Rick as usual.

When I first heard that they were trying to shoot exogenous DNA in to plant nuclei using Crossman air pistols or nail gun cartridges, i thought "good luck with THAT!" Then I heard that they named the technique "bioballistics" and the "gene gun", and figured they were smoking something that modified SOMETHING.

(However, it was no joke about either of those techniques or names.)

https://www.msu.edu/course/css...

Then they figured out to use nature to change Nature (using Agrobacterium plasmids to carry and insert arbitrary external DNA right into the plant nucleus, like Agrobacterium evolved to do, quite efficiently. That opened the floodgates to easy genetic engineering.

Boys and their toys!

Monsanto has done a lot of harm to our environment. The butterflies are disappearing...are they the canaries in the mine?

Hmmm ... this is not bedtime reading is it? It's the stuff of nightmares

Re the dancing plants:

Time to report that the rains finally let up and the original plant (lamb's quarters) began dancing again. Really putting on a grand show.

And believe it or not ... the moment of truth has arrived.

We know how this happens. We now have a video of the marionette manipulator.

Before we let the cat out of the bag are there any more votes? Who knows what this might be?

We'll post the video in the morning and bring this exciting drama to a close

oh my gosh tinpins! I've been wondering all day!! Now I have to wait until morning?!!

Sorry ... when it is posted it will be about a seven minute video.

First we have to edit it and make it into a smaller sized file.

I'm wondering if it could be a pocket gopher, (named Sasquatch, of course)
I don't know much about them, but I was reading about garlic recently and seems I read that pocket gophers love garlic.

Oh you must mean this guy to whom you referred earlier ...

"No one can see him, no one can hear him, but oh my, the garlic-y stench he leaves behind."

The mystery has been revealed in our blog:

http://garden.org/blogs/view/t...

under the title:

6 July, 2013 - The dancing plants in the Leningrad garlic patch - the mystery is solved

Have you any idea what it might be .... we were surprised!

Wow!!! That was amazing!! I never would have guessed that! Wonderful video. It really works hard for that meal! Thank you for sharing that. If I had any acorns I would have definitely awarded you some!

Thanks ... amazing that we were able to capture it on video and who would have guessed?

You should submit that to a nature show!

Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time. That was curiosity, persistence and luck : ) Don't want to say too much more about it in this thread and spoil the "ending" for anyone who hasn't watched the video ... but we're still chuckling

So I got up late this morning; it was one of those strange nights of thumps and bumps in the dark, thunderbooms and 'leftover from the 4th' fireworks, randomly and without warning making their way into my nighttime slumber. A little irritable I was, and in dire need of coffee.

An ATP Mug filled to the brim with Folger's Black Silk finest in my hand, I clicked on my computer. Thoughts of dancing lambs quarters in my mind, I opened ATP looking for the headlines: Tinpins solves the mystery! (Well it wasn't exactly like that, but there it was, 'Tinpins blog'.)

So I clicked on the blog, took my first sip of Black Silk, read through her words with a sip and a smile as I usually do, then clicked on the video.

Now normally a large ATP mug of strong coffee will last through my random browsing of the news, my emails, ATP threads, glances at new image sets, another watched thread or two, my Tmail, and so it goes - maybe 30 minutes, maybe more. But I clicked on the video.

Videos tend to bring us up close and very personal to things we don't normally see in daily life and by now curiosity was running rampant in my sleep deprived mind - I'd already named him Sasquatch so I was anxious to put a face with the name.

Oh my.

Watch for a minute, then sip Black Silk - watch again, back it up - Sip - oh wait what was that - oops, he lost it, Sip - oh wait - back it up again - gross rotten garlic - Sip - oh my gosh, he's starving; Sip - maybe it's a she, pregnant, eating for dozens - should call her Sassy - big Sip - oh good grief, she lost it again - Go Sassy Go!!! Huge Sip . . .

Suddenly my mug was empty, the video was over and I felt just like everybody else who watched it: Nature is amazing!

Isn't it funny how gardeners can become so enthralled in one of nature's mysteries that we lose track while just watching, and we sit for hours at a time, eyes locked on a little underground critter, trying to understand. What a beautiful video, and how very special that you took the time to record and share it all with us. Not to mention the fact that the mystery was important enough to require a new camcorder!

Thank you, Tinpins! Your videos are priceless; link them all together like a time progression, post it here and on FB and watch it go viral. Think there are enough nature lovers around to make that happen?

I can't believe I drank that huge mug of strong hot coffee in 7 minutes.

Grossly beautiful video!

The linking of the video will have to wait till tomorrow. Just printing out some photos to take along to our family BBQ this afternoon and gross a few non gardeners out.

We're still chuckling

... oh and an update ... the activity has ceased for now out in the garlic patch.

What a wonderful video! Nice camcorder, too; the quality is amazing! And I agree with Sharon; that would be wonderful all linked together. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

woofie said:What a wonderful video! Nice camcorder, too; the quality is amazing! And I agree with Sharon; that would be wonderful all linked together. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

My thoughts exactly! I also agree that posted on FB it may well go viral! Too COOL!

I was wondering if you were going to snip off a piece for it!