22 April 2013
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A Little Bit of Nature
Short entry here. Was cutting down a tomato plant in my balcony garden as the growing season has ended. Amidst the leaves was a short thread that must have drifted down from someone’s laundry drying on a higher floor. How long the thread was stuck on the plant, I can’t say. What caught my eye, though, was that some sort of spores were growing from the thread, looking like eyelashes. I was fascinated at this example of how nature works.
Comments (16)
Interesting – I have never seen anything like that before. That plants absorb and grow around things, yes.
It’s quite amazing that nature will use and reconquer everything.
I wonder how many other places that bit of fiber has visited?
Nature is full of little wonders. You just have to look.
amazing! i wonder what it is? you’ll have to do updates on it
Cool photo! It is amazing what you will see when you look closely.
very cool! Can’t wait to expand my garden on my balcony. My Meyer lemon tree and single tomato plant need some company.
Looks like a slime mold in which it turns some normal cells of the slime into a fruiting body to help spread spores.
I am surprised to read that the growing season for the tomatoes is over. We grew them all the way into December and January if I am not mistaken. Do you need to put the plants in larger pots so they would continue to bloom to fruits? May be pruning them will allow them to regrow for a longer time.
That piece of thread and the spores attached to it, is fascinating. Beautiful indeed.
I thought that was a caterpillar
@ZSA_MD - My balcony faces southwest and I only get direct sunlight from about October through April. The tomatoes don’t do so well when they don’t get sun.
@PPhilip - There you go – an explanation.
@Wangium - Kind of looks like one, huh?
@something_in_progress - Oh, lemon… I’m jealous. Would love to have citrus growing on my balcony.
@murisopsis - One of those little things about me, a product of my upbringing (particularly something my father told me time and again as I grew up), is my attention to details like this.
@iskrak - It promptly went into the trash; not something I need to keep about.
@Inciteful - That’s very true.
@Grannys_Place - I’m sure it was a long journey!
@beowulf222 - That’s why I get a bit frustrated when people concerned about climate change (which I think is a real issue) go on about “saving the Earth”. Nature doesn’t need us to save it; it will do just fine on its own. We need to be more concerned about saving ourselves!
@Fatcat723 - No way to stop Mother Nature…
@christao408 - I agree with you for the most part, except that I think we human overburden the earth with our trash. My concern is that we produce more trash quicker than earth can deal with it. And I am absolutely with you on climate change.
Hmm… I’ve never seen that before. I know the “hair” on the tomato plants seem to latch on to anything that lands on it.
Wow, so cool!
@ElusiveWords - Yes, I’ve found hairs, feathers, and all sorts of things snagged by the tomato plants. Kind of a high-wind area they are in, I guess.
@purpleamethyst76 - Yeah, it is kind of neat, isn’t it?
fascinating indeed. looks a bit like a caterpillar.