The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Killer tomato attack

killer tomato on a truckYes...tomatoes are now considered carnivorous predators who kill insects in order to "self fertilize". Botanists have recently discovered for the first time how the stem of tomatoes has sticky hairs that can capture and kill small insects and then absorb the yummy nutrients when the bugs fall to the ground and decay.

Some people think this trait developed in the wild in an effort to boost the nutrient levels in poor soil areas, but most domestic varieties have the same ability.



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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Have you seen the film, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?" I think I rented it when Amma was at home. Ask her.
Comment by Errol Sun Dec 6 16:36:26 2009
He sure has --- in fact, his title was meant to be a punny reference to that. :-)
Comment by anna Sun Dec 6 18:27:54 2009





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