Do plants have feelings? Should I talk to them? Or sing?
“I like to think plants have feelings! We do have proof they respond to sound,” says Donna Letier, co-founder and CEO of Gardenuity. In fact, there have been scientific studies on how noise and music might affect plant growth, and they suggest that sound waves do make a difference. “In 2009, the British Royal Horticultural Society played plants recordings of men and women reading various passages,” Letier says. “They also set up a control group of plants that were kept away from all sound. At the end of the study they found tomato plants grew up to two inches taller if they were serenaded by a female voice.” So chat it up—you’re not crazy. “All environmental factors play a role in your plants’ health and growth, so sing and talk away. Plants don’t talk back and they usually agree with you,” Letier says. Technically, plants also perceive and respond to touch, including painful touch. There’s debate among plant neurobiologists about whether plants do or don’t "feel" pain, however.