy Betty, la fea” followed the adventures of Beatriz Pinzón Solano (Ana María Orozco), a secretary with braces, bad bangs and an even worse wardrobe, who falls in love with her playboy boss Armando Mendoza (Jorge Enrique Abello). The show followed Betty’s transformation from an eager assistant helping her supervisor hide financial wrongdoing, into a confident and beautiful executive who takes over as president of the clothing manufacturing company where she works — while her playboy reformed into a doting husband.

The telenovela ran continuously from October 1999 to May 2001 for a whopping 335 episodes.

Its Cinderella rom-com premise proved to be a universal success, as it became the first Latin American series to be remade worldwide. To date, 26 international adaptations have been made based on the “Betty” format — including two U.S. versions: “Ugly Betty,” which ran for four seasons (2006-2010) on ABC and landed star America Ferrera her first Emmy win, and Telemundo’s Spanish-language version for U.S. audiences titled “Betty en NYC,” in 2019.

But the original “Betty” hadn’t been seen on screen for more than two decades. So when Estudios RCN approached Amazon with the idea of bringing the eccentric cast of characters back together for a new sequel series, Prime Video executives recognized the project’s global potential.

“We were able to leverage what’s one of the most beloved characters in Latin American audiovisual history and not just reboot it, but do it in a way that was respectful and crafted for the current time,” Francisco Morales, Prime Video head of content strategy and acquisitions for Latin America, told TheWrap.

And it paid off. A week after its Prime Video two-episode premiere in July, the platform renewed its “Betty” reboot for a second season, saying it had become the most-watched title on Prime Video ever in Colombia, while also pulling in the largest global viewership for a Latin American title in the streamer’s history.

When it comes to U.S. viewership, “Betty” is among Prime Video’s top 10 Spanish language series launches — a list which also includes Spain’s romance drama “My Fault” and the TV adaptation of “Zorro,” and Colombia’s TV western “​​The Head of Joaquin Murrieta” — according to internal data. (Amazon does not provide specific viewership figures.)

“This creates a beautiful precedent for us in terms of how much popular IP is available [that] can be rebooted and re-energized,” Morales said.

He added that he sees both Amazon and the industry at large jumping at the chance to replicate the “Betty” reboot’s success, especially as the streaming wars have escalated a global competition, with a growing focus on international reach.

Beyond Betty

International programming broke through the American mainstream a few years ago, most notably with Oscar juggernaut “Parasite” and Netflix series like South Korea’s “Squid Game” and Colombia’s “Narcos.” Like Netflix, Amazon has spent years building up its international content divisions and launching their streaming service in over 200 countries. Both platforms led the industry in the commissioning of new movies and shows outside of the U.S. in the first quarter of 2024, according to Ampere Analysis .

The success of a reboot like “Betty” (which includes English among its 12 dubbed languages and 28 available subtitles) validates these efforts, with both Morales and Misas noting Amazon’s commitment to growing regional production efforts across the world that appeal to worldwide audiences — with highlights for Latin American titles that also include the Oscar-nominated film “Argentina, 1985” and Mexico’s crime series “Who Killed Him?”

They also celebrated how “Betty” has brought more eyes to Latin American titles on the service across the board.

“It’s a way of demonstrating that ‘Betty’ wasn’t a hiccup,” Morales said. “I think you’re going to see [this strategy] from us, and you’re going to see it from the industry as a whole.”

Reuniting the cast

The reboot picks up with Betty and Armando more than 20 years later. Separated by a past betrayal but still very much in love, the duo is brought back together by the death of a loved one, setting off Betty’s return to Ecomoda, the company where she once started her career as a secretary. Along with familiar characters, the reboot introduced Betty and Armando’s daughter Camila (Juanita Molina), now in her 20s and with her own career aspirations at Ecomoda.

But getting a “Betty, la fea” sequel on TV was not without its challenges. Orozco previously expressed her hesitation to revisit the titular character on screen, though she reunited with the cast for a Colombian theater production based on the telenovela in 2017. Gaitán’s death in 2019 also made a new TV project seem near impossible.

But the RCN team pressed on, partnering with frequent collaborators at Prime Video and Amazon Studios to help bring the cast back together. Orozco, who had previously worked with Prime Video on the Colombian original series “Filthy Envy,” eventually agreed to return as both star and producer, alongside Abello.

“Once Ana María was involved in the project, it became about [the rest of the cast] not wanting to miss out on the opportunity. People who had said no changed their minds,” Camila Misas, Prime Video head of local originals for Colombia, Argentina and Chile told TheWrap. “She was involved in the creative part from beginning to end.”

Along with Orozco and Abello, the reboot’s returning series regulars include Mario Duarte, Lorna Cepeda, Natalia Ramírez, Julián Arango, Ricardo Vélez, Jorge Herrera, Julio César Herrera, Marcela Posada, Estefanía Gómez and Luces Velásquez.

The story continues

Though the returning cast and some storylines rely on nostalgia for the telenovela (a shortened run of 149 episodes of the original show is currently streaming on Peacock in the U.S.), new characters and dynamics breathe life into the story — including a complicated love triangle for Camila, an AI-powered mannequin and potential love interests for both Betty and Armando.

“We did everything to make it right… we did research about other recent titles like ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘Top Gun’ that had comebacks to see what they did, what worked and what didn’t,” Misas said. “Everything was set to be a success, but you can never be too sure in television.”

The first season of the reboot followed as Betty and Armando grappled with lingering feelings while pondering divorce, and as Ecomoda got caught in another financial scandal. The Season 1 finale, released Aug. 16, set the stage for an even more dramatic Season 2, which Morales teased will premiere “sooner than you think.”

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