Conversations with Plants

Have you ever had a conversation with your plants? Do you talk to them about how healthy they look, or try to coax them to grow more? Do you feel like they respond to your voice, maybe grow better when you talk nicely to them?
 
Most of us have probably heard of (or maybe even participated in) the science experiments with plants and music. While plants do not have ears to hear the music, plant cell stimulation is a documented response to the frequencies used; different frequencies have different results. Studies (in India*) have shown that plants may  not only grow better with certain genres of music, but the plants can also tell the difference between the different genres, as well as traffic and nature sounds. How amazing is that! Most plants respond positively to genres like classical or jazz, while harsher genres like metal may be too intense for them and may even cause damage. Conversely, instances of pests, including aphids, mold, and spider mites decreased with sound treatment in greenhouse conditions. So, not only can the right frequency promote plant growth, it can decrease the chances of pests!
 
Even more amazing is research being done on the response of plants to other stimuli. Some research suggests that plants can sense and respond to perceived danger, learn from repeated stimuli and change their response to it, and can even be “put out” by anesthesia used on humans**. Scientists don’t necessarily believe that plants feel pain or have consciousness because all our definitions of such things require the subject to have a brain, which is not part of a plants biological makeup under our understanding of it.
 
That said, we have established that plants can communicate with each other through root networks. Mushrooms in particular are known to communicate information like injuries, food sources, and changes in the environment using electrical signals; not only with each other, but other plants as well. If this topic interests you I would recommend books such as Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cowan, and Plant Spirit Healing by Pam Montgomery would be good places to start. It really is fascinating.
There has been some talk on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram that plants can sense their owners up to 2km away. Now, I haven’t found any solid research on this, so I am not sure where they got this information from, but other research has shown that they respond to their owners (their frequence) when around them.
 
While much more study needs to be done in this area, I do find it fascinating the many ways plants are connected to each other, and how we can connect to them. Whether we have a green thumb or not, many of us feel the need to have plants in our homes or to go out into nature to connect with them there. I mentioned in a previous post about how horticulture therapy has shown to improve mental and physical health, reduce stress and even improve focus and memory. Activities such as gardening, forest bathing, and even aromatherapy are being suggested by some therapists to facilitate this kind of healing. I couldn’t be more supportive of such things.

​So how do you feel about plants? Do you love to grow them? Do you talk to them? Do you feel they improve your mental, physical, and spiritual health? Do you like to feel connected to nature this way?
 
 
*https://pistilsnursery.com/blogs/journal/music-and-plant-growth-heres-what-the-science-says#:~:text=For%20most%20plants%20playing%20classical,they%20prefer%20a%20gentler%20touch.
**https://theworld.org/stories/2014/01/06/can-your-plant-hear-your-can-it-think