Tomatoes and smoking....

[Nicos]

Did you know this???...

QUOTE...."Did you know that nicotine spreads a terrible virus among tomatoes? So if you smoke, don’t touch your tomato plants without using gloves, and don’t grow certain nicotine related plants near tomatoes."

I got that bit of info from here......( I wonder what virus it's talking about????)

folia | hyperlocavore's Tomato - Marmande

[Incy]

How weird,
Personally I think it is utter nonsense. I know plenty of smokers who never have any trouble growng toms and definitely don't wear gloves.
Sounds like another piece of scaremongering from the anti-smoking campaigners to me.
Putting something like that without even describing or giving any evedence of this mystery 'nasty disease' is a bit cheeky methinks

[cazsudz]

I think the virus they're talking about is Tobacco Mosaic Virus which also attacks lots of other species, including tomatoes. I had heard before that it could be spread from smokers fingers but don't know if its true as no smokers touch my tomato plants! It is spread by aphids though

[smallblueplanet]

Lol! Yes, TMV. I must ask our elderly neighbour as he always smokes his pipe in the greenhouse - not allowed in the house! His tomatoes always look great, maybe the smoke kills bugs?!

[hamsterqueen]

my 88 year old dad smokes a pipe and has grown lovely tomatoes for years, despite being constantly engulfed in a cloud of aromatic tobacco..(him and the plants!)

[SarzWix]

Yes, I knew about it. I think it's more common in the States, and places that grow tobacco on an industrial scale. But commercial growers here are very careful too. 'Peppers by Post' in Dorset have some visitor days, and run some courses, and smokers have to scrub themselves and wear gloves etc before they are allowed in the polytunnels.
Personally, I have never given my plants TMV....!

[Snadger]

Lol! Yes, TMV. I must ask our elderly neighbour as he always smokes his pipe in the greenhouse - not allowed in the house! His tomatoes always look great, maybe the smoke kills bugs?!

Was this not a Victorian thing where the gardeners were ONLY allowed to smoke their pipes in the greenhouses? Nicotine, as we all know is a killer, so would have had an effect on the greenfly population. As long as they kept there hands in there pockets I suppose!

[SlugLobber]

I think it might be a problem for fresh tobacco, but wouldn't have thought the processed stuff would be a problem. In any case, I don't smoke, so don't care!!

[MrsC]

I don't think it's true either. We both smoke, I smoke the packets from the shop and Mr C smokes rollies. The toms on the windowsill before being planted out got their fair share of it. My toms look lovely, just getting the first flowers.

[FionaH]

For goodness sake no one let Mr H read this! I'm already banished to the garden as it is

[Fairy Claire]

For goodness sake no one let Mr H read this! I'm already banished to the garden as it is

Ditto!!

[sewer rat]

I smoke roll-ups and have never experienced a problem personally, but I have heard this before - and I have a mate who also smokes roll-ups and he meticulously scrubs his hands before going into his greenhouses, so he obviously believes it to be true.

[bluemoon]

This, of course, implies that the tobacco sold in this country is infected with the virus. I don't know the temperature that tobacco burns at, but would have thought it more than sufficient to kill off a virus, meaning that only pipe and rolly-smokers, who actually come into contact with the raw tobacco, would be likely to spread the disease. Even then I'd have thought it would be so unlikely as to be not worth worrying about.

[valmarg]

If you go back to the Victorian kitchen gardeners nicotine was an insecticide. In the Victorian Kitchen Garden TV series Harry Dodson used a small lamp with a tray on top. Liquid nicotine was poured on to the tray, and the light lit underneath caused the nicotine to produce 'fumes'. This was left in the greenhouse all night (windows and doors shut) to fumigate the greenhouse.

I can remember my dad using nicotine infused shreds (rather like paper that has been through a shredder). He would put piles of the shreds in the greenhouse, set light to them, and close the greenhouse.

He only used these in Autumn when there were chrysanths in the greenhouse, not on edible crops.

valmarg