how have u gotten rid of powdery mildew?

[noodles777]

I know there is quite a few post on powdery mildew. I was thinking maybe anyone who has been successfull at getting rid of it could post what they used, how frequently ect. I'm desperate, it started with my straight neck squash, went to my butternut,those plants are toast and now it is on my cantaloupe and zucchini! I've been clipping off the leaves that are infected then. . I've tried the milk and water mixture, I tried baking soda w/ water, with and with out soap mixed in. Many of the different sprays I've started looking at say they are to be used 2 weeks before the mildew appears. . So if anyone has had luck successfully getting rid of powdery mildew please tell me what you used. I have read that sulfur works but I'm having a hard time finding it, if anyone has info on that or a spray that has sulfur or something I would really appreciate it.

[Gary350]

Vinegar will kill mold and mildew DEAD. I buy vinegar by the gallon at the grocery store and pour it into my weed sprayer. I have a tiny 2 gallon sprayer. Spray the plants with vinegar and let it set about 15 minutes then use the garden hose and spray the plants with plenty of water to wash off the vinegar.

[rootsy]

You'll never get rid of it 100% unless you can cover every last square inch of the plant. Both top side and bottom. Therefore the best you can hope for is to keep it at bay.

[rainbowgardener]

I did the milk solution on some bee balm with powdery mildew and it worked beautifully. But what I used was 50 percent organic yoghurt with live cultures and 50 percent water. What works in this is the lactobacillus. Regular milk is pasteurized so there aren't live cultures. I think if you were going to use regular milk, you should drop a tablespoon or so of active culture yoghurt in to the milk and let it sit at room temp for a few hours. That will get the lactobacillus going again in the milk. Then I would still not dilute it as much as the 1:10 that HG has been recommending. But using milk that's been "activated" as above might be preferable to the yoghurt. The yoghurt worked but it was stinky and drew flies for a few days.

[Diane]

Someone posted a site about powdery mildew and it said the spores can't live in water.
I saw some on one leaf and sprayed it. It's gone. Today I sprayed another leaf on my squash plant. I'll see tomorrow if that's gone.

The milk never worked for me.

[noodles777]

I tried the vinegar and I could literally watch the mildew wash off. I kept spraying till the leaves were dripping and then about 15-20 mins later washed them off. I'll see what it looks like tomorrow. Can the vinegar damage the plant, I mean what if I didn't rinse it off? I probably will just have to end up throwing out my poor infected plants but right now they they are growing fruit but in the process spreading the mildew to EVERYTHING around them so frustrating!

[Diane]

I may try it.
I read that a little vinegar will raise the acid in your soil for a quick fix.
If you have city water it raises the ph so it could even out.

[rainbowgardener]

BE CAREFUL WITH THE VINEGAR. It should kill the mildew (as would bleach!) but it is an herbicide! If you don't get it rinsed off again, thoroughly and soon, it can kill your plants.

"The organic gardener sometimes uses vinegar as a natural weed killer. It's non- selective, so be careful when using vinegar as a natural weed killer."
landscaping.about.com/od/weedsdiseases/.../vinegar_weeds.htm -

Non-selective meaning it can harm any plant it touches. It's the acetic acid that is herbicidal and culinary vinegar is low enough concentration that it may not kill your plants, but might still burn the leaves. Should be ok if you rinse it off again.

[noodles777]

Yes I learned this I think I didn't rinse a few leaves off thoroughly. A few got a little burned. But its ok as long as the mildew is not spreading it was a success. Today most of the mildew was washed off, I did another round but only let it sit on the leaves about 5-7 mins and did a major rinse

[codyjp]

I did the venegar and didn't wash quickly enough and yes, it will kill plants. Dohh!

I sort of figured though that if I didn't get the mildew at bay they will die anyway.