This should have millions of views -- this is the best experiment on powdery mildew. After trying many different methods (milk, hydrogen peroxide, cinnamon, etc), the baking soda solution spray did the trick immediately. Wish I had seen your video years ago. Thank you!
Thank you! But I have a confession. While these organic solutions worked, at least ion zinnias I found they required frequent re-application. Since this test, I've switched to a system spray and found it works even batter and lasts a lot longer.
Thanks bro, I have spent so much money on different products. You took the time to test and see results in a controlled environment. I need to be more like you. Thank you.
You're welcome, and thanks for the comment! By the way, I think I mention in the video that powdery mildew doesn't grow when the temperatures go above 90-degrees. That was something I read and assumed it was correct. I just spent two hours spraying my zinnia bed to knock down a serious mildew infection. The temperatures in my high desert location have been averaging 100+ degrees, so that 90-degree thing may be wrong.
My understanding is that the baking soda will build up in the soil though, and over time make it harder for plants to grow. So the suggestion is to use it sparingly, not solely.
You've raised an important point. To get a good spraying, it's necessary to completely cover both sides of all leaves to the point where they are dripping. All that dripping is going into the soil, making it more alkaline, which is worse in my desert location because the soil is already alkaline. Worse still, I've found out the spraying has to be repeated every week to keep the mildew under control. That's a lot of spray. Thanks for bring this up.
Thank you! The only problem is that in my Southern California location, I have to spray every week to keep the powdery mildew off the zinnias. It wasn't worth the effort so I've switched to snapdragons.
I read that the mildew spores lives in the soil and when water splashes the soil through watering or rain it causes the spores to get onto the leaves. You can't actually prevent it, just treat it as soon as you see it. Keeping the soil covered can help. I'm off to mix up some solution and treat my Honeysuckle Vine. :)
Your honeysuckle gets powdery mildew? I grow Major Wheeler (scarlet honeysuckle) Because hummingbirds love it. I've never seen mildew on it. But then I live in Southern California, which may be a factor. Zinnias are the only plant that has a powdery mildew problem here. This year I'm testing two systemic sprays for powdery mildew. I'll post a video later this summer to show which worked the best and if they are better than the make-it-yourself sprays. Thanks for writing!
Your comment gave me an idea. In addition to spraying my zinnias, I'm also going to spray the soil in the entire bed around them. Perhaps this will kill some of the spores before they ever get the chance to splash up onto the leaves. Thank you!
You're welcome, and thanks for commenting! I'm in Southern California, USA. It's amazing two people can communicate so easily where they are on opposite sides of the planet.
I have only powdery mildew on squash leafs, every one of them, but not on cucumber leafs that are nearby, nor on any other vegetable and flower plants, very strange. I'm going to try the baking soda method this year. Thank you.
You're welcome! I'm repeating the test later this Spring with two different types of system sprays and will post a video in late summer on how they did. Good luck with your plants!
@@endgamefond No they don't, they were all in 5 gl pots, the potting medien was all from the same pile. Last year was my first year trying to plant for food. I planted them in pots only and wanted to see how difficult it was to grow veggies. I had 3 green beans, 3 cucumbers and 5 squash, they were all about 5 inches apart. I will expand my experiments this year for sure, growing things is fun and tasty.
You're very welcome! I just used the baking soda mix on a large bed of zinnias with a serious infestation of powdery mildew. One day after heavily spraying both the tops and bottoms of all the leaves, all traces of the mildew were gone. That was a week ago and it hasn't returned, so this treatment really seems to work. Good luck and thanks for commenting!
@@MareSimone1 I've sprayed morning and afternoon and not found any difference. But, it's easier when the plants are in shade to keep track of what's been sprayed. In direct sun, the contrast between areas in bright light and those in shade can make doing so a little harder.
One gallon. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear. I found that as good as the mix works, zinnias in my southern California location have to be sprayed at lease every week to keep powdery mildew under control. This can get to be a tiresome chore. Good luck and thanks for commenting!
Right, 1 gallon of water. By the way, I've just completed a similar test with two systemic powdery mildew preventers: BioAdvanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers and Shrubs, and Fert-Lome Liquid Systemic Fungicide II. With zinnias in the same bed. These work much better. Once a month is all it takes. Not a single speck of powdery mildew.
