Print

[Roze]

The recording was made 30 years ago by Dr Kim Ritman, using a very low-fi phone receiver with a pin soldered onto it to amplify the sound.

As a plant's water source dries out, small bubbles form in the xylem — the hollow strands that carry water from the soil to the leaves of vascular plants.

Ritman, who is now chief scientist at the Department of Agriculture, spent a good part of his PhD poking the pin into leaf stems of plants and recording the clicks as bubbles formed. The idea was to see if the diameter of the xylem determined the frequency of the sound, and he found that the larger the xylem, the lower the clicking sound.

"In general, our hypothesis that larger conduits produced lower frequency signals and smaller units at the ultrasonic frequencies was supported"

THIS is the sound of a plant dying of thirst. Heartbreaking isn't it?

Article HERE


Ps: Dont let your plants dry!

[plantlight]

Heartbreaking isn't it?

I hate to admit it but yeah,  I was feeling a bit sorry for the plant.  I had to imagine it was some sort of invasive weed in my garden that I had just uprooted to make me feel better.

[mr.miyagi]

That was heartbreaking <\3 

[Hummingbird]

Had to turn it off