I want to plant some curcubits like zuchini, gourd cucumber, pumpkin, melons, but as far as I know all the curcubit family is prone to mildew. which varieties of this familiy are not attacked by mildew?
g'day hedwig, um yeh would appear that way hey chuckle? anyhjow me my experience tells me lots have problems due to unhealthy plant/root system caused by inefficient/poor drainage, lack of sufficinet sun (full on), not in a spot that gets good dose of breeze (to dry humidity from around foliage and watering at the wrong time in the srong way (in summer in the evening and only around the root zone not over the foliage. now give it a go. let us know. len
Get up as early as you can and lightly water the dew off of the plants. This should help to control/stop any mildew. Or so says the Natrakelp man who visited me last week. Tis worth a go if nothing else!
Cant remember if it was Peter or jerry on Gardening australias "organic Gardener Magazine who said... Ill get my arse kicked or telling anyone this in a magazine but "Milk" is the way to go..He reckons you spray with milk if having milldew probs... Another problem i see with milldew is tht us humans when we think its time to water our plants we get it wrong.. Namely.In nature the plants will be prepared for rain,and those hot/cold temp differences, far better then we can,enabling them to adjust themselves in preperation to rain or different humidities. Some times it also helps to use the right breed of plant in the right area in the first place.us humans tend to think we know it all,when in fact we know bugger all Tezza
squashes Squashes don't seem to be prone to mildew, (as far as I've seen anyway.) Although mine seemed to go through a phase a few weeks ago of getting to about the size of a 20c piece and then the stalk near the base of the stem turned pale and the fruit dropped off and the side that used to be a flower went brown and squishy. I have no idea why, and thankfully they have stopped dropping, and are growing bigger (and now getting eaten). But I don't have trouble with mildew with squashes, maybe you could try them.
Hang on Len, I'm trying to read your post properly LOL. Are you saying we *should* water the foliage? I have not had mildew problems (yet) but I don't to start having them LOL. So the ideal is what morning and foliage? (*she who hates getting up early argh*)
g'day anastasia, nope didn't say that i said water the root zone only, that means never the foliage, and in the evening in summer to minimise evaporation. danjo, there is a lot of people using the milk recipe, rose growers included, my theory is it is all the chemical residues in the modern supermarket product that probably make it work as an anti mildew agent. haven't heard from anyone yet who has used fresh from the cow unadulterated milk. len
I think I found the link on this website, to the Gardening Aus article with Organic Fungicide recipes. It actually says use Organic milk as it has the necessary bits still in it, and use 1part milk to 10 parts water. Anyway, I've just sprayed my cucumber, melon, and pumpkins so will wait and see how they go. Haven't had much success with them in my little gardening experience so hopefully this will help. https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1484689.htm
I always thought that the milk treatment was more a preventative than a cure?? Still...everything helps!
I wonder if human milk would work? (Don't laugh :lol: ) Human milk contains loads of antibodies and awesome little things. How often should one apply for it to be an effective preventative though?
I used the milk trick on my zucchini last year and it worked a treat. I had real problems with mildew last year on my pumpkins and zucchini but I just sprayed the underside of the leaves with milk and there were no problems. You do have to reapply in new leaves start to get mildew and it is more successful if you catch it early - of course.
I'll give it a go on cucurbit mildew. But I have used milk successfully on aphids. Apparently, thety are lactose intolerant. :tongue: