In article , AliCat
writes
I'd like to tell you about a little experiment I
conducted last year. I'd noticed that Teasel
plants in my garden were collecting water in the
base of the leaves and flies and other insects
were becoming trapped in the water. I wondered if
they were getting any nutriment from this.

So, I made holes in all of the leaves in some
plants to drain the water, these plants became
quite sickly compared with those I left alone.
Now the bit I'm not sure about, but here goes,
shoot me down, tell me the correct answer,
whatever. Anyway, I'm pretty sure drowned, rotting
insects produce mostly organic compounds, so I
assume that the Teasels are using those; and maybe
they are a special case, on their way to becoming
a "carniverous" plant, but to me it looks as
though Teasels do use organic compounds as
nutrients.

This year I'm mainly trying to get rid of the
b****y things.


You are quite right to assume that decaying animal or plant material
becomes nutrients useable by plants. Not all are suitable for any plant
though and not all decaying material would readily be chosen as plant
feed by gardeners practising organic systems.

A very useful and interesting work of reference dealing with many of the
ways in which plants evolve, propagate, acquire their food, how they
relate to other plants, animals and their environments is 'The Private
Life of Plants' - a natural history of plant behaviour by David
Attenborough. Pub. 1995 by BBC books ISBN 0563 37023 8

Principles of organic gardening are described in an urg FAQ at:
http://www.nugget.demon.co.uk/MetaFA...gardening.html
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.