Let it grow! How a little soft singing can boost your blooms: Plants that ‘listen’ to music grow more leaves, take in more sun, and produce much more food, research finds

King Charles has been known to talk to his plants – but it looks like he might want to try a little singing too.

According to researchers, plants that “listen” to music grow 10% more leaves, receive more sunlight and produce more food.

They say the results are so amazing that they could pave the way for a new type of “sound transplantation.”

During the study, the song of the Bandari purple butterfly was played on duckweed, a common grass used as animal feed that is high in protein.

The song was played on plants for five hours a day at 60-70 decibels – the volume level of a normal conversation.

After seven days, the researchers compared the duckweed that had music played to another group that slept in silence. They found that music had significant and almost immediate effects.

During the study, the song of the Bandari purple butterfly was played on duckweed, a common grass used as animal feed that is high in protein.

King Charles admitted that he talked to his plants when he was interviewed on a television program in 1986

At five days, the leaf growth rate of the ‘musical’ plants was approximately 10% greater than that of the ‘silent’ group, while protein levels rose by 60%.

They were also more efficient at processing sunlight.

Although the researchers are not clear why music has such an amazing effect, they found that the sound vibrations from the music changed the action of the plants’ 1,296 genes, including genes involved in photosynthesis and hormone control. “Our results provided reasonable evidence of elevated photosynthesis during music therapy,” the researchers from China’s Tianjin Normal University wrote in the journal Plant Signaling and Behavior.

“The results suggest that music enhanced the ability to use light energy, and provided new ideas for plant acoustics research.”

King Charles admitted that he talked to his plants when he was interviewed on a television program in 1986.

“I just come in and really talk to the plants,” he said. “It’s very important to talk to them – they respond, I find.”

Although the then Prince of Wales’s comments were widely ridiculed, studies have since shown that plants react to sounds.