Are strawberries planted where milk grew safe?
A couple of years ago, we planted milk weed plants in our yard to attract monarch butterfly cattapillers. The cattapillers came and ate, and turned into butterflies. It was a wonderful experience. Last year, however, no cattapillers showed up. So this year I pulled out the milk weed plants as they started sprouting. I would like to plant strawberries in their place, but I’m concerned that the berries may be unsafe to eat since milk weed is poisonous. Does anyone know about this sort of thing?
Yes, it is perfectly safe to plant strawberries there, and since milkweek was the last “crop,” they should do very, very well. Have fun with your berry picking!
Milkweed, though mildly toxic if eaten (usually not fatally) leaves no trace of the cardenolides in he soil, but rather it fixes nitrogen into the soil almost as effectively as clover. It has been used to improve soil conditions and give land a rest in between planting years.
The underlying concept is crop rotation, and it has been used for centuries to increase production (planting the same thing year after year in the same spot tends to deplete the soil of specific nutrients).
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