Sometimes even the most caring gardener is powerless to prevent a plant disease from developing. Quite unexpectedly, the symptoms of powdery mildew suddenly appear on vegetable plants, roses, etc. Even small discrepancies in climatic factors are enough for the annoying plant pest to settle on the leaves.
How to fight mildew with baking soda?
To combat mildew with baking soda, mix a sachet of baking soda in 1.5 liters of water, add a tablespoon of canola oil and a squirt of dish soap. Spray affected plant parts regularly with the solution to contain the infestation.
A garden is full of life, which also includes mushrooms. Wouldn't it be boring to bake the perfect plant bed according to the recipe and then never have to work again? Speaking of baking, baking powder is not only an important part of the kitchen cupboard, but also proves to be extremely helpful in botany. Although it doesn't completely eliminate the workload, it does make the dream of the perfect garden a little more real. And all without chemical fungicides (or artificial flavors and additives as the baker would say).
What factors promote mildew infestation?
Mildew is caused by a fungus that comes in two types (more on that below). Small mistakes when creating a bed or care errors are often enough to provide the pest with an optimal breeding ground:
- too little light
- low air circulation due to plants being placed too close together
- Temperature fluctuations
- highly nitrogenous fertilizer
Make baking powder
Instead of using fertilizers, you should regularly treat your plants to a baking soda treatment. The home remedy is inexpensive, environmentally friendly and very easy to prepare.
Ingredients needed
- 1 packet of baking powder
- 1, 5 liters of water
- some dishwashing liquid
- 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
- a spray bottle
Preparation
- Stir the baking soda into the water
- Add the rapeseed oil into the mixture
- Add a splash of dish soap to the solution. This serves as an emulsifier
- Now fill the home remedy into a spray bottle
Application
- Spray the affected leaves at regular intervals
- Let about ten days pass between applications so that the product can work properly
- Repeat the application especially during heavy downpours as the rainfall washes the solution from the leaves
- Spray the plants in the evening hours
Alternative home remedies and tips
Treating mildew with a baking powder mixture is considered one of the most successful methods. For example, it proves to be more useful than the milk-water mixture also mentioned here. Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself which of the following home remedies you should use as an alternative.
- Mix milk or whey or buttermilk with water
- make a broth from field horsetail
- Pour water over garlic cloves
- Bio-based plant protection products
- natural predators like ladybugs
- Plant mixed crops with basil, garlic, foxglove, chervil or chives
All of the mentioned home remedies for mildew not only work in acute infestations, but also serve as prophylaxis. The application remains the same even as a preventative measure.
How baking powder works
The secret of the baking powder mixture is the plant protection substance lecithin. The causative fungus avoids this product.
Unfortunately only effective against powdery mildew
Unfortunately, baking powder only gets rid of powdery mildew. It is therefore important not to just use any home remedy, but to take a close look at the symptoms. How to tell which type of mildew it is:
Powdery mildew
Powdery mildew is also known as fair-weather fungus. It is an ascomycete that manifests itself as follows:
- Topping: white, floury, easy to wipe off
- appearance of symptoms: early spring
- preferred climate conditions: warm temperatures of 20-25°C, morning dew, dryness during the day
- Spread: by insects and wind
- Damage: brown, dried leaves, leaves curl up, no flowers, distorted plant parts, growth arrest, death in the case of very severe infestation
- Occurrence: on the top of the leaf, on flowers and buds as well as the plant stem
- other features: specialized on individual plant species, insensitive to frost and cold
- preferred plants: roses, cucumbers, carrots, asters, gooseberries
Downy mildew
Unlike powdery mildew, downy mildew is an egg or algal fungus, which is also known as a bad weather fungus.
- Symptoms: gray or brown deposits
- Occurrence: on the underside of the leaf
- Onset of symptoms: later in the year
- preferred plants: all kinds of ornamental plants, kohlrabi, cabbage, lettuce, onions, spinach
- preferred climate conditions: humid air, low temperatures of 15-20°C
- Damage: brown, yellow or purple discoloration on the leaves, death of the plant
- other characteristics: penetrates the plant, only affects the leaves
