As far as I know they are safe to eat, but definitely wash them. In the case of toxoplasmosis when my wife was pregnant with our first child she informed me that cleaning the litter box for *her* cats would be my responsibility. I did it, but then did some research on the risks and for subsequent pregnancies she has done it. It's a very low risk unless one is in the habit of eating the cat poop :) Long story short these are a protozoan not normally infectious except in a cyst form where they are ingested. They don't enter/live in plants, just animals. So, wash the produce and you are good to go. They also won't survive cooking or more than a day or so in the freezer.

Hi Guys, I am a 3 year Gardner that used to travel and have had bad luck with neighbors you name it. I have grown beautiful tomatoes , marigolds etc. Armature stuff. Now I have been back home for 2 months and have grown 4 sunflowers the smallest at 5 ft bloomed and all the flower fell off due to excessive rain so is all that's left is the face with green sides. I can post pics. My pepper plants are in my front yard facing west ( noon and after sun) have holes in the leaves like they are being eaten. I thought it was slugs and put out yeast and sugar water add drew nothing but ants. The same goes for my back patio where my sunflowers are growing in a large pot with my green peppers. My peppers are like vines and are chasing the sunflower up its stalk. But I can see ants crawling.All of my leaves even my cherry tomato plant started showing signs of discoloration of leaves and that's a hung planter.My snap peas came up beautifully got about 7 feet and died from the root up. All seeds were bought online or home depot. online seed is hit or miss for weeds but I tend to my garden. I use cow manure as well as miracle grow plus fertilizer, as well as use dead foliage. Weeds are killing me, roundup is not helping Please help me!!!!!!!!!!

Tom, depending on the problem I will hose them or not. If I have been spraying regularly there is no need to hose them, I prefer to spray after the sprinkles come out on either Friday or Monday, then the plants are wet. When you use the hose you can get on bugs hiding or their eggs and after that you spray so they don't go there again. The same with an infestation of fly, aphids or other small insects. It is a good idea to check the base of squash putting a strong water and see what comes out, if I see something usually when they are big enough for me to miss a spray or see in that spot, I use gloves and handpick them and after that spray. The only time that tomatoes benefit from a strong hose of water would be when it was not raining and get spider mites, it used to happen in Arizona but not here, we usually have problems with humidity and rain, that brings the rust, mildew and other things that we don't like. But as long as we get a harvest we should be happy! Silvia

Have you noticed any snails? I started getting them a couple years ago and didn't think anything about it, BUT since then I see on line they are what is eating all my plants and flowers and the stuff I buy to kill them isn't putting a dent in them. If anyone knows how to get rid of these horrible pests (besides getting the enemy of them which is another type of snail which will eventually also eat plants) please let me know. At this point I am picking them off the plants and stepping on them to kill them, but there are so many it is impossible to get them all.