While most plants are known to thrive on water and sunlight, the link between music and plant health is less understood.
According to The Washington Post, scientists generally agree that plants respond to sound. What’s less clear is if listening to classic rock or a country ballad could actually make them grow better.
“There will be agricultural uses to this down the road, as we understand it better,” said Heidi Appel, a chemical ecologist and professor of biology at the University of Houston, to The Washington Post.
In the meantime, green thumbs and music lovers are happy to rely on their own intuition to make plant-focused playlists.
Plants like music, too
According to The Washington Post, being able to respond to vibrations helps plants protect themselves.
The article referenced one study showing that researchers could make plants increase their chemical defenses by replicating the sound of a caterpillar chewing.
“Plants are so responsive to everything in the environment,” Appel told the Post. “So what sounds are important to plants? Raindrops, probably. And pollinators, perhaps herbivores.”
One study found that beach evening-primrose flowers began producing sweeter nectar when exposed to the sound of buzzing insects.
Music may not yet be seen as “important” to plants, but several researchers have found that songs do cause plants to make changes. For example, a study by researchers at Utkal and Sambalpur universities found that music can support plant growth.
The study involved playing devotional melodies to mung beans. It linked the music to faster sprouting and increased plant mass.
“This solution method provides a green, sustainable option compared to traditional farming by cutting down on chemical fertilizers and pesticides,” said a Yale Environment Review story about the study.
Discover the music your plants love: Curate the ultimate playlist for thriving growth
As interest in music for plants grows, some researchers are taking on studies that aim to compare the effects of different types of music.
Japanese scientists conducted a study where they played Jimi Hendrix for half of their arugula plants and Mozart for the other half.
“While the study didn’t look at which might be ‘better’ for the plants, it did find that the cellular structure of the plants was different depending on which music had been played to them,” The Washington Post reported.
Chris Beardshaw, a Britain-based horticulturist and broadcaster, oversaw a study comparing alstroemerias grown in silence versus plants exposed to Cliff Richard and Black Sabbath and classical music, according to The Guardian.
The study found that all the alstroemerias listening to Cliff Richard died. While the plants rocking out to Black Sabbath were the shortest, they were also stocky, resilient and showed the least pest damage and disease compared to the plants exposed to silence and classical music.
Perhaps, as it turns out, heavy metal is as tough as it claims to be.
Playlists for plants
Some plant parents aren’t waiting on confirmation from science to build a plant playlist.
There’s already plant channels on several major streaming services, according to The Washington Post.
You may need to experiment with different genres to find what your personal plants prefer. But you can check out Youtube and Spotify for ideas.