Hi Shess. Welcome to the NGA!
Usually I remark that some insecticide, though slightly toxic, is nowhere near as bad as the old, nasty organophosphate 'cides that used to be common.
Well, Orthene looks like one of those nasty old organophosphates! If you ever worry about any chemical, worry about this one. They make nerve poisons (war gasses) from other organophosphates.
Here is the MSDS sheet. Those are not alarmist by any means: when the MSDS says "toxic", they mean "toxicologist LD50 toxic", not "organic gardener
potentially harmful in some people's minds if it builds up over years of exposure".
http://www.kernred.com/kern-ag...
I haven't found average dwell times in soil, so MAYBE you can wait long enough before harvesting squash that sufficiently little will remain.
And maybe experienced farmers know that there are ways or reasons WHY it isn't as likely to give you convulsions as the MSDS makes it sound. Or someone with lots of fire ants may have used it near the veggie garden and not noticed symptoms.
But if no one has a surprisingly reassuring answer, trust your first reaction:
This is
not for vegetable garden use.
Maybe hint to your husband that if he wouldn't dip a finger into the bottle and lick his finger, he shouldn't be dropping it in the vegetable garden!
