Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Powdery Mildew

I've not had much luck with zucchinis this year. Snails and slugs devoured the first, second and third lot I planted, and now that I've finally got a few going (in a different garden that the snails obviously didn't smell out), they've been hit with powdery mildew.



Powdery mildew shows up every year on all the cucurbits, but it never seems to get out of control or weaken the plants too much, so I've never bothered doing anything about it. This year though the zukes have really taken a hit. They took off quickly, growing strongly and producing lots of fruit but then went downhill just as fast. Even the leaf stems were covered.



A quick visit to Dr Google came up with this basic spray; a tablespoon of bi-carb soda, a tablespoon of oil and a few drops of washing up liquid all mixed up in a litre of water. It seems to have done the trick. I sprayed them weekly for three weeks and I think I've beat it, or at least got it under control. Although they look a bit bare where I've pulled off all the damaged leaves the new growth seems unaffected and there are lots of new shoots ...



... Hopefully to be followed by lots of yummy zukes :)


6 comments:

'Joyce' said...

oh wow, loving those new shoots and shiny, shimmery leaves. Yummy fresh zucchini served at your place soon.

Yeshe said...

nice remedy, yay for Zukes!

karisma said...

Mine don't have the mildew but they are not growing very big. They keep turning yellow. Hmmmm!

Kel said...

The leaves in the last two pics are sooo green! I took them early this morning; the mildewed ones were taken in the middle of the day.

Karisma, it sounds like you might need to pollinate them yourself. Get in there and show those flowers how to rumpy pumpy! LMAO!

karisma said...

Who has time for that? I spent yesterday RUNNING around the city chasing Mr Yakka! I think I really have forgotten how hard it is to have little kids. Where is the off switch? My legs are so so sore today!!!!!

karisma said...

Oh and there are plenty of bees in the garden, I think I need to pull up most of the Basil and Tansy which are far more appealing to the little lovelies. :-)

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