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Music: The Fuel for Plant Souls

Plants and Music

Do your gardenias grooves to Gershwin or your marigolds

melt to Mozart? Perhaps your peonies perk up to Pavarotti

and your roses rock out to the Ramones? There is much

speculation in the scientific community, but many gardeners

swear music will revive wilting plants and urge flowers to

bloom. In 1973, the revolutionary book The Sound of Music

and Plants was written by Dorothy Retallack on scientific

experiments involving plants and music.

Retallack's book was based not on myths but facts. Yes, she

conducted experiments to come to the conclusion that music

has an everlasting affect on plants. Retallack placed

plants of same species in three separate laboratories at

the Colorado Women's College, Denver. She played different

durations of music to each plant and analyzed their growth

pattern. What she observed was that the plant that listened

to music three hours a day grew thrice as large and twice

as strong as the plant that was placed in the music-free

About The Author...

environment.

Dorothy Retallack tried experimenting with different types

of music. She played rock to one group of plants and

soothing music to another. The group that heard rock turned

out to be sickly and small whereas the other group grew

large and healthy. What's more surprising is that the group

of plants listening to the soothing music grew bending

towards the radio just as they bend towards the sunlight.

This experiment was a great eye-opener for plant lovers.

They started playing music to their plants and strongly

recommended others to do the same and also pick the right

type of music for your plants. Remember that slow and

soothing music has a beneficial effect on plants, and loud

and jarring music has a harmful effect on them. Another

point to be considered is the length of time to play music

to the plants. Dorothy Retallack showed through her

experiments that about three hours of music a day is just

right. More than that would damage the growth of your

plants. As a rule, plants have shown the best response to

classical music. That is why plant lovers like to play

Mozart, Bach and Beethoven rather than more boisterous

music.

Although music is not an absolutely proven factor in plant

development, several studies, along with Dorothy

Retallack's groundbreaking series of experiments, have

aided the musical development theory. If you are

interested in exploring this option with your own

garden, consult The Sound of Music and Plants or other

resources to ensure you expose your plants to the optimal

type of music for the appropriate amount of time.

About The Author

Decroul Musquel is the administrator and delegate of B Factory Music,

your source for all of your music news and needs. Find

the music news you want at:

http://www.bfactormusic.com