# spent tomato plants ok?



## TxCloverAngel (Jun 20, 2005)

Its time for me to plant my 2nd crop of tomatoes.
Is it ok to throw my spent tomato plants into the goat pen? 
I think they'd love em.. 
but w/ my luck they would be poisonous and I'd kill em! lol

thanks in advance!


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

I'm pretty sure tomato plants are poisonous. I hope you hold off on that notion til you get something definitive. You might try asking on the Gardening section. I bet those guys know.
mary


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## lgslgs (May 30, 2005)

I'd be surprised if they'd eat them if other greens are available. They tend to be a bit of a skin irritant and usually goats avoid plants like that. The same things that irritate human skin often irritate ruminants mouths and stomachs - except for tasty raspberry, rose and brier thorns of course!

We have tomato plants that pop out of the compost heap each year and the goats don't seem to want anything to do with them. Ours also do not eat the wild plants that are near relatives to the tomato.

Lynda


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## billygoatridge (Feb 12, 2004)

Do NOT! feed tomato plants. They are a member of the nightshade family which are very poisoness.


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## Faithful Heart (Jan 28, 2006)

I have a friend who says her goats loved tomatoes, and if given the chance (like getting out of the pen) would eat up tomato plants. No one has gotten sick or died.

Also.... read on this list: Edible & Poisonous Plants. They say tomatoes and the plants are fine. Also says about nightshade -


> Whether this is really poisonous is questionable because I have received a post saying "my goats eat nightshade all the time". We also have a lot of Nightshade on own property and none of our goats have died from it.


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## kidsngarden (Mar 24, 2006)

As a side note - I'm just jealous you are ready for a SECOND planting of tomatoes! I'm still waiting on my first!

kids


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

I have always fed suckers and dead tomato plants...and the darn goats will steal plants thru the fence if ever they can get away with it!!!! We grow between 50 and 60 plants and can 100 Q plus. All the skins from canning are also fed....makes the girls look like prostitutes with bright red lipstick on after eating peels  

I let them finish the garden as well when I am done canning :shrug:


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## witchysharon (Oct 9, 2004)

I tend to think they are not poisonous to goats because of the fact they are in the nightshade family and goats have a specific enzyme (salivary protein) called atropinesterase that neutralizes the toxins in deadly nightshade and plants in the nightshade family. Of course, as with anything, moderation is key.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=40185

Answer 
Subject: Re: Are tomato leafs poisons
Answered By: knowledge_seeker-ga on 16 Jul 2002 12:19 PDT


According to these reliable sources, the leaves of the tomato ARE 
poisonous - the offending chemical is an alkyloid called Tomatine.

"Poisonous Plants of North Carolina," Dr. Alice B. Russell, Department
of Horticultural Science; Dr. James W. Hardin, Botany; Dr. Larry
Grand, Plant Pathology; and Dr. Angela Fraser, Family and Consumer
Sciences; North Carolina State University.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Lycopes.htm

Cornell University

QUESTION: Are tomato plants poisonous?
ANSWER: Yes. They contain an alkaloid that interferes with cholinergic nerves and cause some serious gastrointestinal distress.

QUESTION : Which part of the tomato plant contains the Tomatine?
ANSWER :The highest concentrations are in the stems and leaves. 

(There are small amounts in the fruit, part of the distinctive flavor of tomatoes and potatoes comes from these alkaloids, but at concentrations too low to harm you.)


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## witchysharon (Oct 9, 2004)

Pony said:


> http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=40185
> 
> Answer
> Subject: Re: Are tomato leafs poisons
> ...


Ummm...that's for humans. It has been determined rabbits and goats have the salivary protein mentioned (known as atropinesterase) that counters the effects of alkaloids found in deadly nightshade (or plants in the nightshade family such as tomato which contain alkaloids). The same is true of goats and oak leaves. They also have a salivary enzyme (proline-rich protein) that neutralizes the tannins in oak. These enzymes are most often found in browsers (deer/goats etc) but not grazers. Salivary proteins are considered to be counter-defences acquired in the course of evolution by animals whose natural forage contains such toxins.

My goats eat nightshade, tomato plants, tons of oak and none has ever been ill or died from it.


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