[unlikelymordant]

Sticking aerials in the soil seems so unlikely to work. Even theoretically, an aerial would mostly be picking up human transmissions, resulting in vanishingly small voltages/currents in the soil. If there is indeed an effect, why not just use a fixed source/oscillator and find the optimal parameters. I think i need to try this myself, on the outside chance there is some effect.

[regularfry]

On further thought, there is something simple that might be going on here. If each plant is sensitive to the electrical activity of other plants, it might not matter exactly what that activity is. The plant could be interpreting it as a signal that another plant is close, and that it needs to outcompete it, making it grow taller with bigger leaves, but because that "other plant" isn't actually there, there's nothing to compete for the nutrients.

[Frannyies]

It's not electricity or electric fields the plants react but chemicals.

[pragma_x]

Honestly, I really think the effect could be just some kind of galvanic effect.

Potting soil is moist, has a non-neutral Ph, and has trace metals hanging out. So if you stick a zinc-coated or copper wire in that, it'll probably start to react in some way. So the effect may still be "electric", in a sense, but not by harvesting "free energy" from the environment. Also, ions directly from this galvanic affect might be working like a kind of fertilizer by being more bio-available somehow (I am not a botanist).

> why not just use a fixed source/oscillator and find the optimal parameters

Exactly. Don't leave it to chance and figure out what's viable. Also: use something unlikely to chemically react with the soil.

[regularfry]

I think it's more likely that there's a chemical effect from the copper, somehow. Maybe it nukes algae that would otherwise be competing for nutrients?

[k__]

They also said that artificial lightning strikes improved mushroom growth.

So, it doesn't seem to be directly related to plants at all.

[regularfry]

That could easily be a different effect. Lightning strikes are going to give off all sorts of interesting chemicals that you wouldn't get just with electric fields.

[_Microft]

The comment on mushrooms and lightning strikes stood out to me as well. My first idea was that lightning arcs might make nitrogen more available by generating nitric oxides?

[trilbyglens]

It might also simply sterilize an area, allowing fast spreading fungi to temporarily dominate in the absence of normal biological competitors.

[ChoGGi]

I've heard of using copper coins in the water of cut flowers to spruce them up.

[m4x]

In the article they talk about using artificial electromagnetic fields as an alternative to sticking random antennas in the soil, which apparently works well too