People are always experimenting with ways to encourage their plants to grow larger and produce more. This is not a new phenomenon. Our ancestors who first began to experiment with cultivating plants probably tried to do the very same thing. After all, they were planting food for their survival. Along with experimenting with various kinds of compost that includes the excrement of bats and worms, growers have experimented with the effect of music on plants. Two of the most notable experiments in this were conducted by the Discovery show Mythbusters and a woman named Dorothy Retallack. While the experiment conducted by Mythbusters was not conducted under ideal or consistent conditions, both the show and Ms Retallack were able to prove one thing: plants do react to music.
The Constant Tone
In the first experiment conducted by Retallack, she worked with plants in three greenhouses that had the same conditions in each. She exposed one group of plants to a constant tone for eight-hour increments, and another for three-hour increments. The plants with the intermittent tone did the best. The ones with the constant tones died, and the ones in silence did second-best.
Plants and "Elevator" Music
When experimenting with what many term "elevator music" or "easy listening music," Rettallack found that not only did they respond well, the plants actually began to bend toward the speakers.
Plants and Rock Music
Plants do not seem to enjoy rock music. This was the conclusion gained by Retallack, Mythbusters (though their results should be taken with a grain of salt), and Marcia Riley, a student at Old Mission Junior High School, Kansas City, Kansas. Across the board, these plants produced poorly and some of them died.
Plants and Classical Music
Another result shared by Retallack, Mythbusters and Riley was the fondness of plants for classical music. The plants responded well, producing large leaves and exhibiting healthy growth. In Retallack's greenhouse, the plants even leaned toward the speakers.
Plants and Arnold Schonberg
The music of Arnold Schonberg, a modern composer whose music can be described as discordant, was played to plants by both Retallack and Don Robertson, author of "About Positive Music." The results for both were the same: the plants died.
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