Help!!! Deadly nightshade found on Allotment :(

[MarkHackwell]

I was just digging around on the Allotment this morning and cane across what I think is deadly nightshade. Luckily had gloves on so even if I had touched the plant will all be alright! What do I do with it though? I havnt dug the plant or pulled it up yet as I’m not sure I want to touch it? Any help please?

[Snoop Puss]

Have a look here:
https://www.ehow.com/how_8203614_rid-nightshade.html

or

here:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/pla...nightshade.htm

[greenishfing]

Just to be on the safe side wear gloves and make sure you get all the root out.

[Martin H]

As I understand it, deadly nightshade used to kill people because of the berries' superficial similarity to black nightshade, which is edible if you're hungry enough.

I used to have a lot of black nightshade on my allotment in the autumn, you may find that's what you've got. Hopefully!

[veggiechicken]

Don't panic, Mr Hackwell!!
First be sure of the identification. there are several berry bearing plants that are nightshades. Even tomatoes and potatoes are part of the same family - solanacae ?sp.

If you want to panic, read this http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/ato...belladonna.htm

[muckdiva]

I think Huckleberries are in the nightshade family too? Never grown them but I’m sure I read it somewhere.

[nickdub]

Got tons of it in my wilderness, which sometimes I laughingly describe as my garden, it has been here for at least 50 years I reckon. My motto is "if it doesn't bother me, then I don't bother it", which has worked in this case . Obviously I am not an idiot, so I wouldn't eat it - if I had kids about then I'd have another think but probably I'd just tell them not to eat some plants and show them which ones are poisonous - when I was a little boy we had a huge yew tree in our garden - every autumn the blackbirds and thrushes would eat the bright red Yew berries and sometimes I would watch them doing - My mother told that although the birds ate the berries and were OK, that if I tried to eat them then they might kill me - also we picked some and brought them in the house and I drew a picture of them.

I am not a parent , but I think my attitude would be that there are lots of dangerous things around which might kill a 5 or 6 year old, if they aren't told about them such as motor cars - so in general my belief is that education is the best way of minimizing risk, but within the limits of common sense ie I wouldn't leave 2 year old near a patch deadly nightshade unattended. If something is alive - there is a risk that it will die in the next 5 minutes - I empathise with the protective attitude of parents but if the "right" option is to be environment they are in until they are 11 - then logically locking them inside something like a padded cell ought to popular - parents have a duty to achieve a reasonable balance of the safety risk/developmental needs ratio imo.

PS when I was much older I found out that the red flesh of a yew berry is edible, but that the black seed within it is very poisonous - I'm guessing, but I expect my mother knew this, however if she did, she also had the sense to realise that this bit of knowledge was a step too far for a 4 year old to be safely told.

[Jay-ell]

I think Huckleberries are in the nightshade family too? Never grown them but I’m sure I read it somewhere.

Garden Huckleberry is a Nightshade, Huckleberry is related to the blueberry.

Where I used to work had loads of Woody Nightshade growing, lovely lilac petals with yellow stamens followed by orange then red berries. Pretty but poisonous.

Deadly Nightshade id called Bella Donna which means beautiful woman - this comes from the fact that it was used as a beauty preparation dropping it into the eyes to dilate them and give you big bright eyes.

As a divergence but following on from the above fact Arsenic (often extracted from fly papers or rat poison) was used to give a rosy complexion. Litharge and slate white were used in face creams and rouges - both are types of lead compounds.

"Ah, but she made a beautiful corpse"

[Baldy]

Our site first had it last year - its popping up all over the place - especially now where there are fewer folk around working their plot. Probably spread via the digestive system of the local bird population..

I just wear gloves when I'm getting rid of it.

[quanglewangle]

OK it's poisonous, but not that poisonous. In fact there are folks who take it recreationaly and while arguably they are mad, there isn't a high death rate. You won't get poisoned by brushing against it.

The LD50 figure of atropine (dose at which 50% of the population die) in mice is 75mg/kg . Scale that up for a 30kg child and you get just over 2 g. Remember that's atropine, not berries. European Medicines Agency estimate the plant contains between 0.2% and 2.0% alkaloid. Lets say 2% for safety. So your 30kg child would need to eat 100g berries to die.

One problem is that the berries are sweet tasting.