# Plants don't grow near Wi-Fi?



## Black Panther (Jul 23, 2013)

It's not the effect on plants which worries me, after all no farmer places routers randomly in fields... but the effect this might possibly have on the regenerative ability and growth of human cells.








Read more here


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## erocker (Jul 23, 2013)

Makes one wonder what WiFi does to to other cells in nature.


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## Fourstaff (Jul 23, 2013)

Free weedkiller? Sign me up please


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## THE_EGG (Jul 23, 2013)

My router is right next to me on my desk D:


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## shovenose (Jul 23, 2013)

That's bullshit.


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## Sasqui (Jul 23, 2013)

This is one experiment worthy of reproducing (no pun intended).  Not sure I beleive it, unless the WiFi source was also producing Gamma rays.


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## Peter1986C (Jul 23, 2013)

They are High Schoolers. This is therefore no "science". They did not even try to avoided mediated variables (or take them in to account).


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## shovenose (Jul 23, 2013)

I'm trying this. Problem is I don't have two identical rooms.


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## Peter1986C (Jul 23, 2013)

Let's leave this to the pros, okay?


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## Sasqui (Jul 23, 2013)

shovenose said:


> I'm trying this. Problem is I don't have two identical rooms.



Nice... place control batch as far away from WiFi as possible and the other near it in the same room?  Defintely need to keep temp, humidity and light same between them.


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## shovenose (Jul 23, 2013)

Sasqui said:


> Nice... place control batch as far away from WiFi as possible and the other near it in the same room?  Defintely need to keep temp, humidity and light same between them.



What should I grow?


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## erocker (Jul 23, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> Let's leave this to the pros, okay?



That makes little to no sense. Routers, paper towels, seeds and water are readily available to anyone. "Professional" is a subjective term.


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## Black Panther (Jul 23, 2013)

Chevalr1c said:


> They are High Schoolers. This is therefore no "science". They did not even try to avoided mediated variables (or take them in to account).



I thought so as well but check the pics - one is nearly 100% the other is nearly 0%. The difference is too great for comfort...
Seeds grow very easily on water-saturated cotton (I've done so several times myself). Never tried it near a router, but I will.



Spoiler



Traditional custom in my country:  It’s traditional to sow wheat, grain and canary seed, ‘gulbiena’, on cotton buds in flat pans five weeks before Christmas. These are left in the dark until the seeds produce white grass-like shoots. The pans with the fully-grown shoots as long as 20 or 30 cm are then used to decorate the crib or the statue of Baby Jesus.


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## shovenose (Jul 23, 2013)

ok so I'm going to do this on the two ends of the window sill one is right next to the three wireless devices (n router, g router, and at&t microcell)...

I will work on this tonight and take pictures and post progress every day...


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## newtekie1 (Jul 23, 2013)

What they didn't say was that the "Radiation Free" room had a window in it, and the other room had little light at all...


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## Black Panther (Jul 23, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> What they didn't say was that the "Radiation Free" room had a window in it, and the other room had little light at all...



I hope what you're saying is true but can you quote the source please?

(Don't misunderstand me, I really hope all this was just a lot of crap or some hoax).


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## MT Alex (Jul 23, 2013)

Look at all the techies dancing around and shaking their fist 'cause someone poked a finger at their god.


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## Norton (Jul 23, 2013)

shovenose said:


> What should I grow?



Chia pets- easy to use, available everywhere, and should provide a comparable environment for the seeds to take root


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## shovenose (Jul 23, 2013)

Norton said:


> Chia pets- easy to use, available everywhere, and should provide a comparable environment for the seeds to take root



I only have one sitting around... How about alfalfa on cloth on plates?


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## newtekie1 (Jul 23, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> I hope what you're saying is true but can you quote the source please?
> 
> (Don't misunderstand me, I really hope all this was just a lot of crap or some hoax).



I was being sarcastic to point out that there are any number of reasons that set will grow better than the other.

I don't put any faith in a 9th grade science experiment.


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## shovenose (Jul 23, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> I was being sarcastic to point out that there are any number of reasons that set will grow better than the other.
> 
> I don't put any faith in a 9th grade science experiment.



And a high school graduates science experiment (mine) is any better? lol, I'll do my best to be as accurate as possible. Maybe I'll also put one on top of a computer power supply 
so:
-routers
-power supply
-nothing


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## CounterZeus (Jul 23, 2013)

I've read this a couple of months ago. Nothing to worry about, the experiment was badly conducted and doesn't mean anything.


