Powdery Mildew lurking in the garden

White powdery fungal deposits on leaves of cucumbers, pumpkin, squash, oak trees, hydrangeas, beans, grapes, apples, pears, rose – it’s on a lot of different plants. 

It can be caused by long-term moisture on surfaces of leaves/plants, or a dry spell followed by relative humidity and dew. For instance: when you have warm days and cool nights, you get dew, like in spring and autumn.

Often plants are starting to decline towards autumn – readying for winter etc, but still the mildew can cause a quickening of that decline! Pays to be ahead of the game and protect the leaves from the spores that float around in the air at this time of the year.

Control/Protection/Prevention

* Keep plants as dry as possible – in windy/sunny location, quick drying
* Sulphur is a great protectant spray: sulphur sprays mixed in water (or sulphur/copper mixtures as per Yates Natures Way fungus spray)
* Half a teaspoon of baking soda plus a dash of detergent in a litre of water does some damage to the mildew spores
* One part of skim milk to 9 parts of water is a great protectant; fatty milk may create some unpleasant odour
* Potassium Bicarbonate in water 
* Yates Fungus gun gives good protection

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