The rock'n'roll life of plants

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If you want to improve the growth rate of your plants, talk to them. Better still, play them 'Bat out of Hell' by Meatloaf non-stop.

Botanists in BIOLS studied the germination rates of ten species of plant and found there was some truth in Prince Charles' assertion that speaking to them was good for them. But the results were more spectacular if the seeds were fed a constant diet of rock music with a heavy, rhythmic beat.

The experiment, carried out by third-year biology student Ruth Davies under the supervision of Dr Peter Scott, involved measuring the germination rates of wallflowers, busy lizzies, basil, phlox, penstemons, maize, tobacco, carrots, cress and mung beans in response to silence, pop music ('Bat out of Hell' played for seven days), classical music (Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2) and speech (Kenneth Branagh reading act II of Hamlet).

Both the speech and pop music did substantially increase germination. But the raucous tones of Meatloaf encouraged wallflower seeds to sprout two days earlier than those in silent conditions. Classical music had no significant effect.

Further tests showed that the results could be due to the heat generated by a constant level of sound. The piano concerto had little impact because it contained a wide variation in sound levels.

"There's a lot of folklore about talking to plants, but very little in the way of scientific studies," said Peter, who presented a paper on the study to the Society of Experimental Biology at the University of Exeter.

"Our conclusion is that there could be something in the old wives' tale that speaking to plants helps them grow. However, you would have to shout at them continuously, and it would probably be your hot breath which has the most impact on their growth."

The research attracted huge media interest and an attempt by weekly magazine Garden News to contradict Ruth's findings: "Soothing sounds and soft words do get your plants growing, GN tests reveal".

But she questioned the comparability of the magazine's results, which were obtained using different species of plants, grown at a different temperature. And most critically of all, said Ruth, Garden News omitted to specify the decibel level of its sound tests. Heavy petal, she still maintains, is the perfect plant food.

Ruth Davies and Peter Scott blasting blooms with 'Bat out of Hell'.