3 Crepe myrtles were planted in a row all at the same time at the local hospital. One of them happens to be in the magnetic field of the MRI machine. Guess which one is bigger and healthier? Take a look at these:
Crepe #1 is farthest from the field:
Crepe #2 is similar:
The MRI scanner is located behind the wall next to crepe 3.
I thought about the fact that a fence surrounds the more robust tree but I have also observed that the tree blooms first and that blooms appear first on branches closest to the building. So what do you think about that?
How much protection from soil compaction / trampling does the fence provide?
Resin
There is no foot traffic, aside from the landscapers. There is "mondo grass" groundcover between the sidewalk and the building (seen in the first photo) which appears to be about the same around all 3 trees. The gate is not locked, so the landscapers can access the gated tree for care just as easily as the others.
I suspect that the MRI has nothing to do with it--all sorts of things can cause one plant to grow better than the others planted at the same time. First of all, they shield the rooms that the MRI machines are in so that the magnetic field shouldn't extend much beyond the room; secondly I don't see any reason why it would affect the plant even if there was still some magnetic field there. More likely that tree has slightly different conditions than the others--maybe it gets a bit more sun, a bit more water, has slightly better soil, etc. Or maybe it was less rootbound when planted or the roots were loosened up better--plants that are quite rootbound when planted sometimes won't grow as well.
I have three Vitex in my yard which were all the same size when planted, and were all planted by my landscapers at the same time about 6 yrs ago, and one of them is significantly bigger and fuller and blooms better than the other two. One of the smaller ones gets a little (not much) more shade and the other one is a little closer to the root zone of my mulberry tree and there are probably other factors as well. One of the smaller ones for sure looks like it might have had some encircling roots when it was in the container which I'm sure didn't help it either. (the difference in size/robustness of my three Vitex is more significant than the difference between these crape myrtles)
Tests results are generally inconclusive on this as far as I can tell from my light research on the web in reference to this subject, unfortunately STS-107 had an experiment on board concerning this very hypothesis, but the data was destroyed along with the spacecraft & crew.
See: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/15may_maggrav/
Here is an interesting report written by a Grad student in cell biology, at the Department of Plant Science, McGill University, suggesting that weak EMF have a positive effect on roots and plant growth, she notes that the effect may be species specific.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2006-08/1156020024.Cb.r.html
- On the other hand there are many other reports which claim there is no effect at all, therefore as I noted earlier, the results seem to be inconclusive for the most part as far as I can tell.
* Contacts at the University of Alabama where you may wish to send your observations/ photos to department heads. - They may suggest such a paper to a graduate student and coordinate a series of observations with the hospital's permission..
(just a thought ☺)
http://bsc.ua.edu/about/contact-us/
Great idea, WaterCan. Maybe I will do just that. They have plenty of MRI machines at the University of Alabama hospital and associated facilities that they could use as well.
Which hospital is it?
Shelby Baptist medical center located in Alabaster, AL.
I have no clue, but around here anyway, trees seem to always do better under the power lines too! :-)
Power lines guarantee a certain amount of sunlight--I planted my blueberries there for that reason!
