Please bear with me here,

If nicotine kills red spider mite
and nicotine is systemic
and plants can take up nicotine via the roots

then could you put a cigarette into the compost of a potted plant to
kill the little buggers

if so what would be the "rate" of cigarettes to litres of compost

Annabel

"Annabel" wrote in message
...
Please bear with me here,

If nicotine kills red spider mite
and nicotine is systemic
and plants can take up nicotine via the roots

then could you put a cigarette into the compost of a potted plant to
kill the little buggers

if so what would be the "rate" of cigarettes to litres of compost

It sounds clever, but my guess is that you will end up with the most
expensive compost in the world.

How about taking it one step further and just growing plenty of Nicotiana
specially for composting?

Franz

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Annabel" wrote in message
...
Please bear with me here,

If nicotine kills red spider mite
and nicotine is systemic
and plants can take up nicotine via the roots

then could you put a cigarette into the compost of a potted plant
to
kill the little buggers

if so what would be the "rate" of cigarettes to litres of compost

It sounds clever, but my guess is that you will end up with the most
expensive compost in the world.

How about taking it one step further and just growing plenty of
Nicotiana
specially for composting?

Franz


I had wondered about adding some kind of plant leaf, but in green manure
form as I thought that composted it may have lost its "insecticide".
Adding a cigarette has to be equated with the cost of insecticide and
not of compost, and of course there is at the moment no such systemic
insecticide available to us unlike some parts of the world.
I have seen on the web talk of using a cat/dog systemic miteicide!! on
plants.

Annabel

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:46:09 +0100, "Annabel"
wrote:


"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Annabel" wrote in message
...
Please bear with me here,

If nicotine kills red spider mite
and nicotine is systemic
and plants can take up nicotine via the roots

then could you put a cigarette into the compost of a potted plant
to
kill the little buggers

if so what would be the "rate" of cigarettes to litres of compost

It sounds clever, but my guess is that you will end up with the most
expensive compost in the world.

How about taking it one step further and just growing plenty of
Nicotiana
specially for composting?

Franz


I had wondered about adding some kind of plant leaf, but in green manure
form as I thought that composted it may have lost its "insecticide".
Adding a cigarette has to be equated with the cost of insecticide and
not of compost, and of course there is at the moment no such systemic
insecticide available to us unlike some parts of the world.
I have seen on the web talk of using a cat/dog systemic miteicide!! on
plants.

Annabel

I thought nicotine was a contact insecticide. I didn't know it was
also systemic. But it does bio-degrade quite rapidly apparently, so it
would soon break down when watered onto the soil or even if tobacco
leaves or cigarette butts were composted.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

I thought nicotine was a contact insecticide. I didn't know it was
also systemic. But it does bio-degrade quite rapidly apparently, so it
would soon break down when watered onto the soil or even if tobacco
leaves or cigarette butts were composted.


--
Chris


I picked up about nicotine being systemic in plants on some web site but
I do not know if it's true. It is systemic as far as humans are
concerned, hence the nicotine patch.

Annabel

I thought nicotine was a contact insecticide. I didn't know it was
also systemic. But it does bio-degrade quite rapidly apparently, so it
would soon break down when watered onto the soil or even if tobacco
leaves or cigarette butts were composted.


--
Chris


I picked up about nicotine being systemic in plants on some web site but
I do not know if it's true. It is systemic as far as humans are
concerned, hence the nicotine patch.

Annabel

In message , Annabel
writes
I thought nicotine was a contact insecticide. I didn't know it was
also systemic. But it does bio-degrade quite rapidly apparently, so it
would soon break down when watered onto the soil or even if tobacco
leaves or cigarette butts were composted.

I picked up about nicotine being systemic in plants on some web site but
I do not know if it's true. It is systemic as far as humans are
concerned, hence the nicotine patch.

You misunderstand the meaning of systemic. The nicotine patch is in
contact with the human skin. That is a contact usage.

It is systemic in plants like nicotiana that synthesise the stuff
internally in sufficient amounts to kill off would be sap sucking
parasites. Outside the plant it isn't all that stable and so would be
pretty useless.

You can get some plants to absorb practically any molecule small enough
if you bathe their roots in sufficient amounts of it. Nicotine is far
too dangerous a compound to use in this way. Natural poisons are not
safe.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
In message , Annabel
writes
I thought nicotine was a contact insecticide. I didn't know it was
also systemic. But it does bio-degrade quite rapidly apparently, so
it
would soon break down when watered onto the soil or even if tobacco
leaves or cigarette butts were composted.

I picked up about nicotine being systemic in plants on some web site
but
I do not know if it's true. It is systemic as far as humans are
concerned, hence the nicotine patch.

You misunderstand the meaning of systemic. The nicotine patch is in
contact with the human skin. That is a contact usage.

It is systemic in plants like nicotiana that synthesise the stuff
internally in sufficient amounts to kill off would be sap sucking
parasites. Outside the plant it isn't all that stable and so would be
pretty useless.

You can get some plants to absorb practically any molecule small
enough
if you bathe their roots in sufficient amounts of it. Nicotine is far
too dangerous a compound to use in this way. Natural poisons are not
safe.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

Thank you Martin, I think you say all I need to know right there. The
point about nicotine being systemic, the medical sites I read up about
nicotine mislead me by saying it is./

Annabel