I read about a study like this about a decade ago. They placed a bunch of sensors on a few plants and then tortured some other plants nearby them. They said that they stressed them but I knew what that meant! Their equipment picked up the slightest, tiniest vibrations coming from the unharmed plants that could/would create sound that we are unable to hear.
And a few years ago I was listening to a Science Friday program on NPR. They were talking about an agricultural scientist who, looking out of her office window noticed a half barrel pot sitting outside against the building under a spigot. It had a small, pathetic looking plant on the far side of the pot. The spigot dripped slowly all day. By midsummer she noticed that the plant was slowly growing toward the dripping water and away from the direction of the sun. She figured it was desperately growing toward the much needed moisture but wondered if that was true. Did it feel the vibration of the drip or feel the moisture or 'hear' the sound of the drip.
So she decided to try an experiment. She set up a similar situation in her office with dripping water and over several months the plant moved towards it. When she was sure the plant was moving toward the drip she stopped the dripping water and set up a cd player. It turned on for a few hours every afternoon and played the sound of dripping water. The plant continued to move toward the sound of the water. She wondered how it was possible when the plants have no ears. She had only tried it once unscientifically (with no control group or anything) for fun and happened to mention it to someone from the Science Friday group. 3 of their amateur volunteer science buffs decided to try the experiment too. 2 of them reported no change but the 3rd said she saw a definite difference. The plant did move towards the noise even though she put the noise in a different place then the original drip.
Well, it sounds to me like there might be something to it. So I have often imagined that all of my houseplants might be screaming at me every time I'm cutting up vegies and preparing my dinner! My fruit trees must be cussing me out every spring when I prune them and my roses must call me every name in the book when I fuss over them. I guess they might have a love/hate relationship with me since I also feed and water them. And I sometimes remember a line from a very old movie I saw years ago..... 'I hope it's a long and healthy hate'.
