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San Diego

anybody else watch the show Mythbusters? I like it:) They had the myth that talking to plants or playing music for them would give you a better yeild and result. So they build greenhouses and used the same seeds for pees, and same soil, same watering system for all of them in the same pots. They had some greenhouses totally normal, no music or voices, a few with tapes running over and over with nice loving words to the plants, a few with angry words at the plants, and a few with music, hard core metal and soft music. The results, the normal greenhouse plants were really the worst looking of them all. Second best were the talking greenhouses, didn't matter if it was bad or nice talk, and the best plants came from the music greenhouses, heavy metal was the best!!!!!

So they always say at the end of the myth experiment, "busted, plausible, or confirmed" and they gave it a "plausible", it seemed to affect the perfromance, but since they only did a small experiment, they wouldn't totally confirm it. I was laughing so hard!!!!Lol, maybe I'll get my music ready for next season ;) Jimmy

9/1/2005 8:16:27 PM

Western NY

hmmm indeed. good thing i'm out in the middle of nowhere so the neighbors don't have to hear it. now i just need some big enough speakers to do my CD collection justice.

9/1/2005 8:27:08 PM

Eugene, OR

I watched the same show. I think their official results were that any music or noise improved yield, vegetative growth, and root structure but the heavy metal greenhouse had the best results by far. The control house was definitely the worst of them all. I can't help but wonder if the control house was the last house on their watering system so it received less water than the rest. Could the order in which the houses were in the drip system have affected the results?

Definitely my favorite show though! Mythbusters rocks.

9/1/2005 8:52:42 PM

hamilton,Ontario

maybei get get mine back from the dead with a bit o ozzy or twisted sister.....LOLOLOL

9/1/2005 9:11:52 PM

sounds interesting. I have to do a "project" at my internship next summer and that would be fun to try!

9/1/2005 9:26:20 PM

Hudsonville, Michigan ([email protected])

So if we take it a step further, what songs might be best to encourage heavy fruit growth? My vote: 'Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen...

9/2/2005 7:12:03 AM

Western NY

a whole lotta rosie?

9/2/2005 8:36:51 AM

Montoursville, PA

Ever wonder why some, of the most modern scientific milk producers consistantly play music, in the milking parlors?

9/2/2005 9:38:18 AM

"Baby got Back" by Sir Mix a Lot

9/2/2005 9:48:58 AM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

We play the theme song for "Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"..

9/2/2005 11:01:44 AM

Knopp, Germany

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother by the Hollies

9/2/2005 11:12:00 AM

Knopp, Germany

She's a perfect 10, but she wears a 12, better keep a little 2 for me..Beautiful South

9/2/2005 11:14:11 AM

NEPA [email protected] KB3QKV

I played some Grateful Dead music but then all that happened was that I had the urge to tye-dye the white sheets covering our pumpkins.

9/2/2005 11:25:12 AM

Knopp, Germany

What a long strange trip it's been....the Grateful Dead

9/2/2005 11:41:45 AM

Antigonish,Nova Scotia,Canada

I heard that John Mackinnon's ( Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) 1258 lb champion pumpkin in 2003 had traditional Irish and Scottish music being played in his patch. Anyone know if their AG's actually like traditional tin whistle and pipe tunes like the "Floating Crow Bar"...etc???...lol

9/2/2005 2:42:18 PM

Abbotsford, B.C

Hey, what about this: sound waves are compressions of molecules in a medium, and their energy being transferred in a sound wave through that medium, right? Well, what if when sound waves 'jiggle the molecules' it somehow stimulates the plant cells to move the molecules of water nutrients through the plant system faster? Which would exactly agree with the heavy rock music getting the best results; since it is the loudest, it would 'jiggle' the molecules more, thus increasing their movement through-out the plant! What do you think? Just pure speculation, but it definitely agrees with the results...

In which case, this could be an important discovery! I wonder if other types of sound waves have the same effect. Because obviously if you live within any reasonably close distance to other human beings, you can't have your music too loud, what if high pitched sound waves higher than the human ear could hear were played at full blast in the patch? Hmmm, about it's effect on animals? But hey, that might be just the thing for those rodents! But anyway, I'll stop now.

Cameron

9/2/2005 8:50:24 PM

Eugene, OR

I was thinking the same thing Cameron. Sound is actually a pressure wave/waves which causes the longitudinal "mechanical" motion of the molecules present in the medium through which the pressure wave is passing. The speed of sound depends on various factors including the ratio of specific heats of the medium in which the pressure waves are travelling, the density of the medium, and the temperature(which also affects density).

The heavy metal they were playing definitely would have the most "jiggle" and could be what's responsible for the growth increase?? Our ears are actually only capable of picking up a very narrow range of frequencies so it would be possible to blast the plants with noise that we just can't hear. The neighborhood dogs and other animals certainly wouldn't be too happy about it though LOL. I believe we can't hear noises below around 20 Hz and above 20 kHz but most garden variety speakers aren't capable of going out of this range. A system capable of going outside these frequencies with any kind of power wouldn't be cheap!

Definitely an interesting topic!

9/2/2005 9:26:47 PM

Hanover,Ontario,Canada

You guys are way behind - Go to http:www.sonicbloom.com

9/3/2005 7:16:52 AM

Follansbee, Wv

I saw the same show several months ago. If I remember correctly the watering system failed and the plants were seriously damaged. Without adequate growing conditions, I have to doubt the validity of the results. I know all of the plants suffered the same lack of water, but in this instance something as simple as the angle of the sun striking the green houses on that roof could have accounted for the difference.

9/3/2005 8:06:57 AM

Eugene, OR

No question, the watering problem may have affected the experiment's outcome. However, it could also reinforce the results of the experiment, depending on your viewpoint. The plants all had to endure the same inadequate growing conditions created by the lack of water. Despite the lack of water, it was obvious that some plants dealt with the drought better than others. Could the music/noise have helped some plants deal with the poor conditions better than others? If we as pumpkin growers saw similar results in our own patch, we would certainly take note of the drought resistance and attempt to identify the reason for the resistance.

When there are so many variables that could skew results, it's definitely difficult to say for sure that the music made any difference at all. However, if someone out there was to set up a larger, more controlled experiment in a similar manner, the results would be very interesting. The age old scientific method requires that all conditions be identical except for the variable being tested. That's not so easy to do with live test subjects!

9/3/2005 1:50:53 PM