Is all grass in So Cal safe to feed?

[uscpsycho]

I know there are a number of people here who are in So Cal with tons of experience. I am wondering if there are any grasses that grow natively that would be unsafe to feed a star? Or does anything go?

I am going to be embarking on a major landscaping project so I have not paid any attention to my yard. I just let it do what it wants and all kinds of stuff grows/dies there. Plenty of weeds and such (which I don't use for food because I don't know which are safe to feed). After getting my tortoise I made a very weak attempt at intentionally growing grass. About nine months ago I got a big bag of tall fescue seeds, spread them around by hand and watered as directed for the first two weeks or so. I suspected the grass wouldn't grow and I didn't want to waste water in vain, so I just ignored it. After all the rain we've had lots of grass is growing, but I also have new grass in back where I didn't spread seeds so I have no idea if the grass where the fescue seeds were spread resulted in fescue grass or something else.

Anyway, that was a long way of saying my grass may or may not be fescue. So can I feed my star tort whatever grass I have growing even if it's not fescue? There are no fertilizers or additives or anything like that to worry about in the grass.

 

[wellington]

Im not in CA but have never heard of any grass being bad to feed unless it has chemicals of any kind on it
Check this site out to find edible weeds and flowers. They need more than just grass.

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

thetortoisetable.org.uk

 

[uscpsycho]

Check this site out to find edible weeds and flowers. They need more than just grass.

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

thetortoisetable.org.uk

Yes, I know they need more than just grass 🙄

I'm familiar with Tortoise Table and have the app on my phone. I wish they had a weeds category to help me figure out which of the weeds I have are edible. But that would also require me to know what the weeds are. I've tried Google image search but it's not always conclusive, there are often multiple options and I can't always identify with certainty. Good to know that any grass should be safe though, I've got so much of it right now.

 

[SinLA]

Nothing I'm aware of that would be "bad" other than pesticides, but @Tom will know for sure...

 

[Tom]

Yes, I know they need more than just grass 🙄

I'm familiar with Tortoise Table and have the app on my phone. I wish they had a weeds category to help me figure out which of the weeds I have are edible. But that would also require me to know what the weeds are. I've tried Google image search but it's not always conclusive, there are often multiple options and I can't always identify with certainty. Good to know that any grass should be safe though, I've got so much of it right now.

1. Where did you get the fescue seed? If it wasn't from a feed store and intended to be eaten by pasture animals, it might have some "stuff" in it. Hardware store seed has all sorts of weird stuff going on with it. You can look this up if you want to know more. It is intended to be green and pretty, not to be eaten by grazing animals.
2. I don't know of any grasses that are toxic, but there probably are some somewhere in the world that are. Personally, I feed my tortoises buckets of wild growing grasses every year around this time. There are about a half dozen varieties that turn into nasty fox tails when they dry out in late spring and summer, but they make the most wonderful tortoise food for grass eating species prior to that.
3. Post pics of your weeds here. I know most of the SoCal weeds, but I'm terrible with Florida and eastern state weeds. I feed out at least two dozen weed species. You can also pull the whole weed out by the root and take it to your local garden center. Every garden center (not big box chain stores with a garden department...) has a resident plant nerd that knows every plant in existence. Make friends with that person, if possible. Once you have a positive ID, you get to enjoy trying to figure out if its toxic or not. We can share what we've been doing for years, but if no one here has been using it for food, sometimes the best you can do is a guess, and in that case I just skip it in favor of known safe items.