Tobacco as an Insect Repellant?

I've just been through the long drawn out process of potting for indoors - it all looks great in the office and lobby of the building here, but whew! A lotta' work.

Someone told me that if I want to just bring the plants indoors, without changing the soil, I can take tobacco, put it in water then pour it into the plants - it's supposed to kill off insects such as white flies.

I'm normally a stickler for using fresh potting soil when I bring stuff indoors, but for the few things I have left to pot up, I wouldn't mind trying this shortcut?

Does anyone know anything about this? Has anyone actually done it?

Thanks in advance for whatever info you can give.

Carly :-0

 

steeped tobacco was an insecticide years ago, not in recent use commercially though.

 

Ahhhhhh! I didn't know that, Paul.

So, whaddya' think? Should I do it? There's enough cigarette butts around here - my own (I'm a sinner myself) and the ones people just carelessly flick . . . should I throw them into a jug of water, let it sit a couple of days, then water the plants with it?

 

That sounds really unpleasant.

 

Nicotine is much more toxic then soaps and sprays available at stores. Everyone has gone to great expense to reduce toxicity in insect sprays.

I think you would be breaking the law to use an unregistered insecticide in a public building.

 

Ahhhhh! I never thought of that . . . we're an apartment building, so there might be restrictions on that.

 

Excuse me, ma'am? We're the plant police? We want to check for evidence of tobacco in your plants . . .

Come right in, officers.

 

Or,
"Hello. A child has been admitted to emergency and toxicology indicates nicotine poisoning so we will need to search your building..."

 

So it is legal to drop butts on the carpet, but not in plant pots . . .

Of course in a sensible world, consumption of Nicotiana would be put on the same level as consumption of Papaver somniferum, Erythroxylum coca, Cannabis sativa, etc.

 

Certainly still legal to grow Nicotiana in Canada but Papaver and E.coca are not.

So you can drop butts on the carpet but not poppy seed ! LOL

 

Use chewing tobacco instead. I use this same method with a little liquid dish soap and spray all my plants before bringing them in for the winter. I also spray this outside year round on all my plants. Works like a charm. Red

 

Tobacco dust is still in use in PA. It also helps keep animals away.

 

Nicotine as an insecticide is still available to use here, however its classified as one of the more toxic of the pesticides (skull and crossed bones type of warning with it)

*lights up another ciggy* *coughs*

 

I remember reading somewhere that using tobacco as a spray on plants can sometimes spread tobacco mosaic virus in some plants. I found this info interesting.
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-366/426-366.html

This was also interesting.
http://wwbota.free.fr/XMLPublication/text+index/work/master.xml

Newt