Tomatoes can 'eat' insects, page 1
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Topic started on 4-12-2009 @ 08:08 PM by grantbeed

Tomatoes can 'eat' insects


www.telegraph.co.uk
Garden vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes have been found to be deadly killers on a par with Venus fly traps, according to research

New research shows that they capture and kill small insects with sticky hairs on their stems and then absorb nutrients through their roots when the animals decay and fall to the ground

(visit the link for the full news article)


reply posted on 4-12-2009 @ 08:15 PM by srslyguyz
that is incredible, i would have never thought. thanks op
s&f



reply posted on 4-12-2009 @ 08:26 PM by grantbeed
reply to post by Nutter



quite a good movie, but i was disappointed with the ending!

It is a cool discovery. I wonder whats next to be discovered from right under our noses.




reply posted on 4-12-2009 @ 08:38 PM by Nutter
reply to post by LordBucket



That was my next choice, but following the OP...i.e. the way the plants kill, IMO is more like the happening. But, I like your thinking anyway.


reply posted on 4-12-2009 @ 11:10 PM by grantbeed
reply to post by LordBucket



Nice one. Hopefully it will be a while before their evolution reaches this stage!!





reply posted on 4-12-2009 @ 11:55 PM by grantbeed
reply to post by xstealth





We suspect in the domesticated varieties they are getting plenty of food through the roots from us so don’t get much benefit from trapping insects. In the wild they could be functioning in the way that could properly be considered carnivorous


It looks like in the wild they would rely on this much more, but the tomatoes etc probably get most of what they need from our soils as we use Feed, Fertiliser etc.

In the wild I imagine they would have lots of flies around them, so the amount of nutrients must add up .




reply posted on 5-12-2009 @ 04:11 AM by TheWalkingFox
reply to post by xstealth



Like Resting says, every little bit counts. That's a few milligrams of protien the plant wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

However this isn't a case of plant carnivory. it's a case of a plant having a defense mechanism. The fact that it litters the nearby ground with dead decomposing bugs is kind of a bonus, rather than the intent.

Now if these hairs were sucking out the gooshy bits of the bugs, THEn we'd have something.


reply posted on 5-12-2009 @ 09:56 AM by Aliensun
reply to post by rubyeyes



'Wanna know about plants having emotions? Put "Clive Baxter plants" into Google. His work was done a couple of decades ago. Not sure if it has been followed up upon or refuted. Interesting story, nonetheless.


reply posted on 5-12-2009 @ 10:02 AM by Wolf 
reply to post by grantbeed



It just goes to show how little we actually thought we knew about the world!

Funny...
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