saving stems to make pesticide?

[grgfinney]

I finally got around to desteming the leaf I kilned last fall and I wondered if should save the stems to make a pesticide this year

 

[darren1979]

Yer sure, I used some on my roses last year that had athids and it seemed to do the trick. I've also saved some from last years grow to make a spray for my cigar leaf when it's in the kiln, I've read alot of cigar manufacturers use it to spray on leaf.

 

[Markw]

Darren I was thinking of giving this a try this year. how do you mix yours. or how many stems do you need.

 

[Michibacy]

I haven't used it as insecticide but I hear it can work. My only questions is this: do you use it on tobacco? It seems it would just attract the critters more. I have used organic Mum extract which works very well.

 

[Knucklehead]

The recipes that I've seen called for really high nicotine varieties such as Rustica. Red pepper and dish soap were also added. It was stated that just spraying the plant didn't work, you had to spray directly on the insect. I have no idea how the nicotine content of the stem will compare with the nicotine content of the leaf.

 

[darren1979]

Hi Mark, To be honest I winged it, I took all my stems broken or turning moldy leaf and chucked it in a old 10 ltr paint tub with about 5 ltrs of water and let it sit for a week. The water turned the colour of a strong cup of tea, then when I was ready to spray I added a tiny bit of fairy washing up liquid ( my thinking it will help it stick to plant better) maybe half a teaspoon. Then filled my bottle and sprayed the plants.
I hit the roses twice in a week with it and it done the job as good as any off the shelf pesticide.

 

[Markw]

Thanks Darren I will give it a go this year, I had loads of problems last year. Like Knucklehead has said some pepper added to the mixture cold help. I think I have read this some where before but can I remember where !!!!
At the moment I have come to a stand still on my new plot as it is totally flooded Lol !!!! and it is on top of a hill. water water everywhere.

 

[Knucklehead]

From www.seedman.com website: "For a truly natural pesticide, make your own tobacco dust from one of the varieties that are high in nicotine and make your own solution by mixing one teaspoon tobacco dust, one teaspoon of black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap to one gallon of water."

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Like Knucks said... Any recipe I've ever seen calls for strong tobacco. I do not think using stems will do much other than to annoy the insects. Stems used to be used as a fertilizer though.

 

[bonehead]

one of my friends wen't to college for agriculture and stupied ipm as one of the classes. he used chewing tobacco and dishsoap to kill the bugs. i guess you can kill them with just dishsoap and water if you spray it on them and their eggs directly because it blocks up the passageways in their body and they dryout and suffocate at the same time. he said do more spraying on the underside of the leafs because 9 times out of ten thats where the bugs and eggs are. now he works at monsanto in ct doing plant genetics. gmo

 

[janetta007]

I found this website helpful.http://readynutrition.com/resources...own-but-beneficial-uses-for-tobacco_27082010/

 

[Markw]

Yep !!!!!! I will be trying it this year. Thanks for the link I knew I had looked at this some where, I was bashed bad last year by white and black fly, and the poxy flae beetle.

 

[Southern Planter]

you can kill them with just dishsoap and water if you spray it on them and their eggs directly because it blocks up the passageways in their body and they dryout and suffocate at the same time.

When I was a kid I sprayed a black widow with my mothers "Dipitydoo" and it croaked faster than if I had used DDT.

 

[CT Tobaccoman]

Hi All,

Can anyone say whether or not home made nicotine solutions kill bugs without hurting tobacco plants? Would it be used as a spot application when bugs are present, or a once a week preventative?

Living in a place with lots of bugs, near the sea, and not a tobacco producing area. So many bugs I've never seen before. I notice a lot of ants in my garden, and various fleas and black-and-white beetles. Something eats small holes and something devours entire leaves, leaving only stem and veins. Too hard it identify them--I'd rather just kill any bug on my transplants, and let God sort them out.

What about common houseflies and ants? Might they eat tobacco?

