Amazingly enough, this subject came up recently among the members of AOBEI.
A woman who'd bought some fertilizer from one of our members called her a
couple weeks later to ask if it was poisonous, because she had accidentally
drank (drunk? G) some. Having no idea, the grower told the customer to
call Poison Control -- who advised that unless she drank a whole gallon, it
shouldn't be a problem. Apparently, it happens quite often -- I'm given to
understand that some folks actually keep the fert. solution in the
refrigerator "so it won't go bad."
Not an idea that would ever have occurred to me ... But it does go to
prove the saying that things can't be made idiot-proof, because the idiots
are too ingenious! Kenni
Kenni
"Rob" wrote in message
...
By the way, related question: Is plant food poisonous when ingested by
humans? I assume that it is better to keep it out of the way of toddlers,
but unlike on cleaning supply bottles I did not see a poison warning on
its label when I looked earlier today. So I wonder ... Not that I will
encourage his eating it, mind you, but I am starting to wonder which
household items will absolutely have to be put out of any possible reach,
and which are optional.
I think it would be a very bad idea to eat fertilizer powder... Although
it would taste awful. Acutely toxic? Maybe. A complete fertilizer has a
lot of things in it (potassium/phosphorus, nickel, etc...) many of which
are toxic in small quantity (selenium is not something you want to eat).
I don't know if you could choke down enough fertilizer to hurt yourself
(or a small person), but I wouldn't try it.
The liquid formulations might be dilute enough as to cause little harm,
but again I wouldn't risk it.
So far, as far as I can tell, Robert will probably be a much greater
danger to the orchids than they will be to him. The greatest dangers to
toddler from orchids that I see thus far a 1. lights and electric
cords leading to lights, 2. shelving units will need to be stable and
secure so that they do not topple, 3. chocking hazard posed by media, 4.
if a clay pot were to topple and fall on the toddler, some of them are
quite heavy so he could get hurt that way, and 5. if plant food is
poisonous after all then that's an issue. Am I missing something?
Toddlers like to remove tags from pots. I don't know why. My daughter
routinely runs up to me with a tag as a present. Sometimes I even know
where to put it back. She has never tried to eat potting media. An
occasional rock might get a taste, but I think girls are smarter than
boys. Or have better survival instincts. Evidently my brothers and I ate
all sorts of rocks and coins when we were that age.
Rob
--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit