The Buds Are Alive — With The Sound Of Music

There’s a multi-million dollar industry built around the quest to get more yield out of cannabis plants. But there’s one technique you may not have tried that could have a positive impact on your homegrow without creating a negative impact on your cashflow.

Though the results vary, several studies in recent years have confirmed the hippie lore that playing music for plants will enhance their growth. The research shows unequivocally that plants do respond to music, but whether they grow taller and faster as a result depends on the type of music they’re exposed to. If you’re considering turning up the tunes in your grow room, lend your ear to this first.

Apparently, plants are picky listeners. They’d rather listen to Beethoven than the Beatles and prefer Chopin to Snoop. Across multiple experiments, like those reported in Dorothy Retallack’s 1973 book, The Sound of Music and Plants plants seem to respond best to classical music. Led Zeppelin? Not so much.

Plants were indifferent to country music, so quash that idea and save your ears the trouble. Music that’s heavy on the bass you’ll also want to avoid. A South Korean study published in 2007 found that sounds at 125Hz and 250Hz stimulated genes in plants that respond to light, perhaps thereby allowing the plants greater access to lumens. Bassier music, meanwhile, typically falls well under 50Hz.

Frequencies such as those found in rap or hard rock actually had detrimental effects on the plants, according to another study. Still, Mythbusters did an experiment that concluded plants grow fastest when exposed to hard rock. Find the wide variation a little confusing? The divergent findings are likely due to the fact that most plant music experiments so far have involved a very small number of plants, making it difficult to draw conclusions on a large scale.

If you’re looking for the most likely genre to increase your yield, start with classical. Once you hit a sweet spot with that, then venture out and conduct your own experiments. Just remember, the fewer the beats per minute the better, and higher frequencies translate to higher yields.

TELL US, do you talk to your plants or play them music?