Hi Brandiveh! Thanks for commenting! I hadn't heard of that before, so I looked it up and you're right. Sulfur is an effective mildew treatment, typically 2 tbsp per gallon of hot water. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing. Did you mix oil, soda and soap together or did you use them separately? How much of each do I need to take to mix it or to use it seperately. Did you spray them with warm water of the tap water is also ok?
I m mixed 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 3 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 teaspoon of soap in 1 gallon of water, then sprayed the mixture on all upper and lower surfaces of the leaves and there plant's items, saturating them. I used plain tap water. Although this mixture worked, it required spraying every week to keep powdery mildew under control. This got to take a long time once the plants grew to full size. This year I'm testing two different systemic sprays to see if they do better and don't require constant respraying. I'll post a video about it later this summer. Thanks for writing!
@@slavamanvelyan3453 Neem oil is a good solution to many types of pests like white flies and aphids. I like it because it not only kills the existing bugs but acts as a repellent keeping newcomers away. Here's an article about it: www.gardendesign.com/how-to/neem-oil.html But, if you don't mind chemical sprays, there are many broad spectrum systemic sprays that kill whatever they get on but are absorbed into the plant itself making it poisonous to future infestations. Good luck!
Wayne, I know Neem oil is more expensive than regular vegetable oil, but have you considered combining it as the oil in your baking soda mixture? The antifungal properties specific to Neem oil might make the baking soda mixture more effective with Neem Oil added to it.
I've used Neem oil against insects but not as an anti-powdery mildew. This year I've been testing two different system powdery mildew chemicals and so far they have proved to be 100-percent effective. In the same bed as before growing the same type of zinnias there hasn't been a trace of powdery mildew.
Wayne, have you done the video on the systemic things you tried? I feel like I'm growing mostly fungus here in steamy NC. I'd love to know what system things you tested.
No video yet, but I have some results I can report. I sprayed zinnias in the same bed that has been plagued with powdery mildew, half of the bed with Ferti-lome Liquid Systemic Fungicide II and the other half with BioAdvanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers & Shrubs. Each uses a different active ingredient. I've sprayed once every two weeks. Both halves of the bed are completely free of powdery mildew. Starting on 1 August, I quit spraying to see how long the effect lasts. As of today, one month without spraying, they are still fungus free. I almost hope it does appear so I can start spraying again to see if either of these systemics will cure an infection as well as prevent it. I hope this helps. Good luck!@@epristerv
Thanks so much for the update. I’m going to look up info on both of those. I have used the BioAdvanced 4 in one (or some such name) for Black Spot on my Knockout roses and honestly, it didn’t help much. I’m about ready to give up on Knockouts. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t/wouldn’t help powdery mildew! I thought you might be using something added to the soil itself rather than a spray. I have had good luck with a Neem/Potassium BiCarb combo spray…but only when I remember to spray it. I swore I’d just put it on a schedule this year and failed. Next year for sure! Please keep us updated, and thank you again.
Couple questions… 1) Is there a reason you couldn’t put the milk and the baking soda mixture in the same spray? I’ve been trying milk and had some success and then trying peroxide and oil and soap. 2) Do you know if this works for Downey mildew also? I got 5 anise hyssop plants And noticed that four of them have that :-( I’ve already planted them a while ago. 3) are you leaving the leaves that had it all over after you can’t see it anymore? I have a very tall wild bergamot/Beebalm plant and everything but the very very tops have been covered in both powdery and downy mildew. But I wondered if hitting them with all of it, including peroxide in the same mixture would work even better or if the baking soda would counteract whatever is in the milk maybe? One video said that baking soda works as an acid but that doesn’t sound right I think it’s a base. I’m dealing with downy mildew separately mostly but my bed balm has both powdery and Downey. The bee balm had the same problem last year, I noticed that both were all over my mom’s bed balm also, and I should’ve started earlier but I’m guessing that it’s in the soil which is a whole other issue I’m not sure what to do about. Trying a peroxide solution for roots/ soil too. My main concern about all of the mildew is whether having tea from the flowers cause you to consume mycotoxins. Wild bergamot tea and Anise Hyssop is very nice but thinking about the mildew being an issue Makes me hesitant to drink it this year.
