How to Avoid Pesticides When Feeding Millipedes?

[FlickeringFade]

I recently purchased a group of five Orthoporus Ornatus (Texas Gold) Millipedes, and I've been wondering what to do to avoid accidentally feeding them pesticides that could harm them. All googling I've done shows that the pesticides can grow into/with the fruits & vegetables, so I'm worried washing and peeling the outside isn't enough (it seems organic may be better? With things like neem and diatomaceous earth that can be washed off). They have high quality Millipede substrate and decaying leaf litter & wood, but I would like to be able to feed them fresh produce as well. I live in northern Oregon and growing food myself isn't an option as winter approaches but I will definitely be doing so next year.
Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Welcome to the boards.

I've never accidentally poisoned any of my produce eaters in all the years I've been keeping them (not to mention the billions of crickets raised as feed, LoL), just through thoroughly rinsing everything off. Organic might be a way to go, or possibly giving it a soak in some distilled water. My daughter keeps some millipedes, & I've seen her give hers a few leaves right out of her pre-mixed salad bags (I believe from Dole), without even rinsing them.

 

[viper69]

Grow your own or organic- only solutions

 

[Kada]

Grow your own or organic- only solutions

This.

Growing your own can be pretty easy. You don't need to have an orchard. Growing seedling trays and greens is very simple, even for city dwellers with just a window. Lots of info online, but they tend to over think things. Look up sprouts, baby greens etc. Buy organic seed, sprout, freeze. Cheap, very easy, almost no time investment. Well, I guess that depends on your collection size.

I have, a few times, wiped out entire colonies of mealworms and roaches due to store bought certified organic produce. Doesn't always happen, but it can. FDA can't test every batch so be careful. For our own food as well, not just our pets. If I have to buy grocery store stuff I try to go for root vegetables that are certified organic. Even if the organic label fails, which it can often do, the under ground aspect is often far less toxic than say very intricate above ground things that get bombarded by contamination and hard to wash. I avoid things with thousands of cracks and crevices for this reason. Broccoli, cabbage, lettuce etc. Much prefer yam, sweet potato, carrot, daikon etc. If leafy stuff, I make a point of testing local stuff that they enjoy. Weeds mostly. One might be surprised what works and is free and clean.

 

[The Snark]

Just suppose...
- The farmer didn't want to kill the pests immediately present on the crops but to also kill the pests that come at night, and next week. So they make the chemical waterproof. Persistent.
- The farmer adheres to the organic standards for that particular field for that particular crop. Does the organic apply to every crop in every field throughout the entire year and the FDA regularly inspects each and every crop with rigorous lab testing?
- All farmers are fully educated as to what constitutes adherence and compliance to fully pesticide free as opposed to organic providing the pesticides are not used X number of days before harvest.
- No farmer would ever fudge the organic fully pesticide free rules even if strict adherence to the rules will result in a major crop and yearly profit loss.
- All farmers strictly control neighboring farms so no over-spray will ever drift onto their organic crops.

I once delivered a load of about 800 lbs of lemons to a co-op. The certification that they were fully organic and pesticide free was I said they were.

 

[Brewser]

Find a Sunny Window in your Home & Home Grow.
Your Home Free.

 

[TheraMygale]

Youre in Oregon. You have the world at your knees.

even Vermont can not compete with Oregon. Vermont is retirees. Orgenon, the new word. Oh how its still the stame from when they first colonized…

you have the largest vegan community of all. Even the hardcore screamo bands there are inclusive. I know, we booked some.

produce free of presticides should be easy to come by.

if you wish to grow your own that will be easy too. And forests. Just need to harvest food near pesticide free farms. No dio earth in forests.

avoid highways and city for harvesting wild foods.

they usualy sell cheap vegetables that are “ugly” in organic stores. Youll get what you need there.

if the vegetable or fruit is ugly, then its good to go in general.

im a horticulturist. And i know the standards for grocery produce.