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The Life of Plants

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When plants are subjected to extended periods of absolute silence, they tend to do less well than when sounds are present.

When plants are exposed to recorded or electronic sounds, they tend to do better, regardless of whether the sounds themselves are pleasant are unpleasant.

When plants are verbally praised or affirmed during the growing cycle, they frequently thrive in a visible, measurable way.

When plants are verbally abused or condemned during the growing cycle, they often become stunted and sickly.

Gustav Fechner, Founder of Psychophysics

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According to the website ProFlowers, the theory that plants can benefit from speech was first published in a book called Nanna (Soul-life of Plants) by German professor Gustav Fechner in 1848.

Fechner was born in 1801, and was also a philosopher, physicist and experimental psychologist. He is the founder of psychophysics, and he inspired many 20th century scientists and philosophers.

A little deeper digging revealed that Fechner held an animistic view of the world, which means he saw animals, plants and other inanimate objects as possessing some kind of spiritual essence. In light of this, his view on plants isn’t terribly surprising.

But you don’t have to search far and wide to find other books that support this view of plants responding to sound.

Do Plants Thrive & Grow When Spoken to Positively?

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We already talked a little bit about the process of photosynthesis in which plants convert light energy into chemical energy that can be used to fuel its activities.

But what about this idea that when plants are praised and spoken to positively, they thrive and grow?

MythBusters once conducted an experiment in which they got hold of 60 pea plants and divided them into three greenhouse groups on a rooftop.

The first group of plants was exposed to a soundtrack that featured loving praise. The second group was played cruel insults. The final group was not given a soundtrack. The hosts were also shown verbally praising and hurling insults at the plants.

They conducted the test over the course of 60 days, and what they found was rather interesting. They discovered that the silent greenhouse performed the poorest of all, with lower biomass and smaller pea pods compared to the other greenhouses.

Interestingly, they found no major difference between the greenhouses that were exposed to the two soundtracks. Whether it was loving praise or cruel insults, the soundtrack appeared to have a positive effect on the first two groups of plants exposed to sound.

This is somewhat of a narrow study in the sense that they only experimented with one type of plant and only over the course of 60 days.

Photosynthesis & Metal Atoms

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It is common knowledge that, when plants are praised and spoken to positively, they thrive and grow, but when they are condemned and rejected, they become stunned or even die. If you have this effect on your plants, just think of the effect you have on another human being! – Dr. Robert Anthony

And let’s not forget that plants need water for photosynthesis, a process plants use to create their food. As water enters a plant’s stem, it travels up to its leaves, and this is where photosynthesis takes place. Without water, this process cannot occur.

But Anthony doesn’t stop there. He also suggests that metal atoms respond differently to different personalities.

Here’s another direct quote from his book:

Have you ever noticed how some people always have trouble with their automobiles? Their vehicles just don’t respond to them. Yet another person “talks” to his and it responds trouble-free, trip after trip. It would seem that even inanimate things can sense love. Preposterous? It has been scientifically demonstrated that metal atoms respond differently to different personalities. – Dr. Robert Anthony

Anthony has given us a few different things to think about here, hasn’t he?

First, the idea that water has a vibration and that it increases in radiation when consistently exposed to positive thought. If you remember, he also said that positive thought can be transferred to an object.

Second, the idea that plants thrive when spoken to in a positive manner, and that we should consider the effect our words have on other human beings.

Third, the idea that metal atoms respond differently to different human beings.

Let’s begin by exploring this idea of vibrations.

TQP 013: Words – Beacons of Creative Power or Mere Devices of Communication II

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TQP 013: Words - Beacons of Creative Power or Mere Devices of Communication IIPhotosynthesis is the process in which plants convert light energy into chemical energy that can be used to fuel its activities.

But what about this idea that when plants are praised and spoken to positively, they thrive and grow?

MythBusters once conducted an experiment in which they got hold of 60 pea plants and divided them into three greenhouse groups on a rooftop.

The first group of plants was exposed to a soundtrack that featured loving praise. The second group was played cruel insults. The final group was not given a soundtrack. I watched a little bit of the show, and the hosts were also shown verbally praising the plants and hurling insults at them.

They conducted the test over the course of 60 days, and what they found was rather interesting. They discovered that the silent greenhouse performed the poorest of all, with lower biomass and smaller pea pods compared to the other greenhouses.

Interestingly, they found no major difference between the greenhouses that were exposed to the two soundtracks. Whether it was loving praise or cruel insults, the soundtrack appeared to have a positive effect on the first two groups of plants exposed to sound.

This is somewhat of a narrow study in the sense that they only experimented with one type of plant and only over the course of 60 days.

In this episode of The Question podcast, you will hear highlights from David Andrew Wiebe’s presentation on Words, and the music of Frederick Tamagi.

Thank you for listening!

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