"michael" wrote in message
Lat year I had terrible problems with downy mildew on my onion bed.It
was a fairly wet summer (Herefordshire)and I tried to spray the onions
with a copper solution in late June when I observed the mildew,but
found that it didnt work.

Hi Michael, I'm in Cornwall and having suffered potato blight for 2 wet
summers, I also thought about wetting agents, after seeing Richard (?) on
QVC. However the salesman with Richard, waxed lyrical about the benefits of
WA to flowers, baskets, tubs and lawns but made no mention of fruit and veg.

I googled around and found Viresco :-
http://www.viresco-uk.com/index.asp
In response to my email, they didn't try and flog me their WAgents, but John
M suggested -
"One thing that should help against potato blight is our microbial
programme. This is the application of a microbial product in solution -
Viresco Soluble - on to the soil once or perhaps 2 times per season. In
conjunction with that a solution of a second product - Viresco Foliar - is
applied to the leaf roughly every month during the growing season. This
programme suppresses plant bacterial and fungal diseases. Potato blight
(phytophthora infestans) is a fungal disease."

I have no fiscal interest in horticultural or gardening products. I also
ordered their Humate feed (granular and foliar). I don't want onions and
leeks that compete with the Harrogate Allotment Comp, but crop quantities
have been pp for a few years.