I have a little Admire and Orthene mixed with Acrobat/Dithane, but not enough to last long, and these can't be used every day to zap bugs on the leaves. So, I'm thinking about homemade nicotine spray. So far, I've used Sevin spray for that, but I feel that I am using too many poisons too often.

Admire Pro, which is an insecticide used by commercial tobacco farmers, is very effective and is a nicotinoid based insecticide, but hard to get your hands on. (imidacloprid) And the people next door keep bees--don't want to harm them.

What about Sevin? Any experience with that?

Orthene (acephatate) was used mostly when I worked commercial tobacco. Looking for an over the counter version.

When I worked commercially, there were a few insecticides that we used, and that was that. In the backyard, it's different--many unknown bugs, and I am now restricted to over the counter insecticides.

I'd really appreciate hearing about what you all have learned in the backyard tobacco patch about bugs. My plants are at the recent transplant stage, just beginning to grow new leaves. Meanwhile, I'll scour the forum for previously posted info. If anyone else lives close to the Atlantic Ocean, within 2 miles, he or she might have experienced similar bugs. Feel like I am giving the bugs a new treat.


Charley

 

[deluxestogie]

Photos of the leaf damage might help narrow the list of suspects.

An aqueous solution of nicotine can be made like a tea, but it is dangerous (potentially fatal) if spilled on exposed skin, or consumed by a child. It will likely kill the herbivorous pests of small transplants. For large tobacco plants, any persistent herbivores (like hornworms and flea beetles) are, of necessity, immune to the levels of nicotine encountered in the leaf.

My general advice is that making tobacco tea is more prone to hazardous events than a purchased OTC insecticide, and most effective on non-tobacco plants. I'm using a permethrin spray on my tobacco bud heads, just prior to bagging, and only during very still weather.

Bob

 

[Jack in NB]

Interesting topic.

Just reading diaries from Great - Great Grandad and uncle 1870 - 90. Farmers near Saint John NB.

One mentioned burning tobacco stems weekly in his greenhouse for insect control. They both survived....

 

[wrapper]

My two cents worth on aphid control: I make a strong tea from rustica (now grown especially for the job) and mix it with fine ground pepper and dish washing liquid 1:1:1 in 5 litres of water. This is sprayed directly onto the bugs (i.e. it is not systemic). I use it on roses, cabbages and tobacco; anything. But deluxestogie is right; this kind of bug brew might be "organic" but it is dangerously strong for humans. I used to work in glasshouses in the UK growing chrysanthemums etc and the safety measures for nicotine fogging the glass houses for aphids was really strict.

However anything up to around 100 tobacco plants grown at home you can control most bugs manually. Literally pull 'em off and squish the horn worms, and I run my fingers gently over the plant tips where the aphids gather and mash them into aphid goo. I prefer not to use any pyrethrins as they kill the good guys too.

 

[Tutu]

You can save the stems and have them laying around for birds to build there nests with. It also works as a repellent for insects in their nests

 

[webmost]

You can save the stems and have them laying around for birds to build there nests with. It also works as a repellent for insects in their nests

FX Smith's Sons sells their huge bales of stems to some organization that distributes them to guys raising racing pigeons. Dunno bout racing; but squab is yummers. Used to raise homing pigeons as a child. Couldn't get rid of them. Take them away 200 miles, they'd beat you back. Once upon a time, long long ago, way before you had to relinquish your 4th amendment to step on a plane, I flew with a college theater group to Utah. En route, the airlines fed us squab. I thought that was the most entrancing thing, eating squab on the wing. What a giggle. Course, half those giggles may have been the dot on a stamp of paper that we ate before boarding. It was the sixties, and I did inhale. Drop out, turn on, tune in. Left sunny Stockton in short sleeves; arrived in super-frigid SLC... Holy Cold Cow!

 

[Brown Thumb]

Course, half those giggles may have been the dot on a stamp of paper that we ate before boarding. It was the sixties, and I did inhale. Drop out, turn on, tune in. Left sunny Stockton in short sleeves; arrived in super-frigid SLC... Holy Cold Cow!

WoW, did I read that Right, you got more brain cells left than me
PPM