I believe the plants that listen to happy music will grow the most and the plants that listen to sad music will grow the least because I think the music will affect their mood and the happier they are, the more they will grow.

Basic things plants need to grow are air, light, nutrients, water and space.

Controlled Variable:

Water, Soil, Pots

Manipulated Variable:

The type of music that is played around them

Responding Variable:

How much they grow/ How healthy they are

1. First the plants will be moved into bigger pots with a mix of 2 different potting soils. Then they will be measured.
2. They will each be watered 1 or 2 cups of water depending on how dry the soil is. They will all be watered the same amount of water on the same days.
3. Everyday the happy, sad and no music plants will be separated for about an hour to listen to their music.
4. Everyday they will listen to music for 1 hour, for 6 weeks
5. They will be measured a couple of times during the experiment
6. At the end of the experiment the plants will be measured again and their growth will be compared

Observations

Tiny the Herb ( plant 1 )

• Starting size was 29.5cm tall 
• On day 21 height is 29.2cm tall
• Started to look a little dry on day 21
• Final measurement was 28.1cm tall
• Leaning back a little
• Fresh and Green from start to end of experiment
• Lost 1.4cm in height by end of experiment
• No music

Mickey ( plant 2 )

• Starting size was 27 cm tall
• On day 21 height was the same 27 cm
• Soil looked dry on day 21
• Final measurement was 23.6 cm tall
• By end the top branches were dying and bending over it wasn’t very green and lots of areas were browning and dry
• Lost 3.4 cm in height by the end of the experiment
• No music

Minnie ( plant 3 )

• Starting size was 27 cm tall
• On day 21 the soil looked very dry
• On day 21 the height was 26.3 cm 
• The final measurement was 24.5 cm tall
• By the end most branches dried out and were drooping, plant is dying 
• Lost 1.7 cm in height by the end of the experiment
• No music

Grinch ( plant 4 )

• Starting size was 27.2 cm tall
• On day 21 the soil looked pretty dry
• On day 21 the height was 26.6 cm tall
• Grinch was losing pieces on day 22
• The final measurement was 23.5cm tall
• Basically completely brown, very dried out, drooping/falling dying
• Lost 3.7 cm in height by the end of the experiment
• Happy music

Queen Green ( plant 5 )

• Starting size was 29.6 cm tall
• Height was 24 cm on day 21
• Soil was dry on day 21
• The final height was 30.2 cm
• By the end of the experiment the plant was very green, standing straight, up, not dry or browning
• Gained 0.6 cm in height by the end of the experiment
• Happy music

King Green ( plant 6 )

• Starting height was 25.9 cm tall
• Soil was dry on day 21
• Height was 24 cm on day 21
• Final height was 24.4 cm tall
• Very green, maybe a tiny bit of brown, leaning back a lot by end of experiment
• Happy music

Master Shrub ( plant 7 )

• Starting height was 28 cm 
• Soil looked really dry on day 21
• Height was 26.3 cm on day 21
• Final height was 23.3 cm tall
• Leaning more, top branches are beginning to fall, still very green by the end of the experiment
• Lost 4.7 cm in height
• Sad music

Sir Plant ( plant 8 )

• Starting size was 26 cm tall
• Soil looked dry on day 21
• Height was 26.5 cm tall on day 21
• Final height was 27.1 cm tall
• Very green, standing up straight, tiny areas of brown, very little dryness by end
• Gained 1.1 cm in height
• Sad music

Madam Tree ( plant 9 )

• Starting height was 26 cm 
• On day 21 the soil was dry
•  The height on day 21 was 25 cm 
• The final height was 26.6 cm
• Very green, top branches are starting to drop with one or two branches that are starting to dry and brown
• Lost 0.7 cm 
• Sad music

My hypothesis was partly correct. This is because the plants without music barely had any growth and two of them ended up drying out. The music plants on the other hand had better results. They had more growth and were much greener, except for one of the happy plants which dried out.

In conclusion, I think that music benefits plants and helps them grow healthier. The sad music had a better result on some of the plants, I think this might have been because it was slower, making it more calming. The happy music plants all did pretty well as well, but one of them dried out. 

My project and research can be related to the real world because it can help people grow plants, for example in a greenhouse. In a greenhouse they might mind what type of music is played so that they can get the best possible results for the plants. Another way my research can be applied in the real world is that it can be related to people. If music benefits plants, there is a large chance that it will do the same for people. 

There were a couple sources of error in my project. One source of error was the placement of the plants. When they were separated, to play different music, they were often in different environments causing them to be exposed to different things. Another source of error came with watering them. I tried to water them all the same so that it would not change the results in the end, but at the store the plants were watered in different amounts. This resulted in some plants being pretty dry while others were drowning in water. Another source of error might have been how much the plants were moved. The music plants, happy and sad, were moved almost all the time, to separate them for different music. The no music plants on the other hand were moved occasionally, but usually remained in the same destination. 

Let’s Talk Science ( 2022 ) Needs of Plants. Retrieved from https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/backgrounders/needs-plants#:~:text=Plants%20have%20specific%20needs%20%2D%20light,space%20%2D%20to%20survive%20and%20reproduce.

Molly Michelson & California Academy of Sciences ( July 8, 2014 ) Do plants Hear. Retrieved from https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/do-plants-hear#:~:text=Plants%20are%20surprising%20organisms%E2%80%94without,to%20respond%20to%20sounds%2C%20too. 

I want to thank and acknowledge everyone who helped me with my project. I want to thank Ms. Olfert, Ms. Duncan and Ms. Nangi for helping with my research as well as the overall project. I want to thank my mom and dad for buying me the materials for my experiment as well as helping me take care of the plants. I also want to thank my sister for helping me take care of the plants and my grandma for letting me use her room to keep the plants there, and finally my cousin for helping me repot the plants.