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Did you ever give a pep talk to your growing cannabis plants? If not, maybe it's a good idea to start today.
Giving a pep talk to your cannabis crop might sound a little out there, but modern research is quickly starting to reveal the secrets behind the age-old mysteries of “talking to your plants”. Can plants hear? Do they know when human beings are around? Let’s find out ...
IT’S ALL ABOUT FEELING THE MUSIC
Sound waves are merely a vibration that travels throughout a medium (air, water, etc.). For human beings, these sound waves cause our eardrums to vibrate and convert pressure into electric energy that our brains perceive as sound.
However, plants give a whole new meaning to the expression “good vibrations” and quite literally FEEL soundwaves. The basic theory is the vibration that plants experience via sound, aids in the stimulation of cytoplasmic streaming (the delivery of nutrients throughout the plant).
Dr T. C. Singh, head of the Botany Department at India's Annamalai University, led a study that observed a 20% increase in height and 72% increase in biomass from plants exposed to music. His research also discovered that germinated seeds exposed to music tended to produce plants that had more leaves, were of a greater size, and had other improved characteristics.
A similar study was led, after Dr Singh’s research in the 1950’s, by a Canadian scientist named Eugene Canby that saw plant yields increase by up to 66% after being exposed to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
MAYBE SOME PLANTS ARE METALHEADS
A more infamous episode of the famous show “Myth Busters” even went as far as theorising that specific plants react better to certain musical styles. Their team placed seven small greenhouses on a rooftop and used green beans for their tests. Each greenhouse was set up with stereos that endlessly looped varying recordings:
- Classical music
- Intense death metal music
- Encouraging speech from a male
- Encouraging speech from a female
- Discouraging speech from a male
- Discouraging speech from a female
- A control group with no stereo to base all other greenhouse results against
All the greenhouses that were exposed to any type of audio performed better than the control group. The greenhouse that played classical music performed even better and the greenhouse that played intense death metal had the best results.
BEING & BREATHING WITH YOUR PLANTS
While no conclusive evidence about which musical style, or if there is any benefit to exposing your plants to music, has yet been determined; having some of your favourite tunes playing to motivate you while you’re in the garden is never a bad idea.
The extensive medical benefits of cannabis are well documented, but the therapeutic benefits of how gardening itself is a complement to cannabis-based therapies are often overlooked. Spending more time in your garden (talking or not) is still likely to help increase the quality and yield of your crop.
When human beings spend time in our gardens, our body’s natural process of inhaling air (oxygen, nitrogen and some carbon dioxide) provides a much needed byproduct to our plants: carbon dioxide. The average concentration of carbon dioxide in a garden is approximately 400ppm.
Human beings tend to exhale 4% carbon dioxide (approximately 40,000ppm) with each breath. Therefore, the more time we spend in our gardens, the higher the concentration of carbon dioxide that will be available to our plants. Combining the process of human respiration with the regular activities of tending to one’s plants provides the necessary precursors (water, carbon dioxide and sunlight) for your plants to create the necessary sugars for their production.
Spending more time in your garden will only seek to improve your capabilities as a grower and each crop’s potential. Work hard, breathe deep and give your plant’s the TLC they deserve. They will return the favour!
Watch the episode of Myth Busters here below:
