writing a newspaper column

I decided a good article for our little newspaper (only published once a fortnight so it is more of a magazine) on natural remedies to certain plant problems. I saw an article on HGTV on-line about this which inspired me to research more.
I would like to know what your best proven remedy is for gardening foes that is a product you have right in your house.
For instance, I read that mouthwash is good for fungus diseases. Please help.

Hi Spirit! Someone also told me that mouthwash works for aphids and mites. Sort of like a high powered insecticidal soap. What is your e-mail address? I wrote a decent paper on natural pest control of roses that you are welcome to plaigerize.

R

i just tried the dish soap, mouthwash spray on aphids attaching my gardenia. it didn't work after several applications but it really cleaned many of my other trees and bushes which is supposed to reduce the chances of infection.

thrip, did you ever send me that article? I haven't seen it in my e-mail

No I didn't Spirit...I still don't have your regular e-mail address. But I would love to send it to you!

crre-e-e-e-ping senility

so, what is your e-mail address??

I use and swear by skim milk for powdery mildew and black spot on my roses.

Diluted 9 parts water to 1 part milk
I find it's very effective against powdery mildew and black spot (although better on the mildew)
The lactic acid kills the fungus spores and the milk produces a shiny protective coating on the leaves that help prevent the new spores from penetrating (at least that's my theory)
I hear an added plus is that it's death on aphids too.

One of the best things I did for my garden is make it bird friendly with several feeders and a couple of birdbaths.
It warms my heart to see the birds flitting about feasting on aphids and caterpillars!

Dove

There was an article in the American Rose magazine this month that was very good. It compared organic pest control with Immunox for insects and diseases. Organic was better! Especially compost tea and Messenger worked well for disease control.

See Jerry Baker often seen on PBS during fund raising specials. He uses a lot of products found around the home. He has a lot of books you can often get at your library or his web site has some of the remedies online here:

http://www.jerrybaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=75

I just went outside and discovered that my bee balm has powdery mildew! I think I'll get some compost tea started and spray with a milk mix today to hold it over! What a great test!

i see dovey beat me to it today. i was going to suggest the milk too! another great one for a multitude of leaf problems, baking soda and water. i have an older (93) sunset book called Garden Pests and Diseases. it's really a great little book. anyway, it states, "sprayed onto plants, a solution containing ordinary baking soda prevents certain fungus diseases, including black spot, powdery mildew, and anthracnose. scientists aren't sure just how this control works-but it's so effective against a wide variety of fungi that efforts are under way to register baking soda legally as a fungicide".

1 teaspoon of baking soda and water to one of those little hand sprayers is how i do it. if you add ultra fine oil and liquid soap to it it becomes what is called the Modified Cornell Formula. i normally don't put the oil in except for scale because even the fine oil burns the leaves here in sunny florida. debi