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## Mathragh (Jul 23, 2013)

This would've been so much better if they simply moved the router so the plants could be kept at the exact same spot, hopefully with the same externals working on them.

They way they did it now is simply worthless from a scientific point if view, with a lot of very important variables like light intensity totally left out of the picture.

Ofc it does make for a very hot topic, and people love to read/talk about it, but that doesn't change the fact that nothing has been proven here.

Edit: what newtekie said


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## Black Panther (Jul 23, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> there are any number of reasons that set will grow better than the other.



Thing is that this wasn't a case where one grew better. According to the photos nearly all the seeds in one plate grew, whereas all the seeds in the other plate _died_. All of them...







Of course, them being high-schoolers and the lack of scientific environment and all brings the possibility of both plates not being watered equally (too much water might kill as well as too little), or difference in light or air quality... Still such variables shouldn't be killing all the seeds in that plate. It's more likely that someone played a prank where one of the plates was tampered with (poisoned?) or the seeds weren't from the same batch and they used dead seeds.


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## Mathragh (Jul 23, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> Thing is that this wasn't a case where one grew better. According to the photos nearly all the seeds in one plate grew, whereas all the seeds in the other plate _died_. All of them...
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130723/Untitleddddd.png
> 
> ...



Actually, a lack of light(of a specific spectrum) will cause the seeds to not germinate at all. From the looks of that picture that seems to be exactly what has happened. soo, they probably didn't die, they just didn't start growing because of a lack of stimulants.


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## v12dock (Jul 23, 2013)

What type of router did they use and what was its broadcast power and what type of antennas did it use...

I have plants near my router and they are growing just fine, the plants grow between the router and a cordless telephone. In fact I have had plants grow on top of microwaves that were used daily...


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## de.das.dude (Jul 23, 2013)

coconuts in our farm house has gone from being atleast 30cm min dia, to 10cm max dia in those that are close to cellphone towers.


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## Sasqui (Jul 23, 2013)

Norton said:


> Chia pets- easy to use, available everywhere, and should provide a comparable environment for the seeds to take root



LOL



shovenose said:


> I only have one sitting around... How about alfalfa on cloth on plates?



Go to the nearest store that has seed packs in stock, alfalfa would be good.  Try to get the same seed batch numbers and then mix them all together to spread.

Moist/wet papertowel on a plate covered with plastic wrap.  Should be sprouting in 2 days.


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## a_ump (Jul 23, 2013)

i've read some of the "incorrect amount of water" "differrences in sunlight". I can accept the idea of the sunlight being different, the first one though, even if its a high school experiment, isn't hard to do. If i remember to my HS days(3 yrs ago) the kind of students that would do this kind of experiment weren't the reckless, retard students that just throw something together and give it a name.

I give them more credit than the rest of you. and seeing as how it was in a regional science competition, not just a class or school wide competition, there definitely would have to have been data kept on paper to support their results, such as a description on position(which would give way to sunlight exposure), water volume used, seed type, etc. 

I find it believable and its not the first time we've heard of our wireless technologies possibly having an affect on living cells.


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## newtekie1 (Jul 23, 2013)

Black Panther said:


> Thing is that this wasn't a case where one grew better. According to the photos nearly all the seeds in one plate grew, whereas all the seeds in the other plate _died_. All of them...
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130723/Untitleddddd.png
> 
> ...



Yes, but seeds are very very picky.  I put down grass seed to cover some bare spots in my yard a few months ago. One spot sprouted in about a week, the other took about 4 weeks before it showed any signs of life. The one that sprouted quickly got slightly more shade during the day, that was all it took to make a huge difference.

There is so much that could have affected the seeds and prevented them from germinating, or slowed the process down to the point it seems they haven't germinated.  Even the humidity in the room could cause this affect.  If the room with the "dead" seeds had dryer air, this would cause the water they gave the seeds to evaporate quicker and that means the seeds got less water than the ones that grew.

Or maybe one of the students went behind the others back and put a few drops of weed/grass killer in the plates when no one was looking because they wanted a result so they would have their 15 minutes of fame...


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## Black Panther (Jul 23, 2013)

Sasqui said:


> Moist/wet papertowel on a plate covered with plastic wrap.  Should be sprouting in 2 days.



I'd suggest water-saturated cottonwool but no plastic wrap since that would encourage moulding and lack of air circulation.

