Music to stimulate plants

John Day relates how one scientist in the 1950s conducted experiments to demonstrate how sound waves affect the growth of plants

- John Day

DR T.C.N. Singh, head of the Department of Botany at Annamalai University, south India, stands firmly by his claim that plant growth can be stimulated by rhythmic sound waves produced by music and dancing.

Dr Singh stole the world headlines at the international horticultural congress in France, last spring when he submitted the summary of a paper that he proposed to deliver on the effects of sound vibrations on flowers. He claimed that seedlings of petunia, aster and eupatorium exposed to sound vibrations from an electric motor grew nearly half as tall again and flowered a fortnight earlier than untreated plants. But the claim that really set the horticultural scientists talking was the reference to his co-worker, Miss Stella Ponniah, who, he said, made marigold plants grow more quickly by dancing to them.

According to Dr Singh's summary, Miss Ponniah executed the Indian Bharata Natyam dance daily for 15 minutes 6ft (1.8m) from the marigolds. They grew 60% taller and flowered a fortnight earlier than the control plants.

However, on the afternoon scheduled for Dr Singh to deliver his paper, he did not appear. When I questioned the conference secretary, he could tell me only that Dr Singh had applied for credentials and had sent in the summary of his paper. Among the scientists there were fierce arguments as to whether it was all a beautiful leg-pull.