Talking to your plants: why science says it is beneficial

Plants don't have ears, but the latest science suggests that they can benefit from anthropomorphic sounds like voices and music anyway. And they aren't the only party that can get a boost from plant-human conversations. Here’s what we know so far.

A study in a 2003 issue of the journal ‘Ultrasonics’ investigated the effects of classical music and nature sounds on the growth of Chinese cabbage and cucumber. The conclusion? The sound exposure increased the vegetables’ growth and oxygen uptake.

Image: Concierto para el bioceno Barcelona/ Gran Teatre del Liceu/ Facebook

When marigold and chickpea plants were exposed to light Indian music for four hours a day, they grew taller, had more leaves, and a healthier look than the control group, according to a 2015 study published in the ‘International Journal of Integrative Sciences.’ Exposing plants to traffic noise did not help them grow, however.

Image: Concierto para el bioceno Barcelona/ Gran Teatre del Liceu/ Facebook

A 2009 study by the Royal Horticultural Society recorded ten people reading classics by Shakespeare and Darwin to plants. They also played recordings for tomato plans on a loop for a month. The plans were separated into three groups: one with no sound, one listening to women’s voices, and another listening to men read.

The results were significant. The plants listening to female voices outgrew the others. Interestingly, the best result was Sarah Darwin, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, reading ‘On the Origin of Species’ to one tomato plant, which grew two inches higher than the rest.

The Discovery Channel show 'Mythbusters' did a similar experiment with plants. It put them in greenhouses where they were exposed to: a) compliments; b) insults; c) classical music; d) death metal; and e) silence. Which do you think had the biggest effects?

"Hands down" the plants exposed to silence grew the least, the hosts concluded. In the middle were the plants listening to motivational speeches and insults, which ended up at the same level. The plants listening to classical music did slightly better, while those listening to death metal grew the most. So if you can't play death metal in your garden, perhaps try singing a few verses.

The Swedish furniture company did a similar test as part of an anti-bullying campaign. It showed that the plant being bullied wilted, while the one receiving compliments was robust and confident. Not a study to be trusted, but it's better to get on your plants’ good sides... Just in case.

Image: IKEA UAE / Youtube

A 2002 literature review published in ‘Environmental and Experimental Botany’ looked at all the research into plants’ responses to sound. It concluded that it is "evident and clear that sound application holds great promises in boosting agriculture and biotechnology research." The mechanism, however, isn’t well understood.

Celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh said that, whether or not talking has any benefits, having a regular dialogue with your green babies "means you’re observing them, which is the key. Gardening is therapy and hugely sensuous," he told Radio Times.

"If we identify with a living organism that we’re tasked with taking care of, we’re going to take better care of it," Heidi Appel, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Toledo in Ohio told the Washington Post.

While the precise mental health effects of talking to plants haven’t been studied, a 2018 study in HortScience found that transplanting plants reduced anxiety in young adults. Regularly spending an hour gardening was also found to improve mood and reduce stress in a 2022 study.

"I think of talking to plants as a way of talking to ourselves," Social worker and Director of the Stress Trauma and Resilience Program at Ohio State University Kenneth R. Yeager told the Washington Post. "As we’re talking to our plants, we’re talking to ourselves — and formalizing our thought process."

"Plants don’t judge," Elizabeth Diehl, director of therapeutic horticulture at the Wilmot Botanical Gardens College of Medicine, told the Washington Post. "You can be who you want to be and say what you want to say — and they’re happy just for you to be taking care of them." The same can’t be said if someone is eavesdropping.

Performance artist Anastasia Loginova read all of Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina’ aloud to cabbage over six weeks in her native Russian for a peice of performance art. "It was one of the first times in my life that I was really still," she told BBC. "Not thinking and not doing. Just being. I’ve never had that before. It was almost like meditation… I wish everybody would get to experience this silence and stillness, this calmness."

Photo: Mediamatic / Facebook

In 2010, Charles III said: "I happily talk to plants and trees and listen to them. I think it’s absolutely crucial." In 2019, he was also observed to be shaking hands with every tree he planted and 2wishing them well."

The UK actor turned her six-acre garden into a "secret woodland," and says she thinks of her trees as part of her extended family. A study found Dench is in the majority, with 51% of Brits admitting they talk to their plants. Maybe it’s time for you to join the growing number.