vermiculite

Well, that's not particularly good news, now is it? Vermiculite is in most potting mixes for those *other* plants. Wonder if it's in some of the commercially mixed orchid stuff?

For my part, I mix my own orchid media, so it's not an issue unless we're working on other potted plants, which is not common.

Diana

i remembered that either vermiculite or perlite was a problem, but i couldn't remember which.

are there problems with perlite?

oh, and potting soil can give you legionnaire's disease. :)

--j_a

If you want to look at details, ALL media components are a risk, to some extent.

Perlite is almost 100% silica, which can cause silicosis. Same is true of diatomite.

Be smart in how you handle it and all will be well.

I worked with uranium- and thorium oxides in college, both toxic as hell, but I'm still here to talk about it - because I took relevant and appropriate precautions. Hell, trichosporosis - a fungal infection from sphagnum - is a bigger threat.

(And no, my recent "episode" with melanoma was not related to any of the above)