Unfortunately, my husband smokes cigars. Being an avid gardener and health concious, last year I decided I would grow a few tobacco plants , free of pesticides and chemicals so that he might try and make his own cigars.
Problem: My tobacco plants became infected with a leaf blight, I think the same blight that was on my tomatoes next to them. I have used Liquid copper successfully so I sprayed the plants and killed the disease.
After reading extensively , I'm afraid to let him smoke the tobacco. I'm afraid the copper is in the leaf material. I don't want to poison my husband, can anyone offer words of advice? Is copper safe?
Can anyone recommend a product that will kill the blight without harming my wonderful husband??
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Clodhopper
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:14 am
- Location: Kentucky
Hello, Clodhopper. I can understand your fear on poisoning your husband.
I went looking for liquid copper fungicides and found the Bonide product.
It contains copper soap (copper octanoate). The product can be used up to
the day of harvest and the label says “ for organic production “. I checked
with the EPA and found some info on the LD50 for copper soap. It seems to
have a very low toxicity rating; hence, can be used up to the day of harvest.
I hope this helps with your decision making. In my humble opinion, I would
be more worried about the tobacco, than whatever minute amount of copper
soap actually stayed in the leaf. Here are the links to the information I found.
You and your husband take care.
https://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/copper.pdf
I went looking for liquid copper fungicides and found the Bonide product.
It contains copper soap (copper octanoate). The product can be used up to
the day of harvest and the label says “ for organic production “. I checked
with the EPA and found some info on the LD50 for copper soap. It seems to
have a very low toxicity rating; hence, can be used up to the day of harvest.
I hope this helps with your decision making. In my humble opinion, I would
be more worried about the tobacco, than whatever minute amount of copper
soap actually stayed in the leaf. Here are the links to the information I found.
You and your husband take care.
https://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/copper.pdf