Homemade Insecticides - Tobaco

Hi I'm wondering if I could boil some tobaco in water and use the resulting solution to spray on vedge as an insecticde? If so, what are the ratios and will my vedge be ok to eat or will they become toxic? Will they even be damaged by the spray?

If not does anybody else know of any cheap homemade alternatives to the store bought stuff. I'm really trying to keep costs to a minimum this year givien my skintness!

Many thanks

Dave

Reply to
DavidofWales
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I think your completely stupid! Flirting with death. A concentration of nicotine on your skin and you could end up dead! One pack of Sigs to make Nicotine TEA concentration is a top ten way for people committing suicide! Dead before you hit the floor. Danger Danger Will Robinson!

Do Not Think Of Even Doing This!

The cost of one pack of Sigs, one can buy a bottle of Seven for bug extermination and be far far safer... Seven will be safer to use than concentrated nicotine!

What do you want to win "The Darwin Award"? Or end up on the TV show "1001 ways to die"?

I cannot believe I am typing this, probably a gag! What ever made you think of doing this?

Reply to
Nad R

Nicotine is very poisonous, the only reason that smokers survive as long as they do is because most of the nicotine in each smoke is destroyed by heat. Such a solution will be quite toxic, do not ingest it or allow children pets etc to get to it.

If so, what are

These are two important issues. You won't know exactly how strong your solution is because different tobaccos contain various amounts of nicotine and the amount extracted into solution will depend on the conditions of the extraction. Thus you won't know how much you can (should) dilute while it remains effective nor will you know the withholding period. There may be information to help with these available on the web but there is a risk that it is not reliable.

Consider this recipe (the first one that I found).

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says a cup of chewing tobacco for a gallon of water and that the spray is only effective for a few hours. I have no idea if either of these things is correct. A cup of tobacco doesn't seem very cheap to me but I don't buy tobacco. I suppose you could collect butts at places where smokers congregate, you would have to dress the part, maybe carry a bottle in a brown paper bag and rub dirt into your face and hands.

It also says soap will dissolve the bodies of soft bodied insects which is not true. You takes your chances with what you find on the web. The soap will act as a wetting agent allowing the liquid to wet both leaves and insects which will improve the amount the insects ingest, so it is useful.

I doubt it.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

I would not touch anything some else was sucking on!

I can not believe that eHow actually had a formula for it. Take note of those HEAVY duty gloves....

Nicotine can be absorbed through the skin. I had a school teacher speak of taking one rabbit and rubbing one sig on the neck of the rabbit and it died a few minutes later. The good old days of school, not the bland days of today!

Perhaps I am overly cautious, but I would not even think of trying it.

Reply to
Nad R

Nad is actually suggesting that you use a product called Sevin (not Seven). The active ingredient of Sevin is Carbaryl.

Carbaryl is highly toxic to both bees and earthworms and it is reputed to be a human carcinogen and to cause neuropathic damage to humans and a number of domestic pet species and has a raft of other negatives attached to it's name.

I would not recommend the use of Sevin even for someone I disliked as it is crosses through human skin barrier. Carbaryl has been banned in quite a few western countries including the UK where you seem to be posting from so you shouldn't be able to buy it anyway. The US has not yet banned this nasty product.

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Reply to
FarmI

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for correcting me on Sevin :)

That is true about Sevin. I do not use on Veggies. I do keep a bottle for my last rose bush. When the last rose bush goes to the great compost pile, I hope soon, the Sevin will go also. Some one felt I should keep at least one Rose, I still do not have a good reason thou.

I was like having the thought, Sevin is a better product than Nicotine. Both are toxic. The US has not banned Tobacco yet here either. Both should be banned. Not much is illegal here in the US, if it is illegal, it is not enforced.

Yea I know it is 1:30AM here and I am not thinking straight.

Reply to
Nad R

You may end up addicted to your spinach.

Reply to
jellybean stonerfish

As you can read people here like to share their opinions and frequently inquire as to your mental health. These helpful opinions are largely based on urban mythology and their personal preferences. Facts and answers tend to be quite a different story.

I mostly left out the usual recycled greenie news propaganda sources and gave you some Educational resources except for the *-lifestyles link which seemed to be rather good basic info. The Colorado State link is general info on nicotine products with its homepage below it if you want further info. Just know nicotine is not the Antichrist's power drink as outlined but use chewing tobacco. A common sense approach to preparing and using any pesticide should be a sufficient disclaimer.

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are some easy to follow formularies to look over. One is written for junior High School students by the University of Georgia but still should answer your specific question:

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Two notes; do not use nicotine products on tomatoes or peppers because of the possible spread of the tobacco mosaic virus and know the difference between soap and detergent.

good luck.

Reply to
Gunner

Tobacco tea should only be used on ornamentals, not food crops. Sevin should not be used. It kills pollinators. It kills everything.

