indiana Prairie Farmer Logo

Hayhurst’s Hayloft: Believe it or not, talking to plants is a real thing.

Susan Hayhurst

August 13, 2021

1 Min Read
oregano herb
RETURN FROM DEATHBED: This oregano herb went from life support to a county fair division champion. Maybe talking to it helped, but killing aphids and watering it properly likely helped more. Tom J. Bechman

Do you talk to plants? Lest you think I’ve totally gone batty, it’s a real thing!

According to thespruce.com, the Royal Horticultural Society performed a study discovering that talking to plants really can help them grow faster. Researchers found plants grow faster to the sound of a female voice. Could it be even plants have selective hearing?

In the month-long study, the society recorded 10 people, including both men and women, reading either from literary or scientific works. Each recording was played through a set of headphones that was attached to a tomato plant’s pot. Two plants were not read to as the control.

Plants that heard female voices grew an average of an inch taller than those attached to a male voice. Hmmm. Consider how much healthier male farmers could be if they listened to their spouses.

The heartiest-hearing tomato listened to Sarah Darwin, great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, read her relative’s “On the Origin of Species.” Her plant grew about 2 inches taller than others. Imagine how well the plants would have grown if they’d listened to the Bible read aloud!

Music also can play a part in plant health. South Korea’s National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology found plant growth is stimulated by music. Perhaps we need to build sound systems for our fields that can alternately pipe classical, Broadway musical tunes and hymns over plants.

I fondly remember my late mom talking to her gorgeous roses every evening while she watered them. Our daughters grew up watching me stop along our farm roads, roll down my car window and yell, “Grow, corn, grow!”

Don’t tell my daughters, but I still talk to the corn. I personally believe our plants like me being their cheerleader.

Hayhurst writes from Terre Haute, Ind.

About the Author(s)

Susan Hayhurst

Susan Hayhurst writes from Terre Haute, Ind.

Subscribe to receive top agriculture news
Be informed daily with these free e-newsletters

You May Also Like