I don't think it actually helps, but I still do it anyways. Tell them how great they look and how wonderfully they're growing and how much I love them. In my mind it's what makes them grow so well, but scientifically I don't think it does anything.

I threaten and curse at my plants regularly, with good results. Fear is an excellent motivator.

Lol.... Do you threaten to light them on fire? I usually am talking to myself, but if asked will say I am talking to the plants or the cats if the room has no plants. It is better to have at least one plant per room for that reason.

I try to keep conversation with my plants to a minimum. It shows them who's boss when you give them the silent treatment, but occasionally ....

I DO keep accurate & detailed records, and I'm not afraid to use them! I have found a way to simplify the process and minimize the amount of time it takes to keep these records up to date. I've decided that for my purposes, there were only three areas that warranted my keeping account of what my plants were doing & when. The careful selection of these three areas was key in freeing up my time to pursue plant interests aside from record-keeping. This may or may not help you.

1) Each time a plant leaves any of the growing benches without authorization, I make a mental note of it, instead of marking it down. I strictly enforce the "three strikes & you're out" rule. It seems to be working as the incidence of AWOL plants is very low lately.

2) Whenever a plant pitches a fit & stops transpiring until it turns brown, I make another mental note of it. Before placing a "black mark" on the record of plants such as this, I first serve notice that if it doesn't mend it's ways, it will be discarded, along with its personal page in my book of records. Often a quick trip to even the near vicinity of the compost pile is all it takes to correct this aberrant behavior and restore vitality.

3) Plants that pretend they are suffering for such trite reasons as lack of water or fertilizer will be threatened with the same three strikes rule as outlined in example #1. I remind them with something like "There are starving plants in China - so you don't have it so bad ..... what about the Mangroves - they're half-drowning all the time!" I tell them things like they will have to wait until spring to be fed, or even threaten them by telling them I'm repotting them into a store-bought soil.

At that time, I don't yet mark anything down, choosing instead to put the plants and their records from example #1 in plain view; the obvious implication here being "You could be in their shoes". This usually gets them (and me) through 'til spring without having to mark anything down - but I would if I had to!!!

Let me know, please, if you have need of additional aid in structuring your own set of simple records.

Al

Apparently, as I had read, there IS a scientific reason for plants to grow better when you talk to them... the c02 in your breath. Although I don't talk to my plants, I believe there may be other "scientific" reasons for plants to do better when you talk to them positively. Albeit much lesser known and accepted, from the alternative sciences. Biogeometry, and the research done with crops, comes into play here, or another example, Dr. Masaru Emoto, who did studies on food and found they did not spoil as quickly when given positive messages (in comparison with those given negative messages).

Yep, organic amos is right. There is a scientific reason behind it. When you talk near plants, you expel CO2, and this additional CO2 leads to a higher rate of photosynthesis in the plant. It's known as carbon dioxide enrichment in horticulture...I wouldn't expect double the growth just from talking to your plants though!!

Carbon dioxide enrichment is used extensively in horticultural greenhouse applications to get better growth from crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Its pretty cool stuff that goes into achieving high quality/high yield in the greenhouse!

Frazzled, I don't threaten violence, more of a 'you can't be here if you're going to act like that, you ^%$#!!'

I offered one to my office mates this week and I said I was doing it because the offender was destroying the morale of my other plants.

Guest, I'll take your question as though you really are serious....expelling some carbon diozide and oxygen out of your mouth while talking to a plant actually does something.

I think it does. It makes you out to be somebody who if you tell them you do it, they'll squinch up their eyebrows and walk away shaking their head.

Guest.....wanna buy a bridge? I have one...crosses the Hudson...a real money burner. I can let you have it cheap....

They invented a saying after somebody suggested this....
"its all greek to me"....
So if you can speak like an Athenian,....

I don't know if it helps the plants or not, but I do it anyway. It's not like I have any other friends to talk to.

I'd rather talk to myself as I get intelligent answers.

I recall the Mythbusters doing an experiment on this, and it works.
The plants that were talked to nicely actually did much better than the 'silent' ones, but so did the ones that were talked to angrily. So, any talking was found to be better than none at all.

Of course, the plants that had classical music played to them did much better than the ones with heavy metal blaring, too, so I guess plants also have pretty good taste.

blutarski: I did the same thing with two grocery-store Av's. They were refusing to rebloom after a year so I gave them to a co-worker. I believed that they were upsetting the chiritas.

sewobsessed: Heavy metal music is only a human invention, I highly doubt any other plant or animal likes screaming singers or wailing guitars. But it had to be tested!

guest123, long ago and faraway I learned an adage in many short and not-so-sweet lessons. "The eyes of the master fatten the calf". The background to this was that if the master visited the stables regularly, all the stable hands were kept on their toes and did the right things right. If he did not, they did not and the calves did not fatten. There was an Scottish equivalent that went, "the best fertilizer is the dirt off the farmer's foot". Nowadays I hear the term 'scouting'.
The point is that observation, 'up and close' or 'down and dirty' is a key element to heading off problems. And if one is close enough to a plant where the carbon dioxide in one's breath is reaching out to it, then I daresay that (s)he is close enough to observe the signs of malaise. I cannot say that I communicate with plants but I certainly mutter to myself usually when I observe something untoward. So, whatever little trick you use, crop observation is the goal.

I think it probably does the person who does the talking the most benefit. But someone who talks with his/her plants are probably more into them and therefor takes a little better care of them. Although I must admit that after, on more than one occasion, I have threatened a plant with the dumpster and had it do better afterward. Go figure.

Larry