I believe I saw a study recently that said this was the case (as in they responded better than while "listening" to other types of music), but I am dubious. I think the best music for plants is whatever inspires their gardener to to be happy and care for them.
I'm with Eric, skeptical - they didn't have ears the last time I looked. I think it would give me a headache, but then again my father swore it was the classical Chinese opera (which also gave me a headache) !!
Just jesting. But here is where I saw it - MythBusters! I was watching an episode of theirs on Discovery Channel (the one where they got 2 semi's to have a head on collison, with a little car squished in the middle?) recently when they did an experiment that got me really interested. Null Hypothesis: Talking or playing music to your plants make no difference to their well being. Study Method Set up 5 green houses, and germinate and grow containerised peas in them. One green house was audioless. Greenhouse #2 gets a constant blasting of insults and verbal abuse. Greenhouse #3 gets a constant flow of sweet talks and praises. Greenhouse #4 gets to hear soothing classical music. Greenhouse#5 gets blasted with heavy metal. Results: Peas from greenhouse #1 (audioless) are the smallest, least productive and worse tasting peas. Greenhouse #2 (bad mouthing) gets bigger and more productive plants, but they are equal to Greenhouse #3 (sweet talking) in performance. Greenhouse #4 (soothing soft music) did better than #2 and #3, but not as well as #5. Greenhouse #5 (death music) has peas that ROCKED! They are humongous, produced huge pea pots, are heavier by a long chalk, and the peas tasted better! Conclusion Some noise is better than silence, but don't waste your breath talking to your plants. If you want the maximum bucks out of decibels, go for heavy metal! I can't say that the study would stand to the scrutiny of the scientific community - but the peas were really different. Might be a project for a horticultural or plant science student somewhere (one who loves the likes of Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest, etc.). I am partial to Heavy Metal myself - so any opinions I express on this subject will be complete biased!
You could be onto something here. I believe there is a link between good rock music and the world of plants. Try Guns and Roses or Cypress Hill !
Now there is something that I can add to this and wish Mythbusters would have delved into too. (Great show that by the way). I remember a while ago reading a report into actual studies done to show effects of various forms of music on different plants and their growth habits. If I remember correctly it went something like this: INDOOR PLANTS - Loved Heavy Metal music and responded best to it. ROSES - Loved and responded best to classical music. VEGETABLES - Not too sure think was Rock'n'Roll FLOWERING ANNUALS/PERANNUALS - Classical Sadly it was about ten years ago I read this and the memory banks have been overfilled and that was all I remember of it. It was interesting enough to stick in my head though. The study did involve quiet a decent range of plants and music and did claim that the right music can be beneficial to a plants growth!
Well, perhaps if lithium was among the other "heavy" metals used, it may have the same effect as it does on people with manic behaviour. Highly beneficial...... OTOH, "manic" growth would be desirable in a plant...... I would think. Yes..I'm joking ! (I know...Boo...hiss) <g>
For additional reading on plants reactions to audio, emotional, electrical stimuli check out a copy of The Secret Life of Plants. The studies presented in this text suggest plants actually fear certain people, respond to their owners voices over the telephone and other bizarre behaviors. Is a fun read even for the skeptic.
Hey were the greenhouse entirely automatic??? Or did humans care for the plants?? Maybe the plants weren't responding to the music as much as to the care the humans gave them while listening to the music!!!!!!! Besides: The Airplane Flies HIGH!
Except lithium is the lightest metal there is - only half the density of water (0.534g/cm³ to be exact) . . . Want to try osmium? (22.61 g/cm³, or twice as dense as lead)
