OK, I'm doing an experiment with my butterbush squash plants that have gotten a white powdery substance on their veins.
It's going to be treated once daily with 1 part milk and 5 parts water, which is about a .167 concentration of milk in water, slightly high than what's recommended, but below the 30% threshold where problems start to happen.
It will be sprayed on the tops and bottoms of leaves with a store-bought spray-bottle.
So, what do you all think: will it work?
Keep us posted. I think I will do the same, but every few days(my garden is not next to my place).-
applestar
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I would back off with the frequency of sprays as soon as they stop spreading and show signs of improvement. My concern would be that you could push the bacterial/fungal balance in the phytosphere and rhizosphere over the edge. Also, remember that the Milk Solution will also affect beneficial fungi.
Do you have a control/comparison plant that is not being sprayed or is being treated some other way?
Do you have a control/comparison plant that is not being sprayed or is being treated some other way?
I kind of worried about that since they say to spray once per week, but I think I will go with your suggestion and start treating less once I see signs of remission.applestar wrote:I would back off with the frequency of sprays as soon as they stop spreading and show signs of improvement. My concern would be that you could push the bacterial/fungal balance in the phytosphere and rhizosphere over the edge. Also, remember that the Milk Solution will also affect beneficial fungi.
Do you have a control/comparison plant that is not being sprayed or is being treated some other way?
For a comparison, there is an adjacent plant that is just now getting the mildew which will not be treated.
Well, I've cut-back on the spritzing a little bit, I'm only doing it about every-other day now.
So far, the leaves look a little better, except for one, which looks a little worse.
What's unique and makes me wonder if this really powder mildew is that the white exists only on the veins of the leaves. Also, it's only affecting the butterbush (so far) and not any of the other very close-by summer squash.
I'm going to try to only water in the morning to try to keep things this way.
So far, the leaves look a little better, except for one, which looks a little worse.
What's unique and makes me wonder if this really powder mildew is that the white exists only on the veins of the leaves. Also, it's only affecting the butterbush (so far) and not any of the other very close-by summer squash.
I'm going to try to only water in the morning to try to keep things this way.
The experiment is over! The results?
It wasn't powdery mildew after all
.
All the research I've done indicates that it's natural for the leaves of butterbush squash to get the white, powdery lines on the veins of the leaves.
I originally thought it was mildew since I was watering my garden extremely late in the evening. However, when I planted some more at the other end of the garden and watered them only early in the morning, they still got it...every one. It started showing up when the leaves were barely 3 in. across. This is what prompted my investigation.
Have a look at some of these plants: [url=https://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&q=burpee%20butterbush&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi]butterbush[/url]
It wasn't powdery mildew after all
.All the research I've done indicates that it's natural for the leaves of butterbush squash to get the white, powdery lines on the veins of the leaves.
I originally thought it was mildew since I was watering my garden extremely late in the evening. However, when I planted some more at the other end of the garden and watered them only early in the morning, they still got it...every one. It started showing up when the leaves were barely 3 in. across. This is what prompted my investigation.
Have a look at some of these plants: [url=https://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&q=burpee%20butterbush&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi]butterbush[/url]