How Does Tobacco Affect the Plants?
The benefits to personal health and the health of others of quitting tobacco use are familiar to most people. Some gardening enthusiasts may wonder if another reason to quit smoking is to avoid health problems in cultivated plants that could result from the plants' exposure to tobacco smoke. While there is no evidence that exposure to tobacco smoke is generally harmful to a wide range of plants, there is one specific circumstance when avoiding tobacco smoke around a specific kind of plant can help protect the plant's health. Does this Spark an idea?
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Tobacco Mosaic Virus
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One of the most important and economically destructive diseases of tomato plants and many other species of plants, tobacco mosaic is carried on tobacco leaves and infects susceptible host plants when tobacco plants contact host plants. Another, more indirect manner in which plants can become infected with tobacco mosaic virus is exposure to smoke from cigarettes and other tobacco products that are made from carriers of mosaic virus. The disease is more common in greenhouses since there is less air circulation and thus cigarette smoke cannot escape before contacting the plants as it would in an outdoor environment.
Prevention
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Telling which cigarettes and other tobacco products have been made with mosaic carriers and those that have not is important, so smoking any tobacco products near susceptible host plants can potentially infect them with tobacco mosaic virus. To prevent infection, avoid planting susceptible plant species. Tomatoes are the most commonly infected species, but the virus can also infect over 150 types of herbaceous, dicotyledonous plants, including many vegetables, flowers and weeds. If you do grow susceptible hosts, grow them outside rather than in a greenhouse if possible. If you do need to grow them in a greenhouse, avoid smoking around the plants.
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Control
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If you must smoke around greenhouse-grown susceptible host plants, there are still measures you can take to avoid infection. Wear a lab coat when working around your plants and always thoroughly wash your hands before handling plants. Also wear gloves before handling any gardening equipment, or thoroughly wash gardening equipment before and after use. Never buy plants from a nursery that you suspect may have been infected.
Treating Tobacco Mosaic
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Chemical treatments for tobacco mosaic virus are incredibly limited. No known effective preventative soil-applied fungicides can prevent infection, and there are no no contact fungicides that can be applied to plants that have been infected. The lack of chemical treatments highlights the importance of exercising effective preventative controls in preventing crop losses due to tobacco mosaic virus.
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