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If your garden greens are looking a little sad, you might want to swap the watering can for a speaker and hit play on some Bach.
According to a recent study published in the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, classical music—specifically Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos—could give your plants a major growth boost. The research, led by a team from the University of Oxford, found that plants exposed to classical music grew heavier, leafier, and developed more robust root systems than those subjected to rock music or silence.
The researchers divided bok choy (also known as pak choi) into three groups. Over a six-week period, each group was exposed to two-hour sound sessions. One group listened to all six Brandenburg Concertos, another got a playlist of instrumental rock, and the control group grew in silence. (Tragic, really.)
From the second week on, the team tracked plant height and number of leaves. At harvest, they measured root volume and the fresh and dry weight of each plant. The results? Team Bach dominated, growing the biggest, leafiest, and heaviest plants, with roots measuring up to 90 cubic centimetres—compared to 77 for the silent group and just 30 for the rockers.
Professor Charles Spence, co-author and experimental psychology professor at Oxford says “Playing music to plants is not as crazy as it may sound at first,” he said. “Classical music may have an effect on plant growth because plants are attuned to vibrations, such as the vibrations of running water in soil, and they react to them biologically.”
Rock music, on the other hand, may contain frequencies outside the sweet spot for plant growth, which could explain the underwhelming results for the guitar solo crowd.
Still, before you install surround sound in your greenhouse, scientists caution that one study doesn’t make a rule.
“Despite the promise around the use of classical music to help stimulate plant [growth], further studies are undoubtedly still needed before any firm conclusions… can be drawn,” the authors wrote.
This isn’t the first time researchers have turned up the volume on the plant-music connection. A 2015 study found that tomato plants exposed to classical music grew two and a half times better than those that weren’t. A 2017 experiment on wheat seeds revealed that classical music helped seeds grow an average of 3.33 centimetres per week—far outpacing those exposed to Led Zeppelin and other rock genres, which only managed 1.33 centimetres weekly.
Gardeners are no strangers to unorthodox tricks—talking to plants, burying banana peels, even moon-phase planting calendars. But with research like this, classical music might just earn its place in the gardening toolkit.
So, if you're looking to turn your garden from meh to magnificent, it might be time to trade in the fertilizer for a little fugue. While more research is still needed, the science so far suggests your plants may just be budding Bach fans. And what better way to keep them happy than by tuning your dial to Winnipeg’s own Classic 107? With a steady stream of symphonies, concertos, and cantatas, it’s the perfect playlist—not just for you, but maybe for your garden, too.
Just maybe keep the volume neighbour-friendly.