Monday, March 26, 2007

Quick poll

A parrot that compulsively picks the fertilizer pellets out of my potted plants on the balcony is...

(a) going to be perfectly fine. If they were dangerous, it would know better than to eat them.

(b) a perfect example of Darwinian evolution and doing the species a favour.

(c) in big trouble and my karma is going to suffer for it.

(d) a problem easily solved by [fill in simple solution here].

6 Comments:

Anonymous said...

a) and if this proves to be wrong, (b).

Yeah. I think fetiliser isn't insecticide, it's just nutrients for plants, so no poison involved (?). How odd though.

Anonymous said...

agreeing with julie. if you're worried, maybe you can cover the dirt with mosquito netting?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's like parrot multivitamins?

StyleyGeek said...

I hope you guys are right.

Bardiac said...

Err, I'd dig them in a little and not leave them on top. Or switch to a little organic manure (which the parrots could contribute) or compost. Or get something you can dissolve or dig in?

Fertilizers tend to be made of three things, nitrogen, phosporous and potassium. Anyway, the concentrations can be nasty, I'd guess, for something as small (relatively speaking) as a parrot, it could be like taking a massive vitamin overdose, though the danger would depend on how well the bird could excrete the chemical.

(I love all your parrot pictures, by the way.)

StyleyGeek said...

Well, it's not dead yet, but on the off-chance it's getting a gradual overdose, I might take Bardiac's suggestions. Even just digging them in a little might do the trick (why didn't I think of that?)