The Plantae kingdom is much more refined than most of us believe. Plants have their own sophisticated form of communication – an arboreal language based on chemical codes. But its high sensitivity has also been proven to, for example, perceive sound waves and, in many cases, what they express.
It is now known, for example, that the vibrations produced by the bites of worms on their leaves are what activate their defense chemicals. That is to say that, for plants, the sound waves from bites express danger.
And although disbelief often distances us from these findings, which border precisely on the incredible, it is true that plants are not only stimulated by sound but, in fact, enjoy more complex and expressive forms of sound, such as those of music. .
A plant understands Mozart better than many of us. He knows how to decipher his frequencies and is sensitive to what they express.
As has been proven in several studies, music promotes faster and healthier growth in plants. The Indian botanologist Jagadish Chandra Bose was a precursor of these studies, and found that the sensitivity of plants is as broad as ours. Elements such as light, cold, heat and noise affect them in ways that had not been imagined before the investigations of this passionate botanologist.
It is now known that plants react even to the emotional tone expressed in our language.
Dorothy Retallack, an organist and mezzo-soprano and author of the book The Sound of Music and Plants, also studied the effect of music on plants. Retallack became interested in the subject from his passion for music and from an article about farmer George Smith, who played music for his cornfields and spoke to them, thereby causing them to develop greater foliage, and even managed to increase the amount of crops they generated.
Playing music for plants could be part of the sustainable agriculture of the future.
For this reason, in 1973 Retallack tested the effect of different musical notes on plants, exposing them to them for 8 hours completely, intermittently or not at all, as well as to different musical genres.
Non-stop notes deteriorated the plants to the point that they died, while notes played intermittently kept them healthy.
In other experiments he used recordings of rock music and other denser or heavier genres –especially percussion–, which caused the plants to become sad and begin to lean up to . For its part, the classical music of Bach and Indian music performed with sitar and tabla had stimulating effects on his growth, which was also reflected in his appearance.
The plants even expressed their like or dislike of music with their bodies: when they liked the music, they leaned toward the speakers; When not, they tried to get out of their sound radius.
According to Retallack’s subsequent experiments, country music has a neutral effect on plants, while they seem to like jazz.
Without a doubt, we can speak of an enjoyment of music by plants, because not all types of music have the same effect on them, which implies a certain degree of sensitivity to differentiate between one and the other.
It is not, of course, an enjoyment that is based on aesthetic paradigms, but rather on something that goes unnoticed by us: the effect of vibrations or frequencies. That is what, apparently, plants are capable of distinguishing and “enjoying” or “hating.”
What music to play in your house, for your delight and that of your plants?
Although there are some delicious compositions made especially for plants, you can also opt for music from your own repertoire. Because in reality no special music is needed, since the frequency range that stimulates plants is quite wide, and goes from 125 to 5000 Hz. The common frequency in Mozart’s music, for example, is 432 Hz to 532Hz.
So far, there are no guides on what genres of music to play your plants (let alone a guide on your favorite bands). But you yourself can experiment with what is already known: that plants like classical music, jazz and Indian music.
Here we leave you some recommendations so that you can experiment with your plants and enjoy these great albums with them:
Main image and GIFs: Maria Chimishkyan