Wapsi Square Forum

Instead of using tabbacco
directly, I've stewed it into strong tea and used that in a sprayer. It breaks down after a while so stop using it near harvest time...

DinkyInky wrote:*drools*

Please say those are spicy.

Marigolds repel many furry and insectoid pests.

Watering the ground with Dawn dishsoap and tobacco keeps a few others away. Spraying the plant with soapy water at night helps too...just don't do what I did and forget to rinse them off before eating...soapy hot peppers are icky.

Quarter million Scovilles each...

Dave wrote:

DinkyInky wrote:Watering the ground with Dawn dishsoap and tobacco keeps a few others away.

I'd be very cautious about doing that. A lot of tobacco carries TMV (tobacco mosaic virus), and this virus also attacks other nightshade plants including tomatoes and peppers.

Been doing it for nearly three decades and never had an issue. Odd.

DinkyInky wrote:

Dave wrote:I'd be very cautious about doing that. A lot of tobacco carries TMV (tobacco mosaic virus), and this virus also attacks other nightshade plants including tomatoes and peppers.

Been doing it for nearly three decades and never had an issue. Odd.

Some (many?) of the commercial vegetable-nightshade varieties have apparently been bred to be TMV-resistant. And, I've read reports that the incidence of TMV in commercial tobacco has been reduced a great deal over the past few decades. Since it stunts the tobacco, I'm sure the growers try hard to keep it out of their crops.

So, you may just have been lucky (in a statistical sense).

The bad news is that the stuff is very resilient - the virus can survive months, or even years of dryness and sunlight.

Dave wrote:

DinkyInky wrote:

Dave wrote:I'd be very cautious about doing that. A lot of tobacco carries TMV (tobacco mosaic virus), and this virus also attacks other nightshade plants including tomatoes and peppers.

Been doing it for nearly three decades and never had an issue. Odd.

Some (many?) of the commercial vegetable-nightshade varieties have apparently been bred to be TMV-resistant. And, I've read reports that the incidence of TMV in commercial tobacco has been reduced a great deal over the past few decades. Since it stunts the tobacco, I'm sure the growers try hard to keep it out of their crops.

So, you may just have been lucky (in a statistical sense).

The bad news is that the stuff is very resilient - the virus can survive months, or even years of dryness and sunlight.

If the tobacco is air-dried, it can still transmit TMV. If it has been flue-dried, it usually gets hot enough that the virus has been restructured and deactivated. You can always try heating the tobacco up to around 45°C for a few hours to sterilise it.

I've heard that there's also been some research into using milk solutions to help reduce TMV transmissions.

Catawampus wrote:

Dave wrote:

DinkyInky wrote:Been doing it for nearly three decades and never had an issue. Odd.

Some (many?) of the commercial vegetable-nightshade varieties have apparently been bred to be TMV-resistant. And, I've read reports that the incidence of TMV in commercial tobacco has been reduced a great deal over the past few decades. Since it stunts the tobacco, I'm sure the growers try hard to keep it out of their crops.

So, you may just have been lucky (in a statistical sense).

The bad news is that the stuff is very resilient - the virus can survive months, or even years of dryness and sunlight.

If the tobacco is air-dried, it can still transmit TMV. If it has been flue-dried, it usually gets hot enough that the virus has been restructured and deactivated. You can always try heating the tobacco up to around 45°C for a few hours to sterilise it.

I've heard that there's also been some research into using milk solutions to help reduce TMV transmissions.

If by flue-dried, you mean use the dottles leftover from my pipe, or some of my clove cigarette ends, yeah I do that.