Funny how sometimes the most taken-for-granted things can suddenly change the way you look at life. Take electricity, for example. Yes, it makes random stuff go like my computer, the dishwasher and my battery-powered wine bottle opener. But, up until recently, I wasn’t thinking of it in terms of powering anything living such as plants or (closer to home) me.

This fall-themed flower arrangement was a recent gift from a friend of ours. The colours are radiant but the blooms are not power generated. Or are they?

After going through a series of tests ordered by my newly acquired cardiologist, I was told that I have something that involves very long words that are unpronounceable unless you’re a heart specialist but, more importantly, easily dealt with thanks to modern medicine. All good. He patiently explained this to me. I looked at him with my politest I-have-no-idea-what-you’re-saying look and asked “Could you please translate that for me?” Without missing a beat, he said “You have an electrical problem in your heart.” That I could understand. And, I have to admit, immediately thought ‘Wow! That’s cool.’

Now that my own personal interior electronics are sorted a fascination with electric-powered living things has been sparked (sorry). Was it coincidence or some kind of spooky convergence that an e-newsletter recently popped up in my inbox announcing a resurgence in the practice of electroculture? I’m not talking Frankenflowers but an old-is-new idea (originating in 18th century France) involving the harnessing of electromagnetic currents to grow bigger/better crops.

The buzzy trend that’s just a lot of buzz, for now

There are loads of how-to’s about this online. Just Google electroculture or electro-horticulture to find all kinds of farmers and gardeners who extoll the virtues of using metal rods and copper wires to direct “energy”, including static electricity and magnetic fields, through the soil thus benefiting plants’ growth, health and, ultimately, crop yields while allowing you to use less fertilizers and pesticides. There are even low-voltage electric field kits available.

Unfortunately, there’s no really hard science behind any of this at this point. However, in 2019, researchers at the University of Guelph, Ontario, discovered that tomato plants did benefit from a small amount of electrical current. Also, researchers in Japan have done some interesting work introducing electrical stimulation as part of regular food farming practices. But it seems that practical applications that really work are still a long way off.

So is this a power (quite literally) that any gardener can harness? There’s no harm in it so why not? And, at the end of the day, flashes of warm sparkle from bits of copper can look lovely in a flower bed. I’m a big fan of DIY copper plant tags.

Electrifying notions

What I find really interesting is the fact that you, me, and every other mammal, share a common trait with plants. We all use electricity at a cellular level. It has something to do with ions being kept on one side or another of a cell’s walls using negative and positive charges. Electricity is behind my sometimes irregular heart beat (and, crucially, what keeps my heart going–period) and it’s electricity that’s responsible for plants being able to respond to various stimuli such as light, temperature and attacks from pests.

Surprisingly, electricity is not what got Frankenstein going. When you think of that classic monster, you can’t help but think of a cobbled together creature strapped to an operating table with electrical cables being applied by a mad scientist intent on zapping him to life. But Mary Shelley never actually mentioned electricity in her original telling.

“It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.” – Mary Shelley

Movie producers interpreted the notion of infusing a spark as ‘electrifying’ and the quintessential Frankenstein meme was launched–something you’ll never be able to un-see.

The “spark of being”, on the other hand, is something I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Sharing it with every person, creature and plant is a wonderfully satisfying idea, though.

Happy Halloween!