so can i talk to my plants without being JUDGED

We tend to think of plants as the furniture of the natural world. They don’t move, they don’t make sounds, they don’t seem to respond to anything—at least not very quickly. Grass doesn’t cry when you cut it, flowers don’t scream when they’re picked. But as is often the case, our human view of the world misses quite a lot. Plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is chemical.

Over the years, scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, release compounds into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings all have the same purpose—to spread information about one plant’s disease or infestation so other plants can defend themselves. But exactly how plants receive and act on many of these signals is still mysterious.