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Aphids in my Bud Bags - Problem?

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Hanzy4200

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As my final harvests are coming to a close, I decided it was about time to start taking down a few of my bagged flower heads. They have all gone brown, but the stems are still partially green and the seed pods slightly moist. I'm preferring to do it this way so that I can remove the bags, dried flowers, gunk, ect, without spilling seeds everywhere. I'll let the cleaned up pods fully dry for a few weeks more. That aside, I had noticed some time ago that the aphids were going crazy in some of my bags. There was really nothing I could do to kill them that I knew of. Now, they are all dead and basically look like dirt particles. My main question is, could this adversely effect the seed quality? Is it possible for aphids to taint flowers with pollen from other strains? Out of 3 bags cut down, 2 were infested. The only difference I've seen is that the non-infested pods look bigger and fuller, due to their energy not being sapped.
 

deluxestogie

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There were likely a small number of aphids on the head of the plant at the time you bagged it. Aphids do not cross-pollinate the plants.

The only issue is that, even with careful sieving of the finished seed, you are likely to end up with a dusting of dried aphids wings in the seed. It's unsightly, but can be ignored.

This season, I have lightly sprayed permethrin on each blossom head immediately before bagging, to eliminate aphids as well as budworms.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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I just picked this up at a local market. It's a ready-mixed sprayer bottle.

Garden20141004_1594_PermethrinBottle_300.jpg


Garden20141004_1595_PermethrinBottle_label_400.jpg


The label warns to avoid food or kitchen food-prep surfaces. Permethrin breaks down quickly in soil and within plants, as well as in sunlight. I've noticed, in spraying this on my hazelnut shrubs (to abate the blight of Japanese beetles that will skeletonize an entire shrub in a few weeks) that its effectiveness seems to dissipate within about two weeks.

I decided it might be just the thing for spraying the tobacco bud heads just prior to bagging. I strip away the small leaves near the bud stalk, then spray just the bud head, and bag the plant. A single application seems to have remedied the aphid and budworm problem within bagged heads.

I avoid priming any leaf from that and neighboring plants for a couple of weeks, since rain can cause the permethrin to migrate down the surface of the plant.

I can't attest to how safe this might be for the tobacco, but it seems reasonably transient.

Bob

EDIT: I just noticed that this product is made by Beacon Products Corp. in Chattanooga, TN, so it should be available in Alabama and Georgia.
 
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Hanzy4200

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Ok. I'm really not concerned with the wings of other parts. The seed pods themselves seem relatively intact. I guess my main point was whether a smaller, weaker seed pod will carry the traits of a strong mother plant the same as a full healthy pod from the same plant.
 

Chicken

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i believe PERMETHIAN is also a main ingrediant in flea spray...
 

Chicken

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next grow season me and the dreaded APHID are going to war,,,

i been talking to our '' chemical guy'' at work about which product will kill the dreaded bug the best,

and he recommended a product [ cant recall its name ]

but he said, its used at the beginning of the seed-plant life, and i guess it's systemic.

but as the plant grows it will not have any aphids on it. im sure its what professional bacca growers use,

but he told me for what i [ we ] do... one bottle waould last forever, the price may be 100 bucks or more,

but if i get enough members who want some of it, and we all split the price,,,, getting im sure plenty enough for many seasons...

i may go that route, around january
 

deluxestogie

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Ok. I'm really not concerned with the wings of other parts. The seed pods themselves seem relatively intact. I guess my main point was whether a smaller, weaker seed pod will carry the traits of a strong mother plant the same as a full healthy pod from the same plant.
The seed should be fine, if the pods have matured. The genetic traits are the same.

Bob
 

DGBAMA

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next grow season me and the dreaded APHID are going to war,,,

i been talking to our '' chemical guy'' at work about which product will kill the dreaded bug the best,

and he recommended a product [ cant recall its name ]

but he said, its used at the beginning of the seed-plant life, and i guess it's systemic.

but as the plant grows it will not have any aphids on it. im sure its what professional bacca growers use,

but he told me for what i [ we ] do... one bottle waould last forever, the price may be 100 bucks or more,

but if i get enough members who want some of it, and we all split the price,,,, getting im sure plenty enough for many seasons...

i may go that route, around january

Sounds like the Admire that BigB adds to his seedling water.
 

dvick003

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next grow season me and the dreaded APHID are going to war,,,

i been talking to our '' chemical guy'' at work about which product will kill the dreaded bug the best,

and he recommended a product [ cant recall its name ]

but he said, its used at the beginning of the seed-plant life, and i guess it's systemic.

but as the plant grows it will not have any aphids on it. im sure its what professional bacca growers use,

but he told me for what i [ we ] do... one bottle waould last forever, the price may be 100 bucks or more,

but if i get enough members who want some of it, and we all split the price,,,, getting im sure plenty enough for many seasons...

i may go that route, around january

This link may be of interest... You can get the same AI for about 20 bucks rather than 100 for a big bottle.
http://www.keystonepestsolutions.co...ducts_id=247&gclid=CIu2xsLck8ECFVVsfgodoQYAzg
 

LIBERTYCHICKEN

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i believe PERMETHIAN is also a main ingrediant in flea spray...

Yea, its pretty safe stuff at 5% it's also used on poultry for mites and other criters some of is is even organic

it's sold everywear by me as eight (bonine)

with the correct applicator the powdwers work well, it would likely work very well on sticky tobacco leaves , but it's eazy to over do and block light killing parts of the leaf
 

Bex

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its used at the beginning of the seed-plant life, and i guess it's systemic.

Personally, I would be a bit wary of any chemical spray that's systemic, as this will, of course, be present in your leaves as well. Does the chemical guy know whether this chemical is safe to smoke??
Personally, while it may be a bit more labor intensive, I just use dishwashing detergent (not the stuff you put in your dishwasher, but for hand washing) in a spray bottle with water - just enough soap to make it a bit sudsy, and spray the buds, leaves, flowers, etc. It works really well on roses and kills the aphids pretty much right away - I have never (as yet) had an aphid problem with my tobacco. But I pretty much prefer being 'organic' as least as much as I can.
By the way, yes, permethrin is what's in flea spray....
 

Bex

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Not meaning to be the devil's advocate, but perhaps this is because you only noticed or began to control them when they were out of control? Presumably, when you bagged your buds, you didn't notice a ton of them when you were bagging. But I would also think that there were some on those buds and plants, not dealt with at the time, which had a great time reproducing once they were protected by your bags, so that, when you removed the bags, they were totally out of control. Perhaps I'm totally wrong - but I grow most of my own food, veg, etc., have fruit bushes, roses, etc. If I don't start controlling aphids as soon as new leaves have sprouted, on each of my plants, then they quickly get out of control. They don't just show up in September or October - they have been there since the warmth and beginning of new growth, and need to be controlled for the entire season.
 

Chicken

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Soap is not an option when you have aphids like I did this year.

not a option either, when you have 400++ plants.... thats my goal next year.. to grow the biggest crop yet...or at least to put all the plants i can in my space...

got a new tiller 3 days ago. i may add to the space....who knows how many plants i may have in there,
 

Jitterbugdude

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Soap is very effective but it is also very labor intensive. Like Bex said, you have to begin spraying at the very first sign of them. If you wait several days or a week it's too late. You'll be playing catch-up and you will lose.

Part of succesful tobacco growing, for me at least is to keep records. I can tell you almost to the day when my hornworms will show up (it is July 1st). Because I've kept records I know that I can spray with BT or Spinosad on the 1st of July even though I do not see any worms. The next day or so I'll seel them hanging dead from the leaves. Sames as aphids.
 
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