I wish this experiment ends well, the only professor interested I found on google was Prof Olle Johanssen and though I certainly haven't read up everything on him he seems to be eager to prove all that stuff about cellphone radiation and wifi causing cancers etc.... 

The way I see this is like the butter vs margarine issue. First everybody used to eat butter, then there was the 'saturated fats will kill you with clogged arteries' scare. So margarine emerged as a hero. For a decade or so. Then they discovered natural butter is good and margarine was the heart attack culprit.. and that there were carcinogenous ingredients in margarine. Now, at least in my part of the world, both are considered as 'bad' and olive oil emerges as the 'hero fat' who falls just short of curing the world of blocked arteries and cancer... And probably in 2023 they'd discover olive oil as being the culprit for infertility or something

Anyway, better to be safe than sorry. Our house is on the largish side and the router is in the room next to where our kid sleeps. I'll be moving it further away. Moving it away won't hurt (but might make it safer 'just in case' all this was true...)

And it's a great thing I don't live with my parents any more. In fact I'm *not* gonna tell my parents about this out of respect for my younger bro who still lives with my parents  (they'd turn off the router immediately... and forever... ),


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## RejZoR (Jul 23, 2013)

This just means this particular weed doesn't like something. I have bunch of cactuses near my Linksys E4200 and they grow just fine. Same for plants on the window shelf.

It also seems a bit extreme that you see such major difference. That alone makes me doubt the results, because even proven bad things are never THIS drastic. Considering my time next to routers, all my limbs should have fallen off me years ago and all plants in large diameter around it shouldn't grow at all, but they haven't...


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## Kreij (Jul 23, 2013)

I don't see a real problem. Just don't put a router in the room where you are growing your pot garden vegetables.


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## W1zzard (Jul 23, 2013)

a_ump said:


> i've read some of the "incorrect amount of water" "differrences in sunlight".



that was my first thought too. the router increases local temperature? which reduces humidity?

this kind of experiment is extremely easy to replicate for everyone at home. and extremely difficult to get right by scientific standards


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## erocker (Jul 23, 2013)

W1zzard said:


> that was my first thought too. the router increases local temperature? which reduces humidity?
> 
> this kind of experiment is extremely easy to replicate for everyone at home. and extremely difficult to get right by scientific standards



The warmth of a router should actually help a seed sprout.. as long as they are kept moist.... the seeds, not the router.


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## Sasqui (Jul 23, 2013)

From what I've gathered so far, here's how the experiment goes:


Take a paper plate an dry towel, throw some dead seeds on it.  Put it next to your router.

Take another plate with a moist towel and put some good seeds on it.  Put it away from your router.
After 3 days post your results, concluding that WiFi kills all living things.


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## ShiBDiB (Jul 23, 2013)

erocker said:


> The warmth of a router should actually help a seed sprout.. as long as they are kept moist.... the seeds, not the router.



this is what I was thinking too... If anything the plant near the router should have grown better.. 

Stick a fork in this thread and move it to general nonsense cause it certainly isn't science


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## D007 (Jul 24, 2013)

The result of years of "Thorough" testing by our governments....
/insert sarcasm..


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## Frick (Jul 24, 2013)

To be honest we don't yet know the long term effect of many of the radio waves. That goes for tons of other stuff too. That doesn't make me careful at all, but it does affect some people.


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## r9 (Jul 24, 2013)

People please don`t panic this is easily explainable. When the owner has no router connection and no internet has nothing better to do than to water the plants and in second scenario when he put router in the same room as plants he most likely will connect to the router and go to TPU and totally forget the plant . 
As far as I`m concerned router could potentially kill a dog .


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## remixedcat (Jul 24, 2013)

I think it might have to do with the router running a little hot and also kinda drying the air around it rather then the signal. THIS IS BS AND I CAN'T BELIEVE EVERYONE IS BUYING INTO THIS CRAP.

and they think cell phone signals don't do anything... do they also own a microwave? or a cordless phone? or baby monitor?


Also could be a ploy from the cell phone carriers.... to get more people to not use free wifi at home and instead rack up huge data charges....they know more people use wifi at home/hotspots and barely use thier data services and they wanna change that.


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## gerradfaegan (Aug 3, 2013)

*wow...*

I wonder how true this is...?  I think it should be reproduced as well, and agree that if it affects plant life, it likely affects human life too...


