Do You Compost Tobacco?

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I rarely discard tobacco. If I'm not smoking it, I try to pass it along or mix it with something else

to bring it up to par. Let's face though, occasionally there is tobacco that isn't so good, has gotten

stale or moldy, or unsuccessfully mixed. The quantities are small, but as a matter of judgement, do

you throw it in the trash, put it directly on the garden, or compost it? With these small amounts, it

may be mostly a philosophical question, but how do you vote?
Also, where do you empty the ashtray? Trash or compost? I usually compost it, unless it is inconvenient,

then I just toss it in the trash, with burnt matchsticks, just to keep things moving. Big plus of pipe smoking,

all of the discarded stuff is biodegradable. No papers, filters (mostly), or other litter dropped around park

benches, smoking area doorways, public transportation waiting areas, etc.

 

buzkirk

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 14, 2009
655
752
61
Humboldt Tn.
There was a TV show showing all natural ways to be green to your yard.

They used tobacco (chewing) put it in a 2ltr bttl with some water and left it in the sun for a day to brew.

Then the 2ltr was screwed onto a Garden hose lawn feeder and sprayed as an pesticide.

Nicotine works on the insects quite well, also found in commercial versions as well.
Don't think it would hurt anything to compost, or use above method to keep from buying pesticides.
Hope this is helpful
Tom

 

cmdrmcbragg

Lifer
Jul 29, 2013
1,739
3
I try to pass my unwanted blends on to others or to the Free Pipe Project. Small amounts of tobacco though get tossed and my ashtray (dottle only) is usually emptied over the fence into the patch of trees next to my house.

 

zekest

Lifer
Apr 1, 2013
1,136
9
Nasty unsmoked tobacco, ash, etc. all go into the toilet with a double-flush.

 

jmill208

Lifer
Dec 8, 2013
1,087
1,163
Maryland USA
I usually empty my ash / waste can into the trash once I know it is sufficiently extinguished. Also, the vacuum gets a lot of my spillage. I usually make sure that SWMBO isn't looking, and dust off.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I really like the botanical insecticide idea, although in the quantities that I discard tobacco it wouldn't

kill or repell more than two or three bugs. Still, if I had a can of something I really couldn't smoke or

give away, I might invigorate a rose bush or geranium for a few weeks.

 
I would be very careful adding tobaccos to your mulch or using it as an insecticide. I know of whole crops getting wiped out from the spread of the tobacco mosaic virus, which can easily be found growing on flue-cured tobaccos. This is the reason we had universities extracting nicotine from tobaccos in the 50's to prevent all of the other tobacco nastiness from transmitting the virus through the use of commercial or homemade teas.
I've seen some terrible homemade garden tips floating around on Facebook that if you actually attempted them, you'd either kill your crop or at worst infect or sterilize your soil. Before trying something you've read on social media, call your state agricultural department. Really, this is what they are for.

 

buster

Lifer
Sep 1, 2011
1,305
3
Just a word of caution if you are going to use tobacco as a pesticide. Yes it works well. So well that it also kills beneficial insects also. Such as bees that are needed to pollinate your garden.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
buster, no I don't want to kill off the bees. Bees have a terrible time with survival as it is. Honey bees and

bumble bees are in short supply. I rarely see them in my residential area.

 
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