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asleep_in_the_garden

The Backster effect

Any one here familiar with this?

Perhaps this would have been best discussed in the off topic forum,but yaknow...it's plant related,right?

Comments (10)

  • pirate_girl
    9 years ago

    Hard to say w/out a pic, was there an attachment? Doesn't appear to be any.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    A pic? lol

    Basically the Backster effect amounts to plants being telepathic. Dr. Backster conducted experiments that supposedly proved it.

    When I asked if anyone was familiar with it I assumed that they would either know in advance,or maybe even be curious enough to look it up themselves before commenting(I do assume much,don't I?).

    I considered adding a link,but there are conflicting views about this and I didn't want to steer it one way or the other.
    ...besides...many people don't even look at a link when one provides it. heh

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    9 years ago

    Familiar with the experiments, done in the early 60s. More interesting studies emerge from the late nineteenth century, I think. Interesting, but not convincing that plants think, have feelings, ESP skills. Anthropomorphic attributes ascribed to plants belittles their highly sophisticated chemical and physiological responses.

  • dellis326 (Danny)
    9 years ago

    Yeah, Generally regarded as pseudoscience meaning that the experiments that were conducted were not able to be reliably repeated by other experimenters.

    Just because plants may respond to their environment doesn't automatically mean that there is sentience.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    My gut says pretty much the same,..but sometimes(in that same way I don't really take other weird stuff too seriously) I like to think that there's more. Sometimes it's a neat fancy of mine to ponder stuff like this.

  • shenue
    9 years ago

    Back in the 70s there was a lot of talk about this kind of thing. One article I read suggested trying this experiment...which I did. Take off two leaves from the same plant (I used schefflera leaves) and put them side by side in an area of your house that doesn't get direct heat or AC. Then several times each day, to one leaf, direct feelings of hate and visions of scissors cutting the leaf, burning the leaf with fire...etc. To the other leave send thoughts and feelings of love and well-being....which I did. The idea was to see if the leaf that got the feelings of love stayed green/greener longer than the one that received the thoughts of hate and harm. Well, amazingly enough the 'love' leaf stayed green while the other leaf turned brown and died rather quickly. Obviously one little 'experiment' on my part didn't prove anything one way or the other. But I must say, it was very interesting and did make me re-think my long held belief that plants were only one step above being inanimate. Since that time, ohhh so m any years ago, I do treat my plants with respect, good positive thoughts, and appreciation for their beauty and the happiness they bring to my life. Another little side story...many years ago I lived in an apartment and my good friends lived right next door. We had ground floor apartments with very nice patios. We both had potted plants (mainly marigolds) and both cared for them quite the same. Mine thrived like crazy, while hers barely survived. The only real difference was that I took time every morning to sit on the patio and really appreciate their beauty and send loving thoughts their way. I know, I know, makes me sound crazy...maybe I am. lol Anyway, again, this doesn't actually prove anything, but it was another thing that made me realize there may be more to plant life than just meets the eye. :-)

  • tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
    9 years ago

    "The only real difference was that I took time every morning to sit on the patio and really appreciate their beauty and send loving thoughts their way".

    The fly in the ointment is believing your good vibes directed at the plants was the ONLY difference. I bet if we looked hard enough, we could find differences that provide a perfectly logical accounting for the variance in vitality. Plants are reactive organisms; and the better we understand them, the more predictable their reactions are.

    Al

    This post was edited by tapla on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 17:27

  • shenue
    9 years ago

    As I said...this was just my personal experience. It's not meant to prove or disprove anything. And I am in no way saying I believe plants to be psychic. I'm just saying it made me appreciate them more and understand that there 'might' be more to them than is evident on the surface. That's all. And the story about the patio wasn't an experiment, just an observation. No big deal.

  • asleep_in_the_garden
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I'm sure Al has had that feeling of spiritual connection with his plants as much as any of us. He just has enough plant science under his belt to demystify what a lot of us are still trying to figure out...and as such it's much easier to explain away the wonder of it all..but nobody knows EVERYTHING about plants,right Al? ;)

  • tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
    9 years ago

    I definitely feel a connection to the plants I tend, though I wouldn't necessarily call it spiritual. It's a difficult thing to explain. I know I have a nurturing side. As I look back, it was/is most made manifest in my life in my family, pets, plants, and to a large degree my endeavors at helping others get more from their growing experience for their efforts.

    Working toward proficiency at bonsai has proven to be intellectually challenging and serves to provide a sense of how much more there is yet to learn. It's one of those "things" that helps to illustrate that the more you know, the more you realize how much more there IS to know. One thing I've learned though, is that 90% of the reasons for our successes and failures are to be found in is a few things we might consider as being foundational - a good soil, the right light, proper temperatures, and good nutritional management. Getting these things right is surprisingly easy, but it does take some effort.

    So, when it comes to things like talking to your plants, playing classical music for them, or otherwise interacting with them in ways other than making an attempt to provide the cultural conditions we already KNOW they will respond favorably to, you can be assured that no flow of good feelings is going to make up for poor foundational requirements.

    Lol - if plants had reason to hate anyone, they'd have it in spades for me. I'm constantly chopping off arms, legs, and heads, on the way to building beautiful bonsai trees. If there was a love/hate relationship between plant and grower, plants SHOULD hate me; yet, if you take into consideration how well they grow for me, it would be easier to justify the idea they love me than hate me. Perhaps they just take into account the fact that I mean well, and that's all they need.
    {{gwi:10897}} Al

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