Douglas Bean "Experiment"
Can plants respond to love the way children do? A child will grow so long as it is given proper nutrition and living conditions, but will flourish with affection and attention. What is plants are just like kids?
There is evidence to suggest plants have some sort of intelligence comparable to that of humans. Now what to be determined is the connection between plant intelligence and response to love, or if there is one. Just because plants have intelligence does it mean they respond to love? Click the link below to find out more about plant intelligence.
There is evidence to suggest plants have some sort of intelligence comparable to that of humans. Now what to be determined is the connection between plant intelligence and response to love, or if there is one. Just because plants have intelligence does it mean they respond to love? Click the link below to find out more about plant intelligence.
The Experiment
In attempts to discover how affection/hate has an effect on plant development, our Writing 120 class here at UW Eau Claire has conducted an experiment to test this theory.
The experiment has been based off an episode of "The Good Life" in which Douglas (the bean) proves to grow better than the other beans due to being "loved" the most.
To watch the episode return to the home page.
The experiment has been based off an episode of "The Good Life" in which Douglas (the bean) proves to grow better than the other beans due to being "loved" the most.
To watch the episode return to the home page.
Our experiment:
Class was split into 5 groups with 5-6 members each. Groups:
1 "love " group
1 "hate" group
3 control groups
Control group
The responsibilities of this group were simply to grow a bean. Members were to make sure beans were well planted, and received the appropriate amount of water and sunlight. Beans in this group are exposed to whatever kind of environment group member lives (loving, hating, neutral). Each week, members recoded progress in growth to compare to the rest of the class.
Love group
The responsibilities of this group are similar to that of control groups, but with additional love. This group must also provide a proper environment for growing a plant including water and sunlight. On the other hand, this group is required to give extra attention to their beans by directly talking and encouraging them twice a day for 30 seconds at a time, as well as, play "loving" music, provided by the instructor, at least 3 times a day.
"Loving" music provided by the instructor:
Class was split into 5 groups with 5-6 members each. Groups:
1 "love " group
1 "hate" group
3 control groups
Control group
The responsibilities of this group were simply to grow a bean. Members were to make sure beans were well planted, and received the appropriate amount of water and sunlight. Beans in this group are exposed to whatever kind of environment group member lives (loving, hating, neutral). Each week, members recoded progress in growth to compare to the rest of the class.
Love group
The responsibilities of this group are similar to that of control groups, but with additional love. This group must also provide a proper environment for growing a plant including water and sunlight. On the other hand, this group is required to give extra attention to their beans by directly talking and encouraging them twice a day for 30 seconds at a time, as well as, play "loving" music, provided by the instructor, at least 3 times a day.
"Loving" music provided by the instructor:
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Hate group:
This group, again, had responsibilities like the control group to provide proper environment, water, and sunlight to grow a plant. However, this group was required to do quite the opposite of the love group by showing their beans hate and disgust. This group had to display direct hateful words towards theirs beans for 30 seconds at least twice a day. Group members were also required to play "hate" music, provided by the instructor, at least least 3 times a day.
"Hate" music provided by instructor:
(Note: also given the option to play death metal music for beans)
This group, again, had responsibilities like the control group to provide proper environment, water, and sunlight to grow a plant. However, this group was required to do quite the opposite of the love group by showing their beans hate and disgust. This group had to display direct hateful words towards theirs beans for 30 seconds at least twice a day. Group members were also required to play "hate" music, provided by the instructor, at least least 3 times a day.
"Hate" music provided by instructor:
(Note: also given the option to play death metal music for beans)
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Our findings as the "love" group:
Sarah: It took me 4 tries, but after planting 4 seeds, I successfully grew my bean! As the love group, were were supposed to care for our plant. Of course, I had to name my bean. His name was Maverick. I wanted a strong name, and I figured how do you get any stronger or tougher than Tom Cruise from Top Gun? I played mine a lot of country music and told him how great he was. That he was strong and was going to grow to be a great big bean someday. Maverick grew to be 14.5 inches (36.83 cm). He sat by my window, as you can see in the picture to the left, so he got plenty of natural light. He normally was wrapped in paper towel though, because this experiment took place during the winter, and it was too cold for him to rest on the windowsill without any protection. I gave him about two tablespoons of water every other day.
Mindy: My bean growing experience was a success and failure all at the same time. At first there were just two of them, and they grew together quite nicely. Beanie came up first and it was a big day on tenth floor, Towers South. It was a big day because these beans were not being raised in a single parent environment but a family setting. They quickly grew into the TS10 family receiving love from any and everyone that happened to stop by. After a couple weeks of talking and playing music to a cup of dirt, it is no surprise we were all excited. By the time Beano decided to come up, Beanie was already almost 10 cm and had 4 leaves, but Beano was quick to catch up to Beanie. In any case, one tragic night their cup got knocked over and, though we tried everything to bring them back, sadly they didn't make it. Luckily, we had just received new beans from our instructor and my two new beans were already under way. I am happy to report the "Baby Beans" were well welcomed and received just as much love as the first ones. They are still growing strong and stand about two feet tall each around their respective poles. Though the loss of Beanie and Beano was hard, the experiment lives on in the Baby Beans.