I've never tried combining the various cures. It could work, but the chemicals could combine in undesirable ways. For example, the baking soda might curdle the milk. The only way to know is to try it and see. One thing I've learned since posting this video is that at least in my Southern California location, I have to spray zinnias every week to keep the powdery mildew under control. That's not a big problem if there are only a few plants and they aren't crowded together in a bed. Dense plantings are almost impossible to completely spray the tops and bottoms of every leaf. It got so bad I had to remove all my zinnias. I don't know if any of the mixes I tried work on Downey mildew. Sorry. I removed all the lower leaves that had died because of the mildew. The idea was they weren't helping the plant and getting rid of them improved air flow around the bottoms of the plants and made spraying easier. You're correct.Baking soda is a base. It's alkaline. I don't know if either mildew is toxic to consume, but just to be safe I wouldn't want to do so. While many experts state that the mildew spores reside in the ground, and I'm sure they're right, the sad fact is that the spores are also airborne and while soil treatment my help, if you're in an area where mildews are common, it may be difficult to keep it under control. For my zinnia bed, as much as I liked them, it was just too much work. But, if you have a mature perennial it may be worth the work to preserve it. Good luck and thank you for commenting!
One gallon. I'm sorry I failed to mention that in the video. I've just started a follow-on test using two different types of systemic powdery mildew treatments. The video should be up in late July.
I sprayed early and late in the day. It didn't seem to matter if the sun was on the plants. I found I had to spray to saturate both sides of the leaves and all the stems at least once a week to keep the powdery mildew knocked down. If there was only a couple of plants and they were spaced far apart, this wasn't too bad. But my bed was 30 feet long and the plants had grown so large they got tangled together, making spraying them time consuming and difficult. In the end I gave up on Zinnias and am now focusing on snapdragons, which are doing better than expected considering I live in the desert. Thanks for the comment!
In bad years I have to spray every week. It get's to be a real chore because both sides of each leaf need to be wetted and if the zinnias have grown together working around them is hard work. So much so that I've pretty much given up on zinnias. Thanks for writing!
@@wayneschmidt490 Thanks for the reply. My roses got hit hard and I just noticed. Will be spraying the last one, the baking soda solution. 🤞🏽it works. Thank again.
@@donnamiller2457 You're welcome! One warning: the spray will get rid of powdery mildew, but on zinnias I found it necessary to respray weekly to keep ion from coming back. It seems in my area there's a lot of them powdery mildew spores in the air and they constantly re-infect the plants. Good luck!
You're very welcome. I should mention that since publishing this video, I've switched to systemic fungicides. They work even better and don't require respraying nearly as often.
@@Gravy369 Fertilome Liquid Systemic Fungicide II and BioAdvanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers & Shrubs both worked the same and were very effective. Good luck!
One gallon. I'm sorry I didn't say so during the video. By the way, I'm planning on repeating this experiment in Spring of 2023. The milk to water ratio will be increased to 50/50 and I'm including two systemic fungicides to see how they do.
@@wayneschmidt490 Thanks. I guessed that. I tried the Neem oil a while ago and it was absolutely useless. I sprayed my honeysuckle with the baking soda today.
@@E3ECOYour growing honeysuckle is interesting because I've grown Major Wheeler (red) honeysuckle for years. I've never had a powdery mildew problem with it. It's the best plant I've ever found for attracting hummingbirds. In my southern California location it blooms almost all year. It has just two problems. First, it grows so rampant that it appears to be intent on world domination. Second, aphids love to attack the flower buds. After a few years the growth is so dense it's hard to get spray all the way inside the plant, where many aphids hide and over winter. I have a new planting this year in which I'm trying a new trellising/pruning/spray system. Wish me luck!
@@wayneschmidt490 Mine are growing well, but they came from Lowes with mildew already. I shouldn't have bought them. They're in planters though, so no world domination from mine!
Did you scrape level the baking soda, or did you use a heaping tablespoon? Depending on the answer, that would make a pretty big difference for only one gallon of water. (Don't want to kill my peony... but I guess the powdery mildew is doing that anyway.)
It was a level tablespoon, not heaped. This was a cooking tablespoon, not a dinnerware tablespoon. I had to give up on the zinnias. Even spraying every week wasn't enough to keep the powdery mildew in check. I suspect my area is so heavily infected with PM spores that it's almost impossible to control it. I hope you have better luck with your peonies. Thanks for writing!
