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