Does Music Affect Plant Growth?

Aim: To see if playing music to plants affects their growth

Background: Over the years there have been many theories that talking to plants and playing music to them has the effect of increasing their growth. If this fact is true it would have extremely beneficial affects to the agricultural and farming industries and by extension the general populace. Internet research however suggests that music has no effect on the plants themselves, but perhaps on the caretakers. Perhaps the caretakers provide better care to plants when affected by music when listening to music?

Variables:
* INDEPENDENT: Type of music played to the plants
* DEPENDENT: Growth (height)
* CONTROLLED: amount of sunlight, water and soil

Hypothesis:
* Music will enhance the growth of plants
* The forest music will display the most growth

Equipment:
* 4 small pots
* Potting mix to fill 4 pots
* Big packet of grass seeds
* Teaspoon
* Water sprayer
* CD’s (classical, forest, heavy-rock)
* Tape + marker pen

Method:
1. Fill 4 pots to the top with potting mix.
2. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of grass seed into each pot.
3. Divide pots into 4 categories – Control; heavy rock; classical; forest;
– label each as such with tape and marker.
4. Spray each pot 12 times using water sprayer.
5. Each pot given 20 minutes per day of their respective music. Pot placed on top of speaker to receive vibrations. Control pot not played music.
6. Steps 4 and 5 repeated daily for 28 days
7. Measurement – 4 highest grass stalks for each pot found, measured in mm using ruler, then averaged to the nearest mm. Results:
PLANT HEIGHT – mm|

DAYS| PLANT 1 – Control| PLANT 2 – Classical Music| PLANT 3 – Forest Music| PLANT 4 – Heavy-Rock| 1.| – | – | -| -|
2.| – | – | -| – |
3.| – | – | -| -|
4.| 4| 4| 3| 5|
5.| 5| 5| 5| 6|
6.| 6| 8| 8| 9|
7.| 8| 11| 10| 11|
8.| 11| 15| 13| 14|
9.| 12| 18| 16| 16|
10.| 15| 21| 19| 19|
11.| 16| 24| 22| 21|
12.| 19| 28| 25| 24|
13.| 21| 31| 27| 26|
14.| 23| 34| 30| 29|
15.| 26| 37| 33| 31|
16.| 29| 40| 36| 33|
17.| 30| 44| 38| 35|
18.| 32| 47| 41| 38|
19.| 34| 50| 44| 41|
20.| 37| 53| 47| 44|
21.| 40| 57| 50| 46|
22.| 42| 63| 54| 49|
23.| 44| 68| 57| 53|
24.| 47| 72| 61| 58|
25.| 49| 76| 64| 61|
25.| 55| 79| 69| 64|
27.| 60| 82| 74| 67|
28.| 64| 86| 78| 70|
FINAL GROWTH| 64 mm (6.4cm)| 86 mm (8.6cm)| 78mm (7.8cm)| 70 mm (7.0cm)|

Conclusion: The hypothesis was correct in that music enhanced to growth of plants, however forest music did not exhibit the most. I figured that the forest music would be most similar to a plants natural environment and so would allow it to grow the most. The plant played classical music had the highest total growth (86mm), followed by forest music (78mm), heavy-rock (70mm) and finally the control (64mm)

Bibliography:
* WEBSITES:
* answers.yahoo.com

Acknowledgements:
* Pete Howell – Advice on how to carry out experiment
* Jan Howell – Getting equipment needed
* Damian Betts – Ideas