Monday, March 31, 2014

Nicotine kills people, does it kill aphids, too?

Warning: Nicotine is poisonous to mammals and likely bees, so don't try this at home. 

We grow our food organically and accept non-perfect fruit and veggies - but aphids?

After a very warm winter in the K-Land, we brace ourselves for a surge of aphids, and we are in the process of going through the 1890 chemical handbook to see what this collection of 6000+ recipes offers.

In the meantime, some tobacco is sitting in a small water filled jar on the porch. This will extract some of the water soluble nicotine into "tobacco tea" as an insecticide for the rose bushes.

We will make the final decision on whether to use the concoction or to flush it down the toilet after some careful research on the web.

The roses are at the other end of the yard, far from any veggie beds, and we would never spray once bees show up in the yard. This would only be about giving the roses time to become strong, later in the year they need to fend for themselves.

As we were debating the strategy, one K-Lander said: Look, I hope this is okay, I really do not want to be woken up tonight by a knock on the bathroom window.

What, you think it'll be a giant aphid all hopped up on nicotine, going 'man, I need a smoke, man?

The more I ponder this, the more alluring mail-order ladybugs become.

Well, the nicotine is not that dangerous...the other crap, the tar is, but a headline is a headline.

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