Seed poisoning - be careful

[The Heretic]

A quick warning: grain seeds meant for planting and not human consumption, may be covered with a coating that is poison to control consumption by rats/mice/birds/etc.

If you are in a SHTF situation where you are foraging for food, pay attention if you come across seeds - such as wheat, oats, corn/etc. - if they are meant for planting to grow a crop, they may be covered with a very toxic poison. In general, it is best not to try to consume such seeds that are in a commercial package.

Not sure if this is still true, but when I was farming it was.

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[Libertas7]

I believe organic seeds are not suppose to have a coating of any kind. Of course you shouldn't take my word for that.

 

[Mikej]

I'm thinking seed would more likely be coated with an anti-fungal substance, and that could be organic rated too. Doesn't necessarily mean it's not harmful to humans though?

 

[The Heretic]

I remember planting wheat with a pink or green coating that was poisonous to keep rats/mice/birds from eating it and not paying the consequences.

There may have been other things in the coating.

 

[The Heretic]

I'm thinking seed would more likely be coated with an anti-fungal substance, and that could be organic rated too. Doesn't necessarily mean it's not harmful to humans though?

1971 Iraq poison grain disaster - Wikipedia

 

[CoastRange57]

The coating on most commercial seed grains including corn is an anti fungal coating to prevent various types of fungus pathogens from killing the seed off during germination process. It is a fairly short lived amount and its LD50 dosage is probably not enough to cause death or even much illness, because some of it is consumed by birds and wildlife and the LD50 dosage could not be lethal. It still however should not be consumed for any reason, because it is a fungicide. Consumed in the concentrated quantities in the Iraqi situation, and the fact that they grains were probably processed and water used helped the movement of the chemical in human bodies.

Most vegetable seeds sold in garden size quantities are not coated with a fungicide both from a cost standpoint and the fact that if you do have a die off, it is much easier to replant garden rows than acres of a failed seeding. There are some options for smaller quantities of vegetable seed with applied fungicides but you really have to look for them and most of the fungicides have label restrictions as to what specific crops they can be applied too. There are no fungicides that have nay organic ratings. Organic means organic under USDA standards and that is no chemicals used in production on ground that has not had pesticides of any kind for about 20 years, an not within X meters of any production field that has ag pesticides used on it.

The labeling in the Iraq incident was the problem and in the US there was the paraquat scare when it had been sprayed on marijuana crops in the US. That was a bunch of bullsh*t, though since the chemicals in the diquat family are defoliants that work within hours of application and usually result in complete defoliation in 2 days or less. Even the most hard cores heads could see paraquat sprayed weed and would not buy it or spark it up.

Not meaning to be long winded here, but I was an ag producer and licensed pesticide consultant for a good number of years before seeing the light.

 

[The Heretic]

I am just saying that I could see city folk that don't know any better doing exactly what the Iraqis did if they get hungry enough.

There is seed grain and then there is harvested grain. Don't eat the seed grain - plant it.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

A quick warning: grain seeds meant for planting and not human consumption, may be covered with a coating that is poison to control consumption by rats/mice/birds/etc.

If you are in a SHTF situation where you are foraging for food, pay attention if you come across seeds - such as wheat, oats, corn/etc. - if they are meant for planting to grow a crop, they may be covered with a very toxic poison. In general, it is best not to try to consume such seeds that are in a commercial package.

Not sure if this is still true, but when I was farming it was.

Good job, Heretic! If folks ever see the green or red coated seed they probably wouldn't eat it under normal circumstances, but when starving it would be a different story!