Do plants prefer certain colours?

emiff6

Googling around, I noticed a lot of American farmers now use red plastic as a mulch under their tomatoes, to improve productivity.

Then I found this site:

http://growingtaste.com/mulches.shtml

that says that where trials have been done (at Penn State Uni) it was found that different colours do have different effects on plants.

Has anyone done any experimenting along these lines?

Do you think colour does make a difference? Can a certain colour improve or worsen a crop?

Should I be growing lobelia (dark blue) with the squashes, and geraniums (red) with the toms?

crumblepie

I read something somewhere a couple of years ago (that's specific!) that if the colour red is placed by tomatoes the tomato 'thinks' its competition and grows bigger and helps them to ripen. I haven't tried it myself but as I am growing tomatoes this year it could be an interesting experiment.

LilacPixie

ooo interesting... I think a little experiment would be harmless enough

nodwah

Never heard of that, very interesting. I 'd better change the back wall of my greenhouse from green to red then!

Davesnave

I know someone who has discovered that plants each have their own sound, so he is working on recording them and looking at practical applications of this.

What to us seems a visually attractive combination of plants, might actually be a total nightmare from a plant perspective. For example, putting a canna lilly next to a rose could be a 'neighbour from hell' situation, with the rose emitting soft chamber music-type sounds and the canna belting out drum n' bass at 120dB. Yes, I know they are 'only plants,' but plants deserve some rights too!

Obviously, much more research is needed here, especially if an EU grant is available. Indeed, we could eventually see new legislation to protect plant sensitivities. The European Plant Combinations Act could be a step towards recognising botanic rights, ensuring that certain of the most harmful groupings are banned. I for one would love to see petunias, bizzy lizzies and lobelia kept well apart, or only planted in rear gardens of consenting adults away from public thoroughfares.

aliasojo

Davesnave wrote: »

Obviously, much more research is needed here, especially if an EU grant is available. Indeed, we could eventually see new legislation to protect plant sensitivities. The European Plant Combinations Act could be a step towards recognising botanic rights, ensuring that certain of the most harmful groupings are banned. I for one would love to see petunias, bizzy lizzies and lobelia kept well apart, or only planted in rear gardens of consenting adults away from public thoroughfares.

I can't decide if you are being serious or not with all of that but especially the bold bit.

So > :undecided or > :rotfl:depending.

aliasojo

emiff6 wrote: »

Should I be growing lobelia (dark blue) with the squashes, and geraniums (red) with the toms?

I read that you should grow marigolds with tomatoes but it's to do with pest control, not colour.

"Tomatoes are the mainstay of the homevegetable garden. Growing them can sometimes be challenging, though, considering their susceptibility to nematodes, a type of soil-borne parasites. Companion planting with marigolds, an old-fashioned method of pest control, is very effective in controlling nematodes, according the Washington State University Extension. Marigolds are effective in controlling nematodes because they emit thiopene into the soil, a chemical that nematodes don't like."

pinkcandyflossprincess

aliasojo wrote: »

I can't decide if you are being serious or not with all of that but especially the bold bit.

So > :undecided or > :rotfl:depending.

Me neither:rotfl:
i wonder what sounds giant sunflowers make:eek:

Davesnave

aliasojo wrote: »

I can't decide if you are being serious or not with all of that but especially the bold bit.

So > :undecided or > :rotfl:depending.

The first sentence is true, and I find it interesting, but I need to quiz said person a lot more.

The rest is just me, forgetting which board I'm on.... :rotfl:

peter_the_piper

We grow bedding in a blue tunnel, supposed to let more of a certain wavelength of light through. Can't say thay grow any better than those in the opaque plastic. What it does do is to make it quite strange when you go out as your eyes get used to the blue and react to the sunlight.

Lotus-eater

crumblepie wrote: »

I read something somewhere a couple of years ago (that's specific!) that if the colour red is placed by tomatoes the tomato 'thinks' its competition and grows bigger and helps them to ripen. I haven't tried it myself but as I am growing tomatoes this year it could be an interesting experiment.

I've had a little look at the info about this and it doesn't look promising tbh.
Not enough to make me try it anyway.