Collecting and foraging for sprays

[HammyMum49]

I have come across so many different opinions on this subject and would like to know what you think.

I have a wild area in my garden full of different wild grasses. I picked several bunches of these and hung them upside down in my greenhouse to dry.

The area is free from pesticides and away from a road but I can’t say it is free from wild animals and cats.

I thought I could heat them up in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 100degrees to kill of any bacteria, mites, eggs etc and then use them as sprays.

They were very anti this on Facebook groups and researching online gives mixed opinions. If it is not safe then I will not use them but I used to have guinea pigs and fed them grasses and wondered what the difference is?

What do you think and does anyone actually do this and have no problems?

Thank you.

 

[Maz]

To be honest I would go with your instincts. It's your wild garden. Do you think wild animals and cats go there? I pick clover flowers from our lawn for the hamsters - I know our area and lawn (it's rural). I wash them first and let them dry. If they haven't dried out already, I'd rinse/wash them and then hang them to let them dry. What particular sprays/grasses are they? Knowing what they are is important, to know they are suitable. I think they would dry out too much in the oven maybe - you could freeze them though, but if doing that, I'd freeze for a week.

 

[HammyMum49]

To be honest I would go with your instincts. It's your wild garden. Do you think wild animals and cats go there? I pick clover flowers from our lawn for the hamsters - I know our area and lawn (it's rural). I wash them first and let them dry. If they haven't dried out already, I'd rinse/wash them and then hang them to let them dry. What particular sprays/grasses are they? Knowing what they are is important, to know they are suitable. I think they would dry out too much in the oven maybe - you could freeze them though, but if doing that, I'd freeze for a week.

We have our own cats and have seen other cats wonder through. This area sometimes has foxes, has had hedgehogs (although I haven’t seen any this year) possibly even deer. I live in the countryside but another garden backs onto mine.

I looked up all the sprays on a plant app and then checked online. They are oat grasses, meadow grasses etc.

 

[Socks' Mum]

It should be OK. Fresh dog and fox urine is very poisonous to hamsters and guinea pigs, so it's worth being careful of this.

 

[Maz]

So it does sound like there might be a risk of urine from wild animals and cats possibly. In which case it probably isn't safe unfortunately. But that's why I said go with your instinct. If you feel it's unlikely you've had any wild animals in your garden or cats in that particular area. For example we don't get any wild animals and no cats or dogs around. Light baking or freezing would kill bugs but might not take away the risk of parasites from urine. It's a difficult one because I used to have an organic garden and pick herbs and various edibles from it for us and never worried about animal urine. But hamsters could be more affected.

You can actually buy hamster greens to grow in little pots indoors - like nibble grass, or you can grow sprouts in pots.