[paul.fr]

does talikng to plants, or playing them music help them grow?

[kdlynn]

i've always wondered if that was true! i don't see what it would do, but some people swear it works!

[another_someone]

It is always possible that plants could be sensitive to vibration, although there is no doubt they could not understand human language (at least, if one were to find they could understand human language, then it would imply that human intelligence has little impact upon human physiology, and not even intrinsically human).

[Carol-A]

Perhaps talking to them increases the level of carbon dioxide available. You would have to talk directly to them of course.... and the radio would make no difference!

[kdlynn]

i'm willing to try this experiment too, but you guys need to decide what kind of plant. please make it an easy one... i'm not good with plants. also what kind of time frame are we looking at? i'm thinking 3 months. i'm thinking i'll have 3 plants and seperate them for an hour a day. i'll talk to one, play music to one and leave one alone. i need some plants anyway. i don't have any

[another_someone]

Can't see how you can do the experiment with 3 plants, especially unless you can carefully control that all 3 get the same light, heat, water, nutrition, etc.

Three is a very small sample size (particularly for a biological experiment); but beyond that, can you ensure that all the environmental factors will be the same for all 3.

I would also suggest it is important that the person who is talking to the plant is not the same person who waters and feeds the plant.  The problem is that if you are talking to the plant, you are likely to be paying more attention to its needs, and notice if it is not totally healthy; whereas a plant you do not talk to, might receive less of your attention, and so you will not notice if it is unhealthy.  If the person talking is not the person looking after the plant, and the two people do not discuss the welfare of the plant, then you can have greater confidence that the plant being talked to and one not being talked to are treated similarly in terms of their other health needs.

Also, you should have a 4th group of plants which you sit by (and maybe breath over) but do not actually utter any sound to.

[kdlynn]

ok i need to think this through a bit more

[Karen W.]

Starting to sound really complicated! LOL

[kdlynn]

i still want to do this. george can you help me go over the details?

[_Stefan_]

Will you be speaking proper English/coherent language (or reading a book out loud), or just saying 'blah blah blah'?

I think it would be a good idea to have 1 group where you talk and breath on the plants, another group where you talk but don't transfer C02 (perhaps the radio will do?) and another group where you just breath on the plant.

[_Stefan_]

An excellent plant to use is bamboo. Fast growing and its CO2 consumption must be pretty high.
http://bamboocentral.org/shareinrepair/faq.htm

[another_someone]

i still want to do this. george can you help me go over the details?

The main thing is, apart from the number of plants to use (consequently, maybe easier to use smaller plants - although ofcourse, one cannot be sure if different plants do not have different sensitivities), but primarily, you will need two people to do it - one to look after the plant, and another to do the talking (they should not be the same person, and the person looking after the plant should never recieve instruction, not even the slightest advice, regarding the plant from the person talking to the plant - better still if they never meet during the period of the experminet, but I can understand that that might be a bit onerous a limitation).

[mark71]

of course it does...plants have ears...they grow 150% faster when you talk to them...

[Seany]

Like Mozart's music during exams.. It's proven that the average of exam results was substantially higher than without.. []