Subject: Talking to plants?

From: [email-masked] (Noel Nunes)
Date: 9 May 1995 04:01:13 GMT

I have always heard that talking to plants or playing classical music 
helps them grow.  Does anyone out there have proof that it works or 
believes it does.  I don't want to waste time if it is only a belief.

Noel Nunes

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From: [email-masked] (Marcel Dicke)
Date: 11 May 1995 14:35:38 GMT

>believes it does.  I don't want to waste time if it is only a belief.

That talking to plants helps is the subject of the science fiction (!)
book "The secret life of plants" by Tompkins & Bird in the 1970s.
Do not take it serious.

Still communication between plants and animals is possible and even
among plants. This is done through volatile chemicals and may occur
in response to herbivore damage. For  reviews:
see Dicke et al. 1990 ("Plant strategies of manipulating predator-prey
interactions through allelochemicals") J. Chem. Ecol 16: 3091-3118; 
and Bruin et al. 1995 ("Do plants tap SOS-signals from their infested
neighbours?") Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10: 167-170.

Marcel Dicke

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From: Gary Poyssick <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 May 1995 20:31:40 GMT

Look for a book called ³the secret life of plants.² I forget the author, 
but it shouldn¹t be hard to find by title. Very weird stuff - lots of 
research papers quoted. Music is only part of the story. They read minds 
if you believe the stuff in this book. Definately sentient beings. I 
grow plants commercially and will always believe that the plants know 
me.

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From: [email-masked] (Jari Oksanen)
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 16:40:18

In article <[email-masked]> Gary Poyssick <[email-masked]> writes:
>From: Gary Poyssick <[email-masked]>
>Subject: Re: Talking to plants?
>Date: 15 May 1995 20:31:40 GMT

>grow plants commercially and will always believe that the plants know 

I have often tried with Mimosa pudica which is a plant reacting to touching, 
hitting, or attempts to eat it by folding it leaves. I've been thinking 
intensively all the horrible things I would do to it. It has never reacted 
before I actually do those things (like burn its leaves with a lighter). Still 
unconvinced. Cheers, 

--- Jari Oksanen, Dept Plant Ecology, Uni Tromso, Norway
    Tromssa, Ruija / Romsa, Norga / Tromsø, Norge