Talking to Plants: Myth, Science, or Secret Growth Hack?

The Garden Sanctuary ^ | 7/1/25 | Nisha

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Plants feed off carbon dioxide. Hence, it’s not the sound of your wonderful voice, but your exhale that helps them.

Fruser....well "Professor", It is true that CO2 fuels plant growth, but the rest of the comment ignores the article's discussion of Music, sound, and plant growth.

Additional information on music and plant growth.

https://pistilsnursery.com/blogs/journal/music-and-plant-growth-heres-what-the-science-says

Snip. ..."What Botanists Have to Say"

"Devendra Vanol of the Institute of Integrated Study and Research in Biotechnology and Allied Sciences in India found that not only does music promote plant growth, but it seems that plants can actually distinguish between different types of sound including different genres of music, nature sounds, and traffic noise. Vanol and her team say it could be advantageous for plants to distinguish sounds to learn about their surrounding environment. More studies need to be done to understand how this works and what this could teach us about plants.

According to Reda Hassanien of China Agricultural University in Beijing, sound waves significantly increased the yield of sweet pepper, cucumber, tomato, spinach, cotton, rice, and wheat. Additionally, pests such as spider mites, aphids, gray mold, late blight, and virus diseases of tomatoes decreased in greenhouse conditions with sound treatment. It is amazing what plants can do with a little bit of music playing in the greenhouse!"

(Diana...maybe put an old radio in the greenhouse set it to the local PBS Classical station! (Are they still in business? Do you get FM from Madison?))

[FamiliarFace]

I talk to my plants sometimes, especially if they start looking sad. Also, I try hard to water them according to their needs, and give fertilizer when it looks like they need a boost.

I don’t have names for my plants, but that’s a good idea. I bet they’d like that.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

When I had a less-secure chicken coop at the other farm, I kept AM Talk Radio on the radio in there. Rush kept the raccoons at bay for the most part but I think Art Bell scared the heck out of them at night, LOL! :)

I don’t have electricity to my greenhouse - yet! Aside from some setbacks this year, my thumb is green enough! I don’t WANT more plants!

The older I get the more a garden equals WORK. I’m dialing it back to upcoming season. ;)