"OrchidKitty" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm not sure WHY
you want to know whether orchids are poisonous, but if you're having a
party and want to use orchid flowers as platter garnishes, you might
want to rethink.

OrchidKitty, No platter garnishes. The reason why I want to know is that I
am starting to plan ahead for the stage in my child's life when he will want
to put everything in his mouth while he explores it -- so far he is 6 weeks
old and mostly harmless, but I am told by more experienced parents that the
time when he will be into everything will come much quicker than I think and
that I will be amazed by how far he can reach how fast. In general, I am
going to try to keep the orchids out of his reach, but I would rather know
the consequences of it if I don't succeed, just in case.

Well, even if the plant isn't deadly, and your fertilizer isn't deadly,
you still don't know what the previous owner has done insofaras
spraying, etc., and what contaminants might be in the media or on the
leaves.

Hmm, I had not thought of that. How long does pesticide stay in plant matter
and media? I had kind of assumed that with thorough flushing during watering
etc the sins of the previous owner's don't really count except for really
new plants, as long as I don't use pesticides myself. If I did not repot
orchids as soon as I got them in the past, would you suggest that I repot
all the ones that have not been repotted in my care yet? or only ones not
repotted yet and gotten in the past 2 months, 6 months or 1 year or ???

Joanna