Sticky spots on my Catt

[mycologist]

There are far nastier things possibly contained in the nectar droplets than orchid virus. Pesticide poisoning, Lyme disease, etc.
Worst case scenario with an orchid virus is that your immune system cannot handle the virus and you become a permanent carrier, forever infecting any other plants that you lick in the future.

I find this very curious. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm just a very curious type of person. If you have a source for this information that I could investigate further I would be most interested.

I.e. can you really get lyme disease from sap? Why is this not a problem when you eat raw vegtables from the garden? Can lyme be absorbed in the digestive system? I guess honey may be processed by the bees as I know it stays very sterile, but that is just nectar right? I eat nasturtium flowers all the time for their spicy nectar but I don't feel this in any way jepordizes my orchids.

Also about the viruses - if you smoke and handle tobacco you are contacting, injesting, and inhaling tobacco mosaic virus, but yet you will not infect tomatoes that you grow unless you don't wash your hands. I have never heard of a person becoming a carrier for life. I did find that aphids can be carriers though.

The pesticide thing I totally agree, but my orchids only get organic pesticides (mostly for my benefit, not theirs).

[wetfeet101b]

I.e. can you really get lyme disease from sap? Why is this not a problem when you eat raw vegtables from the garden?

Not from the sap, but from possible ticks and other insects residing near the sap that the person is licking.
It is not the sap that exposes you to lyme disease, but the action of licking the unwashed plant. Although I have heard that aphid-kabobs are quite tasty.

Also about the viruses - if you smoke and handle tobacco you are contacting, injesting, and inhaling tobacco mosaic virus, but yet you will not infect tomatoes that you grow unless you don't wash your hands. I have never heard of a person becoming a carrier for life. I did find that aphids can be carriers though.

That was obviously an exaggerated worst case scenario. I doubt that an orchid virus strain will survive inside an average human body.

The pesticide thing I totally agree, but my orchids only get organic pesticides (mostly for my benefit, not theirs).

The "organic" movement has been overly exploited my marketing people.
Just because a substance is organic does not automatically make it safe for human exposure. The inverse can be true as well. Certain synthetic substances are safe for human exposure and consumption.
The key is proper dosage and observing proper precautions.

[sadie]

Seriously--and fess up here--how many of you are actually out there licking your orchids?


I've seen honeydew but never considered tasting it! Apparently I'm not as much of an orchid-lover as I thought.

[JoeW]

Sadie, I swear that I never touch the stuff. Joe

[mycologist]

Not from the sap, but from possible ticks and other insects residing near the sap that the person is licking.
It is not the sap that exposes you to lyme disease, but the action of licking the unwashed plant. Although I have heard that aphid-kabobs are quite tasty.

Mmm, aphid-kabobs The image of skewering them up is quite amusing!

I'm going to go ahead and say I really don't think anyone is going to get lyme disease licking an orchid. There is a lot of controversy regarding chronic lyme disease, but it is pretty clear that you have to get bitten. I think some type of food poisoning is possible but I wouldn't worry about it. Then again I eat berries and flowers that are not washed if they have not been treated.

That was obviously an exaggerated worst case scenario. I doubt that an orchid virus strain will survive inside an average human body.

Sorry, I should have caught that. I was inferring that you had read it somewhere and wanted to see what they had to say.

The "organic" movement has been overly exploited my marketing people.
Just because a substance is organic does not automatically make it safe for human exposure. The inverse can be true as well. Certain synthetic substances are safe for human exposure and consumption.
The key is proper dosage and observing proper precautions.

I agree that this is largely true. I personally do not spray anything in my garden - I just try to grow healthy plants with healty dirt and take my losses. The organic movement is very beneficial overall however as it gets larger and larger in scale many of the basic principles are lost. Soil is a precious resource and it needs to be protected. The difference in quality of good organic produce vs. fully comercial can be very noticable. For organic meat and dairy there is no comparison. Feeding antibiotics to livestock to increase yield is inexcusable. Neem is very toxic, but it doesn't cause bird eggs to be so thin they crack. Also there is no nasty chemical plant needed to produce it.

I am working on a research project that reinforces your point but also mine. Around here huge poultry farms produce Tyson chickens. Tyson comes in with trucks of babies. You have to use their food and supplies, and are not allowed to test the food or provide samples. Then they come back with more trucks - you get paid the difference in the weight of the first vs. last trucks. Disposal of the waste is a large scale operation and it is used as fertilizer in part on organic farms. Some areas where it has been used for many years are now barren because of accumulation of arsenic and other very nasty stuff from the chicken manure.

Sorry for getting this thread a bit off course. Basically I would only worry about whatever you treat the plant with though. The nectar is sterile basically (except for possible viruses that don't infect us) when it comes out of a healthy plant. I don't even think psychoactive compounds would be present as it is used to attract insects not deter feeding. Stoned herbivores is good but stoned pollinators would be very bad.

[JoeW]

Marissa, I think this has been a very interesting thread. Joe

[orchid lady]

[QUOTE=sadie;115696]Seriously--and fess up here--how many of you are actually out there licking your orchids?

Uh uh not me, I never lick my orchids, only my finger with the sap in it.

[orchid lady]

Marissa, I think this has been a very interesting thread. Joe

I totally agree with you, very informative too.