#12 - Do Plants Respond to Your Voice? 🌷
Research suggests our leafy companions respond to human voices—with female tones possibly encouraging better growth. Not merely gardener's whimsy, but backed by scientific studies. Perhaps all your struggling houseplant simply needs a friendly chat!
This is true! Over the years, I've often tried it. I can vouch that plants definitely appreciate a chat. Some more than others - rather like us!
Mutual affection
You buy a young plant
That fails to thrive.
You feed it
You water it
Then you start talking to it
Suddenly it's come alive!
This doesn't diminish the importance of the obvious measures, like appropriate water, soil, or sunshine. We all know some plants don't do well in bright sunshine, others can't thrive without it.
But talking to them? Really? Yes, really! There's evidence this isn't just the view of a whimsical tree-hugger, but reports from a body as august as the Royal Horticultural Society
However, to my intense frustration, I cannot currently find on their site the widely reported 2009 scientific study investigating the effect of talking on tomato plant growth, despite its coverage by the Telegraph and other outlets.
I quote a brief extract via Google: The same tomato variety was used, same soil, same care regimen, etc. They also included two plants that were not read to as a control. At the end of the month, the plants that had been attached to female voices grew an average of an inch taller than those attached to a male voice. That's interesting, isn't it? Perhaps the power of the female voice is just one aspect about women that frightens the Taliban so much. But I digress!
The most effective talk came from Sarah Darwin...she read a read a passage from the On the Origin of Species and beat nine other 'voices'. Her plant grew nearly two inches taller than the best performing male and half an inch higher than her nearest competitor. (The Telegraph)
This RHS 2009 study was also reported by BBC News, as well as the UK media and US nurseries. More recently, in 2021, there was a thoughtful article in The Guardian, about a year spent chatting to an orchid. Well worth a read.
Seetha Dodd
My task is to keep us all cheered up, so I shall now leave further research to you dear friends!
As far as I'm concerned the important thing is that questions about how we interact with nature in all its forms are now being asked. This gives hope and cheer, especially to those of us deeply concerned about the slothful way many global leaders appear to be reacting to climate change.
If, at the simplest summary, it's the vibrations in our voice that can encourage plants to grow, this is important. After all, by the tone of our voice, even more than our words, others can tell whether we're being kindly or not.
Maybe we need more talking to one another. Texts and emails are all very well, but there's no substitute for the human voice. Provided, of course, it's a kindly one!