Do Flowers React to Music?

How They Respond

• South Korean scientists who conducted an experiment in rice fields discovered that all plants, including flowers, have genese that seem able to "hear" music. These two genes are the rbcS and Ald genes. The researchers played a variety of music, including Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," and discovered that sounds ranging from 125 hertz and 250 hertz made the genes more active, whereas sounds at 50 hertz made them less active. They also found that the higher the frequency, the more active the genes became. To test their theory even further, the scientists conducted the experiment in the dark with the same results. Some scientists remain skeptical of the results, as not enough plant varieties were tested to come to a solid conclusion.

Tones

• In 1973, Dorothy Retallack published what she had learned from experimenting with sounds and plants and flowers. She conducted several experiments; the first one used constant tones with a control group. During the first experiment, she used a constant tone for eight hours. Those plants died within 14 days. In another area, she played a constant tone for three hours off and on. Those plants thrived. In another room, she played nothing. The plants survived, but did not thrive.

Types of Music

• Retallak conducted a second experiment, this time playing two types of music. In one room she tuned a radio station to classical music. In another room, she tuned the radio to a rock station. She played music for the plants for three hours each day. Five days after the start of the experiment, both sets of plants had responded: Those exposed to classical music were growing strong and healthy, whereas those exposed to the rock music were weak with smaller leaves. After two weeks, the flowers in the room with rock music drooped and bent away from the radio, while the blooms in the room with classical music were lush and uniform. Percussion instruments alone had little effect on the flowers, but discordant music caused them to die.

Conclusion

• The South Korean study seems to corroborate Dorothy Retallak's pioneering research regarding plants and sound. The best music to play for any plants, including flowers, are soothing tones, preferably the classical music of Vivaldi, Beethoven and Mozart. Country music and environmental sounds have little effect on growth, but discordant music -- Arnold Schoenberg, for example -- seems to kill most plants.