"escapee" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 3 May 2004 20:07:30 -0500, "RoyDMercer"

opined:

If that doesn't work you can also mix 1 tsp of baking soda per gal of
water.
It works on the same principal. Mildew and fungus can only live in a
narrow
PH range. Changing the PH a bit, either up or down, will kill it.

BTW, the reason your shrub didn't flower last year probably doesn't have
to
do with the mildew. Flowing shrubs will only flower on new growth. So
if
the shrub has reached it's maximum height it will stop blooming. If this
is
the case, you'll need to prune the shrub back to get it to flower again.


You are not giving the correct rate of baking soda. It's much more than
that.
Like 4 tablespoons in a gallon of water.

On the flowering, there are crape myrtles all over the place where I live
and
many of them are 25 feet tall and flower magnificently. I only prune out
dead
wood, branches growing toward the center and anything which touches
another
branch and mine flower beautifully. There will always be new growth on
them
without those harsh pruning practices.

I should have said 1 teaspoon per quart of water. 4 tablespoons per gallon
seems excessive to me. If you are using that much, you could start to
affect the PH of the soil, which is not a good thing unless your soil is
very acidic to begin with.

Crape Myrtles will bloom very well as you say if you are lightly pruning
them each year. However if you let them go they will eventually stop
blooming. The state of Oklahoma planted hundres of Crape Myrtles all along
the southern section of I-35. They are never pruned and they have stopped
blooming almost completely.