PROOF that milk kills mildew

Please have a look at my journal, and you will see that by spraying a milk-water mixture, the advance of mildew can be halted.
http://davesgarden.com/editgj/viewentry.php?rid=17290

Happy Gardening

Wintermoor

Thanks for the recipe and pictures. I'll keep it in mind. I don't have much trouble with mildew on phlox, but maybe this will also work for other mold type disorders on the squash, melons, etc.

The mixture also keeps black-fly away from the Dahlias.

Wintermoor

Thanks for the info. I just purchased phlox for the first time and have heard this can be a problem.

Where do I find the American measure for this recipe? :*)

thanks wintermoor, good tip. i also needed the reminder to get out and spray my plants.

Wintermoor, that is an interesting and compelling argument for using milk and water (I had never heard of it stopping mildew.)

Would you mind sharing your information in Gardenology's definition of mildew? I'm sure it would be beneficial for others looking for solutions (especially organic ones) for this disease.

Now I'm going to go mix up some milk and water, because my monarda foliage is looking mighty gray, and I figured I'd just have to live with it until I cut them back!

Give it a try Debi,
it is remarkable how this works, and gives the leaves a really nice shiny appearance.

Good luck with it

Wintermoor

That was pretty interesting. Nothing can stop me from trying this easy and simple method on my plants too. Thanks.
The same recipe our milkman adapts before supplying us. LOL.

go_vols,
sorry I took so long to answer, I had forgotten to 'watch' this thread.

My monardas have never been really attacked by mildew as I started even before the first mildew showed up with the spraying. All of my friends though who also had monardas saw about 10 plants between them as the mildew just choked their plants, until I showed them mine, then the milk solution was tried out, and since then they are all wee happy monarda growers :-)

Dinu,
not only simple, cheap too..... that's important to me being Scottish of course.

All the best

Wintermoor

Kat...150cc is roughly 5 oz; 850cc is about 28 oz.
I have this site saved to my Favorites for easy conversions, check it out!
http://www.convert-me.com/en/

Thanks Horseshoe. Now saved in mine too! :*)

A good guide for this wonder cure is 5.5 parts water to 1 part milk.

And that conversion site is fascinating - I'm British and I thought bushels had died out with my grandparents!

HAH!...gerddi, bushels are alive and well here! I just dug a bushel of taters last wk, have at least of bushel of maters waiting to be picked (and in my mind I LACK bushels of energy to get out in the heat and pick 'em!)

A a child I had to learn all about bushels, pecks, chains, hundredweights and other old measurement systems and as an adult I then had l to scrap all that and learn the metric system. Perhaps you still use bushels because you don't generally use the metric system.

I still can't imagine the metric system though - if I have to estimate a length it still comes out in feet and inches and a lb has much more of a weighty feel to it than 500 g!

I like metric, it's easier to work with.(chemistry major here)
I will have to try this spray on my phlox and monarda!!

I don't know if anyone else subscribes to the American Horticultural Society besides myself. Anyway, in their current issue there is an article on preventing mildew by spraying milk on your plants that are prone to this disease. You are CORRECT Wintermoor, it does work! You can use either whole or skim milk, both are effective. The ratio is 1 part milk to 9 parts water. Put this mixture into a clean spray bottle and coat your plants with this mixture, until they are dripping wet. It really does work!!!

P.S. I'll be happy to scan the article is anyone is interested in reading it.

I would be interested Shirley,
do you have a link for the site maybe?

Thank You

All the best

Wintermoor

I'd be very interested too as I have heard of this method from various sources. Apparently an enzyme in the milk attacks the mildew but I would love to read the whole idea in one article and not the bits and pieces of info I've received from various sources so far..

Gerddi,
I got this wee tip from my Gran when I was a wee boy in Glasgow, and that was early 50's. I wonder how she knew about it, as it's definitely one of those 'old country' treatments which have been hushed-up by the chemical companies.

All the best

Wintermoor

I reckon that a lot of so-called old-wive's ideas have been hushed up by the chemical companies!! I'm constantly amazed to read of new breakthroughs in the New Scientist and find they are reporting proof of somethings that's been know for centuries as though it was a new idea. It seems to me, we are constantly inventing the wheel, in gardening and other areas..

My grandfather also used home-made remedies and never had a problem in his garden.

By the way, in Yorkshire we also say wee and call children bairns! It must be all those marauding Scots that came south for the cattle! (or then, we could have had the same lot of Vikings).

I found the article and decided to type it since it is relatively short.

ANTI-FUNGAL USE FOR MILK

"What do Brazilian zucchini farmers and New Zealand's melon growers have in common? Both groups are using milk instead of synthetic fungicides to control mildew on their crops and its working. Although nobody knows exactly how it works, Brazilian scientist Wagner Bettiol's experiment using weekly sprays of at least a 10% milk solution (one part milk to nine parts water) suggests that the milk is both an immune stimulant and a lethal fungicide to Sphaerotheca fuliginea, the organism that causes mildew in squashes, melons, and other cucurbits. Bettiol used fresh milk straight from the cow. For farmers and gardeners without access to a bovine supplier, skim milk has been shown to be just as effective by researchers in New Zealand."

The American Gardener, The Magazine of the American Horticultural Society, July/August 2002, pgs 15,16.

Hi - Can anyone tell me if 'Purple Flame' and 'Orange Perfection' are Phlox varities that are less suspectible to powdery mildew?

Very interesting. I'll certainly try. Could anyone who talked about Mondara, send a picture? I think I might have one, but would like to make sure. Thanks

I just found mildew on my roses and I am going to do this! I have pets so I have to be very careful what I use!

I have found it to be highly effectice on mildew but less effective on black spot on roses or say fungus on tomatoes (early or late blight) so I have generally stopped using it in favor of other treatments that do both. Now thwt I have gone totally organic maybe I will give it a try again cant hurt.

I've just spotted the mildew on my phlox. One message said 5.5 parts to 1 part milk and the other said 9 to 1. Does it matter? Also, how often do you spray AND does this mildew spread to other plants around it? thanks! Su

According to this website if you get over 30% milk then an innoccuous fungus will start growing but it doesn't seem to matter that much.

So far I've been doing it about twice a week.
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/tv-mildew.html