I have a small goldfish pond and would like to have iris in it. I recently read that Blue Flag iris is toxic. Advice please?
Blue Flag Iris
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JBtheExplorer
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It's toxic if you eat it, like many plants are. Your fish will be fine, Blue Flag Iris naturally grows in shallow water and pond edges where fish frequently live with it. I have it in both my pond and my bog filter.
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Exactly! I'm pretty sure most (all?) iris are toxic. Perhaps some more so than others, but if you're not munching on the pond plants, it should be OK.
This toxic plant business just keeps popping up. I see it on gardening groups too - "don't plant THIS it's TOXIC TO DOGS AND CATS!" What about squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, etc etc etc. Who's warning them? Like are your pets going around eating your landscape? Our dogs eat grass - and we all know what that means is coming - but honestly they aren't out there sampling the shrubs or eating out of my pots.
Someone once posted a list of "toxic" pond plants - there wasn't a single one on there that I hadn't planted in my pond at one time or another.
Someone once posted a list of "toxic" pond plants - there wasn't a single one on there that I hadn't planted in my pond at one time or another.
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The problem with 'toxic' plants/substances is that just because something is poisonous to one species of animal, doesn't necessarily mean it's poisonous to everything across-the-board. Take pokeweed - highly toxic to humans, dogs, & livestock. Totally harmless to the birds who feast on the berries. 
Toxic wild (native) plants & wildlife have evolved together. The wild critters learn, through natural selection, what to avoid ingesting. Our domesticated pets don't necessarily have the same education, and most people aren't willing to take the risk of letting a pet ingest enough of something, knowing it will make them sick, hoping that they'll 'learn not to eat that'.
Now I definitely agree that **most** pets/dogs aren't out there grazing their way through the landscape, sampling every weed & shrub they come across, however if I had a mouthy, teething puppy, I'd be way more careful to monitor the environment & remove (or make inaccessible) anything potentially harmful. And there are definitely adult dogs that are more prone to 'scarf first, ask questions later' who could potentially run into problems. There are some types of mushrooms that are toxic, but have an attractive-to-dogs smell, so it's not beyond reason that a dog would willingly ingest some & become ill.
So I guess what this long, convoluted post is trying to say, is that everyone needs to make their own risk assessments for their own personal situation when it comes to garden/pond plants that have toxic potential. I have plenty of 'poisonous' plants growing in my pond & yard (not to mention wild in the woods on the property) and I don't lose any sleep over it. Everyone else's milage may vary.
Toxic wild (native) plants & wildlife have evolved together. The wild critters learn, through natural selection, what to avoid ingesting. Our domesticated pets don't necessarily have the same education, and most people aren't willing to take the risk of letting a pet ingest enough of something, knowing it will make them sick, hoping that they'll 'learn not to eat that'.
Now I definitely agree that **most** pets/dogs aren't out there grazing their way through the landscape, sampling every weed & shrub they come across, however if I had a mouthy, teething puppy, I'd be way more careful to monitor the environment & remove (or make inaccessible) anything potentially harmful. And there are definitely adult dogs that are more prone to 'scarf first, ask questions later' who could potentially run into problems. There are some types of mushrooms that are toxic, but have an attractive-to-dogs smell, so it's not beyond reason that a dog would willingly ingest some & become ill.
So I guess what this long, convoluted post is trying to say, is that everyone needs to make their own risk assessments for their own personal situation when it comes to garden/pond plants that have toxic potential. I have plenty of 'poisonous' plants growing in my pond & yard (not to mention wild in the woods on the property) and I don't lose any sleep over it. Everyone else's milage may vary.
Agree agree agree. Mushrooms- definitely wouldn't harbor if I had a dog. But we had a Lab who had a thing for gym socks - nearly killed him several times, and me watching him try to get it out the other end. Haha. Point being - anything can be an issue for a pet. Ya never know what they might try to eat!
The whole poison band wagon as usual has taken things out of context. When a tree, shrub or plant is hanging over the pond and drops berries fruit or what ever it maybe andbit lands in the water. This is more of what I believe what the intent of the list of poisonous plants originated for.
HOWEVER I have a large acoussa dog wood that comes over the edge of the pond. It is on many lists of toxic plants. But like @BKHpondcritters said poisonous to some not all but I'd have to think 95% of every plant in my back yard if you desided to eat it your in for a rough night. Again as mentioned all part of natural selection. The berries do fall into the water and honestly I have no clue if the fish bother with them or not. But years latter as far as I know there's never been an issue.
The iris my fish swim right through going for a morsel of foo, knocking it over into the water so if it is toxic it appears diluted enough that there's no issue.
HOWEVER I have a large acoussa dog wood that comes over the edge of the pond. It is on many lists of toxic plants. But like @BKHpondcritters said poisonous to some not all but I'd have to think 95% of every plant in my back yard if you desided to eat it your in for a rough night. Again as mentioned all part of natural selection. The berries do fall into the water and honestly I have no clue if the fish bother with them or not. But years latter as far as I know there's never been an issue.
The iris my fish swim right through going for a morsel of foo, knocking it over into the water so if it is toxic it appears diluted enough that there's no issue.
Now that would be a battle do you watch the dumb dog fight trying to push the sock out or do you help.
I say maybe he'll learn not to eat socks but apparently not that lab.
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He never did learn. And I never did help. I finally found a solution - I told my kids that I was just picking those socks up out of the backyard, washing the dog poop out of them and putting them back in their drawers.
The dog never found another sock on the floor.
The dog never found another sock on the floor.
Dude. I wasn't really doing it. I'm not a savage. Half the job of being a parent is convincing your kids you're unhinged and anything is possible.