The Talking Trees

Pop culture’s fascination with “thinking plants” dates at least to 1973, when Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird’s The Secret Life of Plants popularized the idea plants can sense, communicate, and even “learn,” mixing science with sensational anecdotes of human–plant bonds. The best-known episode features Cleve Backster, a CIA interrogation specialist. He wired a polygraph to a potted plant; as he pictured touching the plant’s leaf, the machine’s needle went wild. Conclusion: mind-reading greenery.

“There’s a plant called cleome,” said Ben Lind, chief science officer and co-owner at Humboldt Seed Company, “that grows these big, sparkler-like flowers with delicate red petals. And if you plant one of those near your cannabis plants, those delicate petals are very sensitive to moisture, so, when it starts to wilt ever so slightly, you know your soil is dry enough to water. It’s like an organic watering wizard.”

Read the full story at Hii Magazine.