Some news of the garden
Recently, since the sun finally reduced in intensity (and the temperature dropped a little), bugs seem to want to eat my plants : I found some "Heteroptera" ("punaise" in french) laying eggs on my leaves (see bellow), then I found some aphids (more on that later), a few catterpillars...
These Heteroptera criters do not eat tobacco, they suck it, like the aphids.
A small caterpillar already in chrysalis, after a good diner
About the aphids : they seem to be the principal insect that infect plants with a virus called PVY (Potatoe Virus Y), this virus is frequent in France, I already had a few plants infected last year...
This year, I noticed the first symptoms on a few plants : the veins of the leaves begin to yellow ("vein clearing"), then some brown spots can appear on the leaves, then the veins necroses.
"Infected leaves are sometimes small, crinkled and curled".
This picture was taken last year, the symptoms this year are the same...
More on this virus :
http://ephytia.inra.fr/en/C/10814/Tobacco-Potato-virus-Y-PVY
I used some soapy water a few days back to try to kill as many aphids as I can, I just hope I won't have too many affected plants...
I am preparing some nettle manure right now (I will have to wait 2 weeks before it can be used), it's a strong fertilizer and a renowned bug repeller (I just don't know why I did not prepare some earlier this year...)
More on nettle manure :
http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/nettle_manure.php
Next years I will have to be more foresighted...
I will see in the end of the season which strains are more tolerant to PVY (last year, only the "401 cherry red" were infected, the semois and the rustica did not show any symptom)
On the good news, my tobacco is growing well
Some plants are beginning to be big, with beautifull leaves. The biggest leave (from a Pennsylvania Red plant) is already 54x34cm = 21x13")