On Wed, 4 May 2005 09:12:09 +0100, "shazzbat"
wrote:

"Chris" ] wrote in message
]...
Do you reckon talking to plants might actually work - because you are
giving them carbon dioxide?
An episode of Dr Who inspired this thought!
--

I've heard this claimed. I've also heard, and this I agree with, That when
you talk to your plants, you are paying them attention and therefore will
notice if they need watering/ repotting/whatever, and this is why they
thrive.

It's the old nature/nurture debate - and I decided to test it last
year with six courgette plants.

I provided two environments; one rich in well-rotted farmyard manure,
the other simply plain soil a suitable distance away.
I placed two courgette plants in each patch ( a suitable distance
apart ), all of the same variety.

I then selected one plant in each patch and marked it down for special
treatment and convivial banter. The remaining plants were selected for
verbal abuse.

I created a control patch with the same conditions, again with two
courgette plants, which would receive nothing but bog-standard
tending.

From a period of early May through to the end of the season I
cultivated the plants.
Whenever I tended the plants I always approached the plants selected
for preferential treatment first, greeted them, enquired of their
health, kept them abreast of events in the household, and complimented
them on their fine flowers and fruits.
On particularly fine days I read Thurber to them, and Frank
Muir/Dennis Norden essays from the 'Complete and Utter My Word'.

As regards the plants singled out for abuse I swore at them, called
into question their pedigree and breeding, ridiculed the size of their
fruits and threatened them with a scythe.

The only difference I noted at the end of the trial was that the
plants grown in less rich soil were about 25% smaller, though by no
means less productive.
Each plant was left with one fruit on at the end of the season to grow
on into a marrow - and this time the plants on richer soil provided
slightly larger fruits.

I was also completely bloody sick of courgettes, and so was everyone
else I'd offloaded the surplus on.

This year I shall be trialling flea beetle deterrents using pictures
of Jimmy Saville and Mo Mowlem.

Regards,




--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk