Tomatoes can 'eat' insects

[lildreamer316]

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

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 2:42PM GMT 04 Dec 2009

Botanists have discovered for the first time that the plants are carnivorous predators who kill insects in order to "self-fertilise" themselves.

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.

It is thought that the technique was developed in the wild in order to supplement the nutrients in poor quality soil – but even domestic varieties grown in your vegetable patch retain the ability.

The killer plants have been identified as among a host of species that are thought to have been overlooked by botanists and explorers searching the world’s remotest regions for carnivorous species


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6727709/Tomatoes-can-eat-insects.html


This is so interesting!!!

[booley]

1. Attack of the killer tomatoes!

Ok somebody had to make that joke.

Might as well have been me.

[Jamastiene]

2. Ya beat me to it!

GMTA :fistbump:

[unc70]

17. Now have the love theme playing in my head. I need internal earplugs

This thread is the kind of "extra" that helps make this a real community for me. Thanks to the OP and so many others here, I am aware of more things and earlier than I would otherwise. And on almost any topic, there a DUers who are experts; who witnessed or participated in some way in almost every story or topic whether large, small, important or trivial, public or highly private; amd each with unique experiences and perspectives that my remain hidden without DU, certainly unavailable to me. Thanks.

And thanks for giving me a smile remembering this about dangerous red fags. Correction, they're fruits.

[willing dwarf]

3. Draw down the deadly nightshade dear

and we will have a feast...

[sellitman]

4. My wife makes a "Killer Tomato Sauce".

Naw.....never mind.

:P

[LiberalFighter]

6. And your still here to talk about it? Hmmm

[shadowknows69]

5. I foresee a "Day of the Triffids" in our near future.

[rosesaylavee]

7. I guess I would have had to be up pretty early in the am

to respond to this thread. Shoot. So interesting and of course the replies are so funny.

[Peace Patriot]

8. Don't tell Monsanto! nt

[Ernesto]

9. Tell this to

the horn worms that terrorize my garden every year!

[Maine-ah]

10. here's one we caught eating out plant a couple of years ago....

[robdogbucky]

11. Had two this year

They are some outer space looking creatures, eh? Pretty imposing and well camoflouged while doing its work. I am pretty sure I received mine in some landscaping soil I imported this year.

They can eat half a tomato in one sitting. Luckily they are the only pest, aside from fungi, that I had to deal with this year.

They are the larvae for the hawkmoth, which is bigger than a hummingbird.

I pluck them off and feed them to the birds, who love them.


Just my dos centavos

robdogbucky

[Ernesto]

14. For an experiment, a couple of years ago....

I spray painted a worm bright orange, then tossed him over the fence about 100' away. He was BACK on the tomato plant the next day!

[petronius]

16. A tomato that could eat those things would be great - but I think I'd be a bit

scared of such a badass plant...

[Sheepshank]

12. So what is PETA doing about this abomination?

Oh I know. Eat the tomatoes and potatoes and show them lol.

[itsrobert]

13. Looks like intelligent life

No more veggies. Time to each dirt?

[alfredo]

15. .

⠺⠳⠋

[Nikki Stone1]

18. Damn shame they don't eat all household pests

I could just stick a tomato in the cabinet. Now there's a GM vegetable I could live with.

[walldude]

19. Quick call George Clooney!

Yes he was the "star" of Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes 2...