On Jan 7, 6:24*am, McGerm wrote:
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

You would be much better off adding beneficial microbes to your leaf
surface through AACT or Actively Aerated Compost Tea, than killing
everything with your recipe. Plants put out exudates (simple sugars,
carbohydrates, etc.) through their roots and also on the surface of
the leaves. In a healthy plant, these resources are taken in by
beneficial bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, which then occupy the
infection sites on the leaf and OUTCOMPETE the pathogens for that
space. It's a symbiotic relationship that's constantly occurring at a
microscopic level.

Here's a good starting point for learning mo
http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach.html