How Does Music Affect Flowers?

Early Theory

• An Indian scientist in the early 20th century, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, was the first to suggest the theory that flowers could respond to music. Bose was a plant physiologist who explored the responses of plants to a variety of external stimuli. He invented ultrasensitive equipment to measure the plants' responses and proved that plant tissues had electric responses similar to those of animal tissues when exposed to stimulation.

Agri-Wave Technology

• A new agricultural technology called agri-wave supports Bose's theory. Based on the plant meridian system, agri-wave technology focuses on measuring plant sound characteristics and is similar to the Chinese acupuncture belief that suggests that the human body is a network of pathways connecting the body's energies, known as the "yin" and the "yang." The technology works on the principle that broadcasting sound waves with particular frequencies and spraying the plants with fertilizer at the same time stimulates growth and ultimately improves the yield.

Experiments

• Various experiments have attempted to prove the theory that music affects plants. In 1960, George E. Smith, a farmer in Illinois, began experimenting with corn and soybean crops in two separate greenhouses, using the same soil for both locations and keeping the humidity levels and other conditions identical. He played music continuously in the test location, while the other greenhouse had no music playing. He also experimented with high- and low-note sounds. In 2006, a 24-acre winery in Tuscany, Italy, began an experiment where researchers placed speakers in a part of the estate and exposed vines to music. In an experiment conducted at Colorado Women's College in Denver in 1973 by Dorothy Retallack, plants were exposed to both gentle music and rock and roll on a daily basis.

Results

• Over a period of three years, farmer Smith consistently found that the "musical" crops grew faster and stronger and produced better yields. Although the results varied, the crops that had sound yielded more than the "silent" crops in every case. Preliminary results from the winery in Tuscany supported the idea that the music helped to grow healthier plants, and in the Colorado experiment, the plants that were exposed to soft music responded so well that they began to grow in the direction of the music source. The plants exposed to the rock and roll music, however, did not grow well and eventually became so unhealthy that they died.