I know that some orchids are edible, but are any of them poisonous? or have
poisonous parts?

Joanna

The American Medical Association Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants
does not list any member of the family Orchidaceae as being poisonous.

In other locations online you can learn that some are said to cause allergic
skin responses. Cypripedium reginia comes to mind.

Elsewhere and even here in our very own archives you can learn Onc.
cebollata is said to be an hallucinogen.

From my point of view all orchids cause the hullucination that you have
unlimited amounts of money and space. However, I don't think you have to
eat one to get hullucinogized. I think you just need to see one.

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:5Y2Gf.135062$7l4.49484@trnddc05...
I know that some orchids are edible, but are any of them poisonous? or have
poisonous parts?

Joanna

J Fortuna wrote:
I know that some orchids are edible, but are any of them poisonous? or have
poisonous parts?


Before or after spraying? (annoying emoticon here)

Some orchids smell so foul I can't imagine anyone would want to eat
them, but I don't recall reading that any are actually poisonous.

I also rasie cycads. Every part of every cycad is toxic.. Yes, some
cultures eat leached cycad starch, but there are long term toxic
effects associated with eating it that include a form of senile
dementia, a type of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cancer.

J. Del Col

"Al" wrote in message
...
From my point of view all orchids cause the hullucination that you have
unlimited amounts of money and space. However, I don't think you have to
eat one to get hullucinogized. I think you just need to see one.

LOL. I think you are right about that. Thanks Al.
Joanna

Eforba ouya akema anea orchidea aladsa orfa abyba Obertra, ouya ightma antma
ota erifyva hatta heta forementionedaa "American Medical Association
Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants" ctuallyaa aysa.

I don't know what it really says about orchid plants. All of my knowledge
comes from the internet and somebody on the internet told me what it says.
For what it's worth, this handbook does sound like the most reliable source
of info on the topic. Especially first hand, "trust the baby's life to it"
info.

My spell checker has a pig-latin plug in.

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:6o5Gf.12526$%i3.11365@trnddc02...
"Al" wrote in message
...
From my point of view all orchids cause the hullucination that you have
unlimited amounts of money and space. However, I don't think you have to
eat one to get hullucinogized. I think you just need to see one.

LOL. I think you are right about that. Thanks Al.
Joanna

"jadel" wrote in message
oups.com...
Before or after spraying? (annoying emoticon here)
snip

As I do not do any spraying of the plants in our condo, that's not
applicable for me. However I was astounded to read in the book Orchid Fever
about the young man in Paris, France, who lived in a small apartment with
his mother and his orchids, and who sprayed the orchids regularly with lots
of pesticide. Yikes.

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.

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?

Joanna

Al wrote:

From my point of view all orchids cause the hullucination that you have
unlimited amounts of money and space. However, I don't think you have to
eat one to get hullucinogized. I think you just need to see one.

I think it's some sort of shooting dart. Hit me on the back side.

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

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

Kenni,
Great, thanks! Though it would never have occurred to me either to store
fert solution in refrigerator, I did have one time when I wondered about a
gallon of bottled water that I had left on the kitchen counter near the sink
whether it truly was bottled water or fertilized water -- since I use a
bottled water container for the fert solution. :-( I decided that it was
probably fert solution, and if it was not, I would just water my orchids
with bottled water which was the better alternative by far.
Joanna

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
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

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. In the past, I've been rather cavalier about toxic
substances--BUT since I've garnered cats (one of whom like to use
orchid leaves as floss), I'm more cautious. I repot plants when I get
them and don't use pesticides as a free-for-all spray. 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" 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

I can't speak to the matter of toxicity, but as to using orchid flowers as
garnish, I do it all the time, usually giving them a coating of egg white, a
dip in fine sugar, and letting them dry on a rack. They give a real boost to
the presentation of a fancy dessert. No one has died, LOL, but then, adults
know better than to eat them!

Diana

I don't know how long pesticides, etc. stay in plant matter and
media--but I know someone who does. You might want to contact Glen
Decker of Piping Rock Orchids ) and ask him. He
grows thousands of slippers (of exceptional quality) and has small
children. He's pesticide free and knows much about the dangers of
pesticides. He's a nice man and very willing to share what he knows.

BTW, Congrats on the little one, Mom.

Well, you never know. A few glasses of wine and.... Actually, we went
to a cat show in Boston, and there were a lot of vendors there, as one
might expect. One of the cat food companies had a huge bowl of kitty
kibble on display. We saw a bored-husband type walk by the the bowl,
scoop up a handful of kibble, and chomp it down. Hello dude! It's a cat
show...what you're eating isn't crackers du jour--it's cat food. Yikes.