It was funny, but I still say the only benefit your plants get from you talkin' to 'em is the carbon dioxide. Also, the heavy metal produces more vibrations than the other stuff as well, that coulda had something to do with why they turned out so well.
Yeah, that's my theory. It's vibrations. Content doesn't matter, and since the metal had more vibrations in it than anything else, that's why it worked the best.
(And I don't think talking to your houseplants is going to do any good, unless you want to talk to them all day long, in which case you're going to end up shipped off to the looney bin anyhow.)
yeah, of course... not in this case... but i meant the "myth" in general.
Though, I am of the opinion that all things were created in spirit before they were created physically... so I don't entirely discount the "myth", either.
A quick literature search yields the following two abstracts:
Plant Cell Physiol. 2002 Jun;43(6):647-51. Effects of mechanical vibration on seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.
* Uchida A, * Yamamoto KT.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810 Japan.
The effects of sinusoidal vibration (40-120 Hz, amplitude equal to or smaller than 0.42 mm) on seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana were examined. When the amplitude of vibration was fixed at 0.42 mm, vibration with frequencies higher than 70 Hz increased the rate of seed germination. When the frequency of vibration was fixed at 100 Hz, vibration with amplitudes larger than 0.33 mm also increased the rate of germination. The increase in the rate of germination appeared dependent on acceleration calculated from the frequency and amplitude of vibration. Vibration with a maximum acceleration of 70 m s(-2) increased the rate of germination, but the promotive effects leveled off at higher accelerations. Vibration had little effect on seed germination in a starch-deficient mutant, pgm. Thus, the amyloplasts appeared to act as a susceptor that senses mechanical vibrations. No vibration-induced promotion of germination was seen in an ethylene-insensitive mutant, etr1, or in the wild type in the presence of aminoethoxyvinylglycine, an inhibitor of ethylene synthesis, suggesting that vibration increased the rate of seed germination through the action of ethylene.
PMID: 12091718 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Plant Physiol. 1998 Feb;116(2):643-9.
Arabidopsis thaliana responses to mechanical stimulation do not require ETR1 or EIN2.
* Johnson KA, * Sistrunk ML, * Polisensky DH, * Braam J.
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005-1892, USA.
Plants exposed to repetitive touch or wind are generally shorter and stockier than sheltered plants. These mechanostimulus-induced developmental changes are termed thigmomorphogenesis and may confer resistance to subsequent stresses. An early response of Arabidopsis thaliana to touch or wind is the up-regulation of TCH (touch) gene expression. The signal transduction pathway that leads to mechanostimulus responses is not well defined. A role for ethylene has been proposed based on the observation that mechanostimulation of plants leads to ethylene evolution and exogenous ethylene leads to thigmomorphogenetic-like changes. To determine whether ethylene has a role in plant responses to mechanostimulation, we assessed the ability of two ethylene-insensitive mutants, etr1-3 and ein2-1, to undergo thigmomorphogenesis and TCH gene up-regulation of expression. The ethylene-insensitive mutants responded to wind similarly to the wild type, with a delay in flowering, decrease in inflorescence elongation rate, shorter mature primary inflorescences, more rosette paraclades, and appropriate TCH gene expression changes. Also, wild-type and mutant Arabidopsis responded to vibrational stimulation, with an increase in hypocotyl elongation and up-regulation of TCH gene expression. We conclude that the ETR1 and EIN2 protein functions are not required for the developmental and molecular responses to mechanical stimulation.
PMID: 9489014 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
There's also a research group at Purdue that seems to be focusing on the effect of shaking, vibration and reduced gravity on plant growth although they conclude that shaking makes the plants shorter and stockier in some species and retard development in others.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 12:19 am (UTC)Also, the heavy metal produces more vibrations than the other stuff as well, that coulda had something to do with why they turned out so well.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 01:11 am (UTC)(And I don't think talking to your houseplants is going to do any good, unless you want to talk to them all day long, in which case you're going to end up shipped off to the looney bin anyhow.)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 02:56 am (UTC)Though, I am of the opinion that all things were created in spirit before they were created physically... so I don't entirely discount the "myth", either.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 03:37 am (UTC)Plant Cell Physiol. 2002 Jun;43(6):647-51.
Effects of mechanical vibration on seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.
* Uchida A,
* Yamamoto KT.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810 Japan.
The effects of sinusoidal vibration (40-120 Hz, amplitude equal to or smaller than 0.42 mm) on seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana were examined. When the amplitude of vibration was fixed at 0.42 mm, vibration with frequencies higher than 70 Hz increased the rate of seed germination. When the frequency of vibration was fixed at 100 Hz, vibration with amplitudes larger than 0.33 mm also increased the rate of germination. The increase in the rate of germination appeared dependent on acceleration calculated from the frequency and amplitude of vibration. Vibration with a maximum acceleration of 70 m s(-2) increased the rate of germination, but the promotive effects leveled off at higher accelerations. Vibration had little effect on seed germination in a starch-deficient mutant, pgm. Thus, the amyloplasts appeared to act as a susceptor that senses mechanical vibrations. No vibration-induced promotion of germination was seen in an ethylene-insensitive mutant, etr1, or in the wild type in the presence of aminoethoxyvinylglycine, an inhibitor of ethylene synthesis, suggesting that vibration increased the rate of seed germination through the action of ethylene.
PMID: 12091718 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Plant Physiol. 1998 Feb;116(2):643-9.
Arabidopsis thaliana responses to mechanical stimulation do not require ETR1 or EIN2.
* Johnson KA,
* Sistrunk ML,
* Polisensky DH,
* Braam J.
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005-1892, USA.
Plants exposed to repetitive touch or wind are generally shorter and stockier than sheltered plants. These mechanostimulus-induced developmental changes are termed thigmomorphogenesis and may confer resistance to subsequent stresses. An early response of Arabidopsis thaliana to touch or wind is the up-regulation of TCH (touch) gene expression. The signal transduction pathway that leads to mechanostimulus responses is not well defined. A role for ethylene has been proposed based on the observation that mechanostimulation of plants leads to ethylene evolution and exogenous ethylene leads to thigmomorphogenetic-like changes. To determine whether ethylene has a role in plant responses to mechanostimulation, we assessed the ability of two ethylene-insensitive mutants, etr1-3 and ein2-1, to undergo thigmomorphogenesis and TCH gene up-regulation of expression. The ethylene-insensitive mutants responded to wind similarly to the wild type, with a delay in flowering, decrease in inflorescence elongation rate, shorter mature primary inflorescences, more rosette paraclades, and appropriate TCH gene expression changes. Also, wild-type and mutant Arabidopsis responded to vibrational stimulation, with an increase in hypocotyl elongation and up-regulation of TCH gene expression. We conclude that the ETR1 and EIN2 protein functions are not required for the developmental and molecular responses to mechanical stimulation.
PMID: 9489014 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
There's also a research group at Purdue that seems to be focusing on the effect of shaking, vibration and reduced gravity on plant growth although they conclude that shaking makes the plants shorter and stockier in some species and retard development in others.