Reply to
Billy

Why should Tabasco tea only be used on ornamentals? If it is not good for food crops why exclude ornamentals. Does tobacco tea not kill bees also? After all is it an insecticide or just gives the bugs a bad taste?

I found this site interesting:

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main topic states "One drop on your skin can make you very sick". There is an argument about also killing bees in the second response.

I am amazed that people are making teas from tobacco. Learn something new today :)

Reply to
Nad R

It is a insecticide. It isn't good for you to eat. 40?60 mg (0.5-1.0 mg/kg) can be a lethal dosage for adult humans.

Reply to
Billy

Not necessarily.

Commercial pesticides come with all kinds of warnings and the more toxic the substance the more strident the warnings. Tobacco comes with warnings (in this country anyway) about the dangers of smoking it but say nothing about making tea with it. The warnings are all about damage caused by long term use not short term poisoning. These warnings doesn't translate to users being aware that you can also poison yourself by ingesting the tea. Given that the use of tobacco is still very prevalent and people don't drop dead on the street from smoking it may seem, not knowing any better, that the tea is fairly benign.

Under these circumstances I don't think it is excessive (Antichrist's power drink!) to tell people that the tea is very toxic. It might not be any more toxic than some commercial insecticides but it isn't labelled as such and until you know that it is dangerous 'common sense' might be to handle it without much thought like you handle other tobacco products.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Hi, thanks to everyone who gave me valuable information and the links to other relevant web pages. As you nice people and constructive posters can see this is my third post, and I would like to give a forum a chance before I leave it. These thanks exclude the first poster Nad as they called me stupid.

If Nad had bothered to read my post properly asking for help Nad wouldn't of bothered replying in such a way that makes themselfes come across (I'm not saying they are) but come across like an obnoxious, nasally spoken know it all with far too many references to television programmes. God I cringed and felt embarrassed for Nad when I read their reply!

OK I've been thinking about using the nicotine extracted from Nicotiana Tobbacum as it's a natural mechanism of defence against insects. I've just realised it's a broad spectrum insecticide and will therefore not be using it on my vedge. I want as much predatory wildlife in my garden as much as I don't want pests!

I think I'm going to try the soap methods and plant some marigolds amongst my rows. I've read some interesting information on caffeine as an insecticide but if you get the concentration wrong it may scorch the foliage. In a low enough concentration it might just act as a deterrent. I?ll try it when there's an outbreak of pests on my patch.

Again, thanks to all those who have contributed information constructively.

Reply to
DavidofWales

These thanks exclude the first poster Nad as they called me stupid.

No problem here, enjoy life :)

Reply to
Nad R

Usually, if you have too many pests, something that eats them eventually turns up.

Reply to
Billy

The usual homemade insecticide is soap and vegetable oil.

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Reply to
General Schvantzkoph

Ahh... I understand now. Know it was the stupid rabbit David, not you. I don't have you in the group that needs a hot coffee warning label so as to know it might burn if you spill it on you. I don't think the man needed more than the warning you gave and he damn sure didn't need the theatrics from some others. You gave the man an honest effort as to an answer and qualified your concerns and your perspective. I do understand your concern about toxicity but do fact checking heat killing nicotine in cigarettes ok? not quite right. Again, I did not believe there needed to be additional warnings and he needed to know there is more than a bit of personal perspective.

I only hope you don't drink any of the "tea" David but know there hasn't been a single death from nicotine poisoning yet reported this year, in the States anyway, ...nor last year either. Don't want you to be the first.

Reply to
Gunner

The idea of tea does suggest ingestion but in the garden world it can have other meanings.

You folks ever hear of blackleaf 40 ?

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Reply to
Bill who putters

Your comparison is way off target. We all have experience of hot drinks so it is obvious from childhood that they can burn you. There is nothing obvious about tobacco that says it is immediately dangerous. Common experience is the reverse, that you can safely handle tobacco, my grandfather did not put on gloves to roll a cigarette. Unless you had experience of handling the tea and inadvertently given yourself a buzz how would you know it was quite toxic and could be absorbed through the skin unless someone told you?

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are you quibbling because I said 'destroyed by heat' rather than 'burned'?

This point is also relevant to perceptions of harm. Smokers smoke cigarettes all the time without apparently poisoning themselves with nicotine, this contributes to the perception that tobacco is relatively harmless in the short term. When you make tea with it the majority of nicotine is not destroyed as in the burning of the cigarette.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

I am the one with the theatrics here! Give me credit where it is do... Idiot! I am saying teas are not like rolling cigarettes. Teas make it easier to get adsorbed into the skin and can make you very sick, not just ingestion.

Like it needs no warning? I believe it does! Common sense is almost non existent in people, especially the young that may be on the naive side. After all, if people had common sense they would NOT be smoking cigarettes, getting drunk every other day, watching fox news or vote republican. theatrics here :)

Reply to
Nad R

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