"McGerm" wrote in message
...
I have been catching up on my garden reading here in Zone 6. One of
the things I picked up at the library was a DVD on tree and shrub
care. Among the things it said to do was to use a 'clean-up tonic'
once every two weeks to discourage insects and diseases. The DVD made
it sound like a very good thing to do.

Clean-Up Tonic
1 Cup lemon-scented liquid dish soap
1 Cup of antiseptic mouthwash
1 Cup of chewing tobacco tea

The tobacco concerns me, specifically tobacco mosaic virus. Will this
treatment spread the virus? According to sources online TMV infects
and kills tomatoes/peppers/eggplant/ cubits, annual flowers, orchids,
and hundreds of other ornamentals.

Jim

Tobacco extract is very poisonous. It will kill a great many insects and
other small organisms and you and your pets if you get enough into you.
Smokers survive (in the short term anyway) because most of the nicotine and
related chemicals are destroyed when the tobacco burns. Eat a few cigarettes
and go to hospital.

Plus antiseptic mouth wash! Just in case some microorganisms survive the
nicotine.

Your garden relies upon small living organisms don't sterilize it with such a
brew.

David