a few questions re: flowers vs fruit vs foliage

[gunstreet.girl]

Hiya. A few questions about the safe food list and the way certain foods are presented, which I never thought to ask before now, and apologies if I've overlooked something that would point me in the right direction.

Specifically, I'm confused by some listings specifying the "safe" part of the plant (e.g., the listing for dandelion identifies the root, leaves, and flowers being edible; the listing for blackberries specifies fruit and leaves; the listing for pumpkin specifies "plus entire plant") while others do not qualify the listing but only give a common identification that could either indicate a person's preference for the way in which to identify the plant, or could specify that there is only one safe part of the plant (e.g., identifying "tomato" could indicate to some that only the fruits of the plant are safe and not the stems and leaves, while for others it might read as the whole plant being safe; "borage flowers," "calendula flowers," "nasturtium flowers" read as only the flower of the plant and not the foliage being safe; and "green beans" would seem to indicate that feeding the vines and leaves would be a no-no).

Can anyone provide any background on the language choices made in formulating/updating the list? Should I be reading listings more broadly?

I grow a large amount and variety of (organic) vegetables and flowers, and feed the ones I know are definitely safe to the hermies, but am curious to know, for example, if borage leaves are safe to feed? Tomato prunings? calendula leaves? nasturtium leaves?

Thanks!

[GotButterflies]

Hello! No, I would not read the list more broadly. You are reading it correctly.
If it says just the flowers, I would stick to just that. I also have an organic garden. I don't like to push the boundaries when it comes to my crabs (and by no means am I saying that you do! LOL). I figure the list says those things for a reason. I just compost things I don't use.

[wodesorel]

Ehh. The list has always been a headache. It's 25 years old, has rarely been edited, and staff kept forgetting to update it before deleting old topics.

Generally, it is the whole plant unless otherwise stated. Even when otherwise stated, what is listed is only what was food trialed and does not mean any other parts are harmful. The entire nasturtium plant is safe for instance, but only the flowers were officially done.

We would occasionally go back and edit it to reflect that if the same question kept being asked over and over. Ie. Pumpkin meant the whole plant, but we kept getting asked about leaves and vines so we added to that listing to reflect that.

It is a rough guide. It is not an end all, be all!

[GotButterflies]

I stand corrected!! Now I know!

[gunstreet.girl]

Ehh. The list has always been a headache. It's 25 years old, has rarely been edited, and staff kept forgetting to update it before deleting old topics.

Generally, it is the whole plant unless otherwise stated. Even when otherwise stated, what is listed is only what was food trialed and does not mean any other parts are harmful. The entire nasturtium plant is safe for instance, but only the flowers were officially done.

We would occasionally go back and edit it to reflect that if the same question kept being asked over and over. Ie. Pumpkin meant the whole plant, but we kept getting asked about leaves and vines so we added to that listing to reflect that.

It is a rough guide. It is not an end all, be all!

Excellent, thanks! I wasn’t under the impression that the list was exhaustive, but wasn’t sure whether some of the precision was calculated or just the preferred identification of the writer my hermies love nasturtium, calendula, and borage leaves just as much as the flowers, and I never thought to check if they were included in the list as a “safe” part of the plant until I was checking the list for bean leaves and stumbled across the listings..