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## Mathragh (Aug 3, 2013)

Judging by all the enthusiasms a week ago of people wanting to redo this experiment, and the lack of posts about their outcome now, I'm kinda assuming people weren't able to replicate these findings in a (semi)controlled environment. 

Or,

Did anyone actually try this out at home?


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## Petey (Aug 3, 2013)

Have another wireless router ghost story, at certain locations they can trigger shock collars. My bothers dog was over at a relatives house and at one spot near the desk with the router. The shock collar would trigger. The dog would dance and look like what the hell I didn't do anything wrong. Tried it my self and zap, I think it was a older model of router shared same Signal some where. strange, routers abuse little fuzzy animals too, not only plants, and techs that try and work on them. If you ask me the Techs get hit the hardest by the cruel maze of programming software. Satan's tools of destruction, or at least my brothers dog, and some Techs that have tried to get them up and running think. I suppose electrical volt meter with a amperage clamp would tell electrical field, then RF signal makes plant seeds lazy, to busy surfing the web through photosynthesis.


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## shovenose (Aug 4, 2013)

Mathragh said:


> Judging by all the enthusiasms a week ago of people wanting to redo this experiment, and the lack of posts about their outcome now, I'm kinda assuming people weren't able to replicate these findings in a (semi)controlled environment.
> 
> Or,
> 
> Did anyone actually try this out at home?



I was working OT at work a lot last two weeks, that should ease up now.
I'll have results, pics, and data, once I've rounded up all the materials and cleaned up my room to accommodate them.


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## Maleko (Aug 5, 2013)

I have a plant growing two meters from our router.... been fine for the past two years.


Would defo love to see this re-done.


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## Petey (Aug 5, 2013)

You figure the electrical signal from the router could activate, photosynthesis. Give the plant a electrical charge, and grow faster. kind of, jump start activity. I wonder if there are other experiments with plant growth and electricity. Like if you have plant near a cell phone, will microW signal stunt or accelerate growth. Or power lines, the trees's seem fine around power lines, but may different species of plants react differently. 12v or 120ac is there a diffrence, typical college students leave so many facts out. Some one forgot to bring the seeds in the sun after they germinate.


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## ViperXTR (Aug 12, 2013)

Plants Vs. Wifi


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## Petey (Aug 12, 2013)

A horror movie in the making.


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## Ikaruga (Aug 13, 2013)

Lots of computers, routers and plants here are living happily next to each other without problems for decades. I only lost an orchidea ones (years ago), but that was because of too much water.


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## Petey (Aug 13, 2013)

All except the maples and the Oaks, They cant live near each other, you don't want to plant maples next to the oaks, its bad. They start to fight and it goes on and on and never stops. Yea oaks gab to much light, and the maples are mad, they think its no fair, then the Oaks feel that the Maples are just to lazy, and don't want to grow fast enough, and be a go getter and grab some light. 
Did find something strange out, it seems that if using a usb dongle type wifi adapter to close to your mouse even if the mouse wired will cause instability issues. Basically you cursor will go crazy once and a while.
No one ever tell's you this stuff


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## remixedcat (Aug 13, 2013)

It's interferrence yo! AND THE OAK TREES HAVE SKOOMA IN THIER SAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Hood (Aug 13, 2013)

C'mon baby, we don't need a condom, my bed's in a Wifi hotspot!


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## AphexDreamer (Aug 13, 2013)

I know I'm late but doesn't the sun emit more harmful radiation than a router?

And plants thrive in the sun...



Spoiler


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## Ikaruga (Aug 13, 2013)

AphexDreamer said:


> I know I'm late but doesn't the sun emit more harmful radiation than a router?
> 
> And plants thrive in the sun...
> 
> ...



Trying to be the devil's advocate here: The part of the sun's radiation which reaches the earth surface, is (always were) a constant element  of the natural environment for the life on earth. The Wifi signal is something which is new to the living and the question is if it's "harmful" or not.. There are several long term studies (ongoing) which indicate that certain frequencies and modulations can and do trigger biological effects, but the results of such studies are still not conclusive enough. 

Again, I do have wifi and plants at the same room for many years now, and they have no problem existing next to each other, so it could be that they just forgot to open the window in this case


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## Petey (Aug 13, 2013)

well if the oaks would prune there branches, they would be more healthy, and the maples would get more light. They probably don't want to do that, cant separate a oak and its ego even if it creates a better forest. If the maples would move into the radioactive sun shine instead of bitching and crying all the damn time. They wouldn't have anything to cry about.


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