Gardeners will try almost anything to help their plants grow.
From fancy compost to strict watering times or a regular pruning schedule, there are plenty of ways to give flowers a boost.
Some even resort to talking to their plants, convinced they ‘respond to vibrations’.
But scientists have uncovered a simple way to promote growth – and all you need is a speaker.
Experts have found that playing music to plants can make them grow heavier and leafier.
However, picking the right playlist is of the utmost importance.
A study has found that classical music, such as Bach concertos, boost growth while plants exposed to rock music grow more poorly.
‘Playing music to plants is not as crazy as it may sound at first,’ Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford and co-author of the paper, told The Times.
Playing classical music to plants could help them reach their growing potential, the study found. Pictured: Impressive gladioli displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show last month
By week five and six, the plants played classical music had more leaves which were also the most compact and thickest compared to other groups, the researchers said
The team suggest that a combination of sound frequencies, the tempo of the music and the instruments involved may have the power to stimulate or curb plant growth.
For the research, scientists analysed pak choi plants – a type of Chinese cabbage – that were played rock music, classical music or no music at all in bursts throughout the day.
The classical selection was Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, considered masterful examples of balance between assorted groups of soloists and a small orchestra.
Instrumental rock and metal was used for the other musical group.
Everything else that could affect plant growth, such as temperature, humidity and lighting, was strictly controlled and kept the same for all plants in the study.
After a six-week study period, the researchers found that the plants played classical music ended up significantly larger, with an average dry weight of 8.99g.
Meanwhile those played no music weighed 6.33g on average, while plants played rock music weighed only 3.12g on average.
The pak choi that had been exposed to classical music also produced the highest number of leaves, with an average of almost 17 each compared with only 10 leaves for the plants that were played rock.
The classical selection was Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Pictured: A portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach
Analysis of the roots also showed that plants exposed to classical music had the highest total root volume, measuring 90 cubic centimetres – three times more than those played instrumental rock, which reached only 30 cubic centimetres.
The plants grown in silence, however, recorded total root volume of 77 cubic centimetres.
The team was led by plant scientists and music experts at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and University Putra Malaysia.
They said there was ‘promise’ around the use of classical music to help stimulate plant growth.
‘Classical music may have an effect on plant growth because plants are attuned to vibrations, such as the vibrations of running water in soil, and they react to them biologically,’ Professor Spence added.
‘Meanwhile the different frequencies in rock music may fall outside the sonic range which boosts plant growth.’
He also said that classical music might ‘make gardening a more pleasant experience’.
Previous studies have also found that plants tend to grow in the direction of soothing music and away from rock music.
Playing your plants classical music could also ‘make gardening a more pleasant experience’, experts said
The findings were published in the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture.
The scientists wrote: ‘The results reveal that those plants exposed to classical music exhibited significant differences in shoot characteristics with the highest total fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, and mean leaf numbers.
‘Meanwhile, those plants exposed to rock music demonstrated values that were the lowest across all plant parameters.
‘Despite the promise around the use of classical music to help stimulate plant growth, further studies are undoubtedly still needed before any firm conclusions regarding the potential benefits of exposing plants to an acoustic stimulus can be drawn.’
