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| Tomatoes waiting to be squished for seeds. |
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| Drake black walnut. The three quarters that were out-of-shell weighed 5 grams. That is about a hundred nuts to the pound of nutmeat. That weight would drop a little bit as they dried. |
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| GoldRush apples before being carried down to the rootcellar |
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| The crop of insecticide |
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| I gave one of the German Shepherds a bath. One is smart and stays in the house when it is muddy. This was the other dog. |
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| A tree frog looking through the window. Winter is coming. |
What is "the crop of insecticide"? ---ken
ReplyDeleteThat would be tobacco, I'm thinking. If I recall, a nicotine derivative is used to kill termites around house foundations. So I guess it would work for other pests?.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think you are right, it does look like that. I sure didn't know that you could grow tobacco in Michigan. I thought it only grew in places where you can marry your cousin. ---ken
DeleteTobacco is grown in Ontario, Connecticut and Wisconsin. If you can grow tomatoes, you can grow tobacco.
DeleteThis variety (KT-204) did not set seeds under my conditions. Tennessee 90 did.
Can you explain the use of tobacco as an insecticide. Does any nicotianna work?
ReplyDeleteN. rustica has the highest percentage and is the species of choice.
DeleteSome of the older releases (Tenn 90, for instance) have more nicotine than more recent releases.
Tobacco can be powdered (snuff) and sprinkled on the plants you want to protect.
Nicotine is an alkaloid and is more soluble in low pH (acidic) solutions. Choices include muriatic acid used to etch concrete, sulphuric acid used to activate lead-acid batteries, citric acid, vinegar and so on.
Not to go into much detail but if you type in the key words "Oqium straw extracion" or something similar you will find a fairly efficient process to extract nicotine or other alkaloids from their parent materials.
Thank you, I'll look into it further.
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