As of: February 22, 2024, 10:52 a.m
By: Ines Alms
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The much-praised tobacco decoction is said to effectively combat aphids on garden and balcony plants.
But the home remedy has unwanted side effects.
Some people are so annoyed by the spider mites, thrips or aphids on their plants that they will use any means to combat the annoying pests.
But you should stay away from the tobacco decoction that is advertised in many garden forums, a homemade “natural” home remedy made from tobacco and water.
The miracle cure is said to help especially against aphids.
It does too.
But it's not just them who suffer from the broth, because the nicotine contained in tobacco is a long-lasting, strong poison.
Nicotine was already a popular plant protection agent in the 17th century
Some hobby gardeners brew a tobacco brew from cigarettes and water - but it is extremely poisonous.
© Panthermedia/Imago
As easy as tobacco brew is to make and effective, nicotine is not just a poison for human lungs.
It's understandable if it harms large creatures that it has a much greater effect on insects such as aphids.
But this also applies to beneficial insects such as bees, bumblebees or butterflies, which absorb the poison through pollen and nectar.
Nicotine and its pesticide successor products in agriculture, the neonicotinoids, have an intoxicating effect on bees and are considered to be partly responsible for the death of bees in Europe.
The bees, especially wild bees such as bumblebees, preferred to fly to the plants treated with these substances.
According to studies, their consumption damages the animals' nervous system, reduces fertility and impairs their sense of orientation, which sooner or later leads to the death of the insects.
For example, by not finding their way back into the beehive.
Honey bees are also becoming more susceptible to disease.
An increasing bee die-off would have far-reaching consequences, including a decline in pollination of crops, leading to reduced harvests and a loss of biodiversity.
Ban on nicotine as a pesticide
Because nicotine works so well against pests, it was approved as a pesticide in Europe for decades.
Tobacco extraction was used in the home and garden for plant protection as early as the 17th century.
According to the
Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety,
nicotine has been banned in the EU as a pesticide active ingredient in plant protection products since 2010 - for amateur gardeners, the use of home-made nicotine-containing preparations as an insecticide has not been permitted since the 1970s.
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So if you come across a recipe for a plant spray made from crushed cigarettes while researching home remedies for aphids, you should avoid it.
Applied to vegetable plants, the poison can even end up on your plate.
You can find even more exciting garden topics in the regular newsletter from our partner 24garten.de.
Alternatives to tobacco brew
Incidentally, nicotine also occurs naturally in plants, for example to a small extent in nightshade plants such as tomatoes.
This is also a reason why tomatoes are avoided by many pests.
If you want to protect your plants from aphids in a natural, bee-friendly way, you can make plant sprays in the form of homemade plant manure: tansy, nettle, field horsetail and garlic - as manure or as a decoction - are suitable.