Scientists test benefits of talking to plants

Of all the statements for which the Prince of Wales has been lampooned, one has endured more than most in the public imagination and done much to cement his reputation for eccentricity. Now, more than two decades after he said that it was “very important” to talk to plants and that “they respond”, the Royal Horticultural Society is trying to determine if he was right.

It is conducting a study into how – if at all – the human voice affects tomato plants. Open auditions are to be held today at the RHS garden, at Wisley, Surrey, to find voices to make recordings of Shakespeare’s verse and John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids. These will then be played to ten plants around the clock.



Each tomato plant will “listen” to a different recording through the headphones of an MP3 player attached to its pot at root level. The plants will be kept in the same greenhouse and measured before, during and after the experiment. Control plants will be left in peace.

“One of the primary functions of the RHS is scientific research into plants and how to get them to grow better,” James Rudoni, the head of Wisley, said. “Prince Charles talks to plants. Let’s see if there’s something in this.”