gardenvt
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Formula for Powdery Mildew

I forgot what the formula is for trating powdery mildew. Seems like it uses milk, water and dish detergent that isn't antibacterial.

It would be great if someone would put that "recipe" here again.

Ohio Tiller
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rainbowgardener Posted this in a diffrent thread


Grey dusty/ powdery looking leaves are powdery mildew, which zucchini is quite prone to.

You can treat it with a spray of 1/4 to 1/2 milk in water. Add a spoonful of yoghurt for active cultures, let it sit at room temp for a few hours and spray, being sure to get the undersides of the leaves.

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GardenRN
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how do you measure 1/4 milk to 1/2 water? what is the other quarter? Not being smart, but I need some of this myself and those measurements don't add up. Unless you meant 1/4 gallon to 1/2 gallon?

Tonio
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I tried 1to 9 ratio 1: milk 9 water Will see how that goes.

Baking soda method:
1TBS BS to 1 GAL water.
also read 1tspBS to 1 QT water
also read add drop soap

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sheeshshe
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I'm guessing that means 1/4-1/2 of the container being cow milk and the other percentage water..?

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rainbowgardener
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sheeshshe wrote:I'm guessing that means 1/4 to 1/2 of the container being cow milk and the other percentage water..?
Yes. it's not rocket science. Some people say 9:1. I just like to give it a good head start so I make it any where between 3:1 and 1:1. but I don't think it matters much if you give it some time to culture. What you want are the lactobacillus. . so if you start with a lower milk concentration but then culture it for longer, it will come out about the same...

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GardenRN
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so do you have to buy unpasturized milk? Or just add yogurt?

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klevelyn
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probably just regular milk. Last year I used the baking soda and water recipe and added a drop of soap to help it stick. I sprayed the plants once every 3 days till the plants stopped showing new spots. It only took a couple of sprays. The leaves looked bad but the new growth was fine. I harvested all my winter squash that season.

I read that it changes the ph which makes it not fun for the mildew spores.

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rainbowgardener
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Regular milk even milk from powder as long as you let it stand for awhile. I add the yoghurt to speed it along, but you probably don't have to do that either.

And yes another good treatment for powdery mildew is baking soda solution, which does increase pH. The fungus likes an acid environment.

Just don't use them at the same time, they would counter-act each other.

Ohio Tiller
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I gave mine their first spraying last night and will hit them again Friday. Mine looked real bad so I am hoping this works

gardenvt
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Well, I put some water, FF milk and palmolive dish detergent in a bottle - no measurements - and sprayed the monarda/bee balm and it was magic.

It was mostly water, maybe 1/4 milk and a good squirt of detergent - not the antibacterial kind.

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rainbowgardener
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Ohio Tiller wrote:I gave mine their first spraying last night and will hit them again Friday. Mine looked real bad so I am hoping this works
Let us know. The milk treatment definitely does not work as well on advanced cases. Best used preventatively on things like squash that are prone to powdery mildew and second best used early on when you first notice it (assuming you are keeping an eye on things and notice when it first starts!).

If you have a serious case, I would go for the higher concentration of milk and spray once a week. If that isn't getting it, try switching to the baking soda solution the next week.

Jeremy brua
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I just tried the milk cure. I used butter milk with live culture. I hope it works! I cut all the realy bad leafs off of the zuchini and treated the others. I hope removing the leafs dosnt harm the plant.

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luvthesnapper
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Where are you buying raw milk?

Jeremy brua
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From the farmers. Tell them you need some milk for your calf. Without a special permit they cant sell raw milk for human consumption.

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luvthesnapper
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That's slick. I will be calling around. 8)

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rainbowgardener
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Jeremy brua wrote:I just tried the milk cure. I used butter milk with live culture. I hope it works! I cut all the realy bad leafs off of the zuchini and treated the others. I hope removing the leafs dosnt harm the plant.
You did right. Removing the leaves doesn't harm the plant as long as there are enough leaves remaining for it to get energy from. You don't want to defoliate it. But letting them stay, would have kept spreading the infection.

Let us know how it goes for you...

Ohio Tiller
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Ohio Tiller wrote:I gave mine their first spraying last night and will hit them again Friday. Mine looked real bad so I am hoping this works
It has worked real good on mine the old leafs look terrible but the new ones are fine and the Zucchini have just taken off I now have at least 5 on each plant.

Thanks rainbowgardener

gardenvt
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I found the formula I was looking for :

1 cup whole milk
1 quart water
1 tsp. dish soap (not anti-bacterial)



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