Sarah: It took me 4 tries, but after planting 4 seeds, I successfully grew my bean! As the love group, were were supposed to care for our plant. Of course, I had to name my bean. His name was Maverick. I wanted a strong name, and I figured how do you get any stronger or tougher than Tom Cruise from Top Gun? I played mine a lot of country music and told him how great he was. That he was strong and was going to grow to be a great big bean someday. Maverick grew to be 14.5 inches (36.83 cm). He sat by my window, as you can see in the picture to the left, so he got plenty of natural light. He normally was wrapped in paper towel though, because this experiment took place during the winter, and it was too cold for him to rest on the windowsill without any protection. I gave him about two tablespoons of water every other day.
Mindy: My bean growing experience was a success and failure all at the same time. At first there were just two of them, and they grew together quite nicely. Beanie came up first and it was a big day on tenth floor, Towers South. It was a big day because these beans were not being raised in a single parent environment but a family setting. They quickly grew into the TS10 family receiving love from any and everyone that happened to stop by. After a couple weeks of talking and playing music to a cup of dirt, it is no surprise we were all excited. By the time Beano decided to come up, Beanie was already almost 10 cm and had 4 leaves, but Beano was quick to catch up to Beanie. In any case, one tragic night their cup got knocked over and, though we tried everything to bring them back, sadly they didn't make it. Luckily, we had just received new beans from our instructor and my two new beans were already under way. I am happy to report the "Baby Beans" were well welcomed and received just as much love as the first ones. They are still growing strong and stand about two feet tall each around their respective poles. Though the loss of Beanie and Beano was hard, the experiment lives on in the Baby Beans.
Dana: The start of my bean experiment was a bit unorthodox. Being in the love group I was excited to bring a bean home and give it a loving and caring home. Right away there was an awkward sense of forced love in my apartment. Being forced into this relationship was hard at first. I feel like my bean had a deep feeling of animosity towards me sense she didn’t get to choose her caregiver. Between that and explaining to my cat she had a new sister, was chaos at best. It took about a week and a half to gain my beans trust and earn her love, but once she did she spouted and grew very quickly as if to apologize for the hard beginning. After she sprouted I was able to get a sense of her personality and then could name her. Khaleesi. She is strong and willful. I played fun, uplifting music in my home for Khaleesi and taught her to cook sense the best window was in the kitchen.
Brock: It took me a total of five different beans, before I finally got one to grow. My bean had grown a total of 14 inches. I only had one bean grow, out of the three that I planted. I talked to it twice a day, and played music three times a day. I talked to it like it was my baby, and motivated it to get big and strong. I played country music, polka, and hip-hop to hopefully get it to grow. Since I had to care for the bean overall the winter, I placed it in a little cardboard box for warmth, and placed it by my window. I live in Horan Hall at UWEC, so I only had one window to place it by, and it hardly ever got sunlight.Overall the bean got to be a good size, but then it died while I was on my spring break vacation.
Janessa: My first bean, Billy, started off strong. I told him how much I loved him and how all of the other beans would be jealous of how perfect and strong he was. I played him Rhapsody in Green and the Bandolero everyday. The third song I would play for him would be some type of classical piece. Every other day I would water him. He was my pride and joy, until the accident. On our first road trip together, the cold, blustery walk from my dorm room to the car was too much for little Billy to handle, and his green leaves shriveled up. He could not be revived. Later that week, we held the most prestigious funeral that we could. He deserved a tenth floor burial. I held a service on the tenth floor of my dorm building, Towers South. After saying a few words, I released him down the garbage shoot where he was laid to rest. When I accepted his death, I grew a new bean named Jilly. I thought she was a lost cause since she took almost three weeks to finally sprout up. Once she started though, she did not stop. As of today, she has 9 leaves, 5 little baby leaves and is nearly 2 feet tall. I am so proud of what she has become, and I know her late brother, Billy, is just as proud and happy for her.
Brock: It took me a total of five different beans, before I finally got one to grow. My bean had grown a total of 14 inches. I only had one bean grow, out of the three that I planted. I talked to it twice a day, and played music three times a day. I talked to it like it was my baby, and motivated it to get big and strong. I played country music, polka, and hip-hop to hopefully get it to grow. Since I had to care for the bean overall the winter, I placed it in a little cardboard box for warmth, and placed it by my window. I live in Horan Hall at UWEC, so I only had one window to place it by, and it hardly ever got sunlight.Overall the bean got to be a good size, but then it died while I was on my spring break vacation.
Janessa: My first bean, Billy, started off strong. I told him how much I loved him and how all of the other beans would be jealous of how perfect and strong he was. I played him Rhapsody in Green and the Bandolero everyday. The third song I would play for him would be some type of classical piece. Every other day I would water him. He was my pride and joy, until the accident. On our first road trip together, the cold, blustery walk from my dorm room to the car was too much for little Billy to handle, and his green leaves shriveled up. He could not be revived. Later that week, we held the most prestigious funeral that we could. He deserved a tenth floor burial. I held a service on the tenth floor of my dorm building, Towers South. After saying a few words, I released him down the garbage shoot where he was laid to rest. When I accepted his death, I grew a new bean named Jilly. I thought she was a lost cause since she took almost three weeks to finally sprout up. Once she started though, she did not stop. As of today, she has 9 leaves, 5 little baby leaves and is nearly 2 feet tall. I am so proud of what she has become, and I know her late brother, Billy, is just as proud and happy for her.
Class findings: After 10 weeks of hard work tending to our beans, the class compared results. In an interesting turn of events, the control group actual had the most success. Many people had trouble getting their beans to grow, but every group did have beans grown. Beans were able to grow in every environment, but by measuring the height of the beans overall, the control group grew the tallest beans.