The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #58779   Message #3916468
Posted By: Desert Dancer
10-Apr-18 - 05:22 PM
Thread Name: BS: rhubarb
Subject: RE: BS: rhubarb
Listen to the Sick Beats of Rhubarb Growing in the Dark; Snap, crackle, produce.
BY ERIC GRUNDHAUSER APRIL 10, 2018
Atlas Obscura www.atlasobscura.com

EVERYONE’S ALWAYS GOING ON ABOUT the sound of the leaves rustling in the trees, but if you want your mind blown by plant sounds, check out rhubarb growing in the dark.

Forced rhubarb, which is made to mature in near total darkness, grows at such an alarming rate—as much as an inch a day—that it actually makes squeaks, creaks, and pops as it gets bigger. It makes for sweeter rhubarb, growers say, and sick beats.

“I’m not patient enough to sit in the building, but I have heard the noise before. Growing against each other. You really have to listen for it,” says Brian French, a fifth-generation rhubarb grower and co-owner of the Lennox Farm in Melancthon, Ontario. French says that while he generally can’t hear the cracks and pops made by the rhubarb because of the loud fans and other noise, the sounds are definitely there.
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more at the link, include a YouTube with the audio.

~ Becky in Long Beach