I have a cactus in my bathroom, but we got nothing to say to each other ~ Max Goldman, Grumpier Old Men

From the minute I plant the seed, I watch for them to spring up as if I’m in a cartoon expecting them to sprout up immediately. Every day I talk to them at least once. I tell them things like, ” you are beautiful, you are strong, ” or “you are gonna grow up to be strong and healthy. ”

I firmly believe that plants are not only living organisms, but they do respond to positive words. Also, plants increase photosynthesis production in response to carbon dioxide, which is a by product of human breath and speech. When you try to google, “does talking to your plants help them grow”, most results will say they can not confirm it because every study was done different.

I seen one that my friend had done. She planted seeds from the same pack in the exact same pots. She gave them the same amount of sunlight and the same amount of water. The only difference is she would take them one at a time to her bedroom, as I witnessed this, she would speak soft encouraging words to one while telling the other in and angry voice how it was pitiful and ugly and would never grow up to be pretty. The results were stunning, the one she encouraged was beautiful and full, and the one she talked ugly to looked small and wilted over. I thought about trying that experiment myself but I can not bring my self to be mean to plants. So encourage your plants to grow and think about this, if talking words of encouragement will help plants this much imagine what a few encouraging words could do for people.

This blog was written by Grow Your Own’s Michaelle Gravley. She has been in the program for two years and her son has recently started getting very excited about growing, too! The photos above are of her plants and harvests from last year.

We should all learn from Michaelle’s example: be kind to other organisms. I haven’t done an experiment like this so I can’t say I’ve seen it with my own two eyes, but I feel it – when I hug a tree (literally), when I run my hands over a flat of seedlings, when I say, “you are looking radishing,” to my radishes.

Regardless of the science behind it, it seems clear that treating our plants with respect, admiration, and love has an overwhelmingly positive impact! Whether its energy, a change in ourselves in how we handle them, if plants can hear you… I don’t know. But I know that Michaelle has grown some BEAUTIFUL plants with her kind words and loving care for them!