T wrote:
....
I tried Neem oil on them two years in a row. Completely
worthless.

Neem oil i've only recall being used as
an insecticide, i've never used it myself
nor read up on it to know...

we have too many surrounding host plants
for powdery mildew that it makes no sense
at all for me to spray for it or care much.
we have some plants which get some damage
from it, but not enough that i care to fight.

the weak milk solution is one that i've
heard can help, but only indirectly.

instead of fighting with chemicals and
single solutions if i were going to do any
sort of spraying it would look into brewing
my own microbial teas and use those instead.
i think a broad mix of bacterial species
would be much more effective at giving a
plant protection.

i've done a fair bit of reading on how
various fungi attack plants. certain leaf
surface shapes seem to make it easier and
that shape can be changed by the presence
of bacteria.

the only problem is that such things can
also backfire and you get a separate infection
to deal with which can be just as bad or
worse than the powdery mildew.

ah, well, good luck, i just keep it simple
here.


songbird