@@wayneschmidt490 Thanks! What I am probably going to try is your method to *remove* the powdery mildew, wait a few days, then apply a systemic fungicide, which will soak in to the plant tissue and stay there, thus preventing re-infection. (Products like Daconil don't penetrate the plant tissue, they only coat it and it eventually washes off.) Not sure if I'm going to go with Myclobutanil (Spectracide Immunox), or Propiconazole (Fertilome Liquid Systemic Fungicide II). I'm leaning towards the Fertilome.
@@Psilobite Ouch! I feel like such a fool. 🙂 I did all those tests and never once thought of a systemic fungicide. Thank you for the idea. I'm going to plant more zinnias next year just to try it out. I already ordered the Fertilome II from Amazon and will try to find the Spectracide in one of the local hardware stores. Amazon sells it but won't ship it to California. Thanks again!!!
I understand. After investing the time to nurture them all summer, it doesn't seem fair that powdery mildew attacks them. I'm having the same problem with my zinnias. They're still producing flowers, but mildew keeps coming back. I'm experimenting with how long the baking soda spray protects. It seems to be around a week, though I can let it go two weeks before the plants look like they're covered in flour. I'm testing a new spray to see if it lasts longer: half whole milk, half water and three tablespoons of baking soda. Wish me luck, and thanks for commenting!
@@wayneschmidt490 it's silly but my plants were my babies this summer. My kids are growing and leaving the house and it was nice to be depended on in some way. I Saved them from spider mites and squash bugs etc. And stupid powdery mildew became a problem. Really I've found gardening to be very therapeutic, so feeling like I may have to pull them, even though it's the end of summer, was almost like a big slap of failure in my face. I'd like to see how it works with more milk. Think there's a difference in how well it works between % of milk. If you do half n half, and water it down would be more effective than 2%? So maybe doing vit D, or half n half could be more effective? Or vit D in a 2 to 1 ratio or 1 to 1? I'd worry about it burning the plant too but I guess that's why small leaf tests are needed at first. Idk just some thoughts that popped up.
You are very welcome. Sadly, I've continued experimenting with the baking soda spray on my zinnia bed and found that while it works, it only lasts a week. After that the powdery mildew returns and I have to spray again, which is quite a job if it needs doing every week. I wish I could find something that lasts.
One gallon, about 4 liters. Since conducting this test, I've tried systemic sprays for powdery mildew and they work much better and don't have to be sprayed as often.
Oh thank goodness… I tried milk but it didn’t seem to help much. I’m in Upstate South Carolina and my gosh it’s been a swamp here lately. Trying the baking soda recipe as soon as I send this comment lol
Good luck, and thanks for writing. What I've learned since publishing this video is that while the spray works, in my area on zinnias it has to be reapplied every week. It doesn't eliminate powdery mildew as much as just knocks it back. I think that's because in my area there are so many air-born spores it's impossible to completely get rid of it. My solution has been to replace the zinnias with snapdragons. No more powdery mildew problems!
Too bad there is an underlying mycelium web network that is inside those leaves.They will look good for a week or two then PM will start popping up again.Does a good job of polishing leaves and put a bandaid on a festering problem.I removed the things that always got mold and no more mold again.Funny how that works.
Yes. This stuff certainly is persistent. Next year I'm trying the experiment again but this time with two different systemic fungal preventers to see if they're more effective. Wish me luck and thanks for commenting!
Sorry. I thought I had included it in the video and while it's in the written description, it's easy to miss. The formula for the baking soda mixture is for one gallon of water. I hope this helps, and thanks for commenting!
@@ceciliaeastwood8947 I used it two days ago on a bad infestation on the zinnia bed and it completely removed all traces of powdery mildew. I noticed that it leaves a slight gloss on the leaves, so I assume it's a residue that may continue to provide some mildew resistance. Another trick I learned was to dust each plant lightly with a little cornstarch or powdered sugar before spraying. This helps keep track of what's been sprayed, what still needs it and creates a sense of progress as I work through the bed. Good luck on your roses and thanks for commenting!
First of all, it Daconil, not Draconil. Second, it stains white like paint. Second, this video does not show the plants before treatment, nor the treatment.
You're right! I mispronounced it. I have no idea where the "r" came from. Sorry. I show the plants before treatment 20 seconds into the video. You're right again, to be more complete I should have shown me spraying the plants. I'll remember these points if I make another video about powdery mildew cures. Thanks for commenting!
