Just like Charlie Brown, I have been waiting all summer for the Great Pumpkin to arrive. However, a few weeks ago some white patches appeared on the leaves of my pumpkin plants. Overnight it spread and now has jumped over to the zucchini and squash plants. The original pumpkin plant has a ripe orange pumpkin at its base but the stem and adjacent leaves are all brown. Some nearby pumpkin plants still have green leaves but the white spots are spreading fast.
Not wanting to loose the plants that I nurtured all summer, I looked up some info online and found some possible answers. When I Googled the question, I got some info from Yahoo Q/A. Some contributors described the similar white patches that I saw. Those that answered said it was a white powdery mildew fungus which could be killed by either raising the pH or adding a competing bacteria. There are several spray-on commercial products to treat the white powdery mildew by raising the pH like Serenade, Safer Fungicide and Safer Three in One. However, a homemade solution can be made with one table spoon baking soda and a few squirts of liquid detergent mixed with one gallon of water.
Selecting the homemade recipe, I quickly made up a (baking soda-liquid detergent) solution in a two gallon watering can and sprinkled it all over the plants. To cover all the plants in the 20x35 foot garden, I made up the solution about twelve times. As soon as I sprinkled the solution on the leaves the powdery mildew dissolved and the leaves regained some of their green color. I’ll have to watch the plants over the next few days to see if this really works. You can see photos at the link ………………
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/PumpkinMildew81708
The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is an antacid that neutralizes the acidic pH and kills the fungus. The liquid detergent helps the water solution stick to the leaves without washing off. Hooray for pH (the power of hydrogen). A pH scale 1 - 7 - 14 is used to measure the amount of hydrogen ions. Values closer to (1) are more acidic (have more hydrogen) where pH values closer to (14) are more alkaline. Sometimes soils are more acidic because of certain minerals in the soil but also due to high amounts of acid rain. You can neutralize the acidic soil by adding lime and some fertilizers.
Looking further online for info related to powdery mildew, I came across a commercial product called GreenCure. It’s environmentally friendly and non-toxic. Its active ingredient is potassium bicarbonate and has a surfactant that helps stick to leaves and plants. This sounds a lot like the home ready described above (baking soda-liquid detergent) which costs a lot less. Click on the link below for more info on GreenCure ……. http://www.megagro.com/greencure.htm?source=Y-greencure
Not wanting to loose the plants that I nurtured all summer, I looked up some info online and found some possible answers. When I Googled the question, I got some info from Yahoo Q/A. Some contributors described the similar white patches that I saw. Those that answered said it was a white powdery mildew fungus which could be killed by either raising the pH or adding a competing bacteria. There are several spray-on commercial products to treat the white powdery mildew by raising the pH like Serenade, Safer Fungicide and Safer Three in One. However, a homemade solution can be made with one table spoon baking soda and a few squirts of liquid detergent mixed with one gallon of water.
Selecting the homemade recipe, I quickly made up a (baking soda-liquid detergent) solution in a two gallon watering can and sprinkled it all over the plants. To cover all the plants in the 20x35 foot garden, I made up the solution about twelve times. As soon as I sprinkled the solution on the leaves the powdery mildew dissolved and the leaves regained some of their green color. I’ll have to watch the plants over the next few days to see if this really works. You can see photos at the link ………………
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/PumpkinMildew81708
The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is an antacid that neutralizes the acidic pH and kills the fungus. The liquid detergent helps the water solution stick to the leaves without washing off. Hooray for pH (the power of hydrogen). A pH scale 1 - 7 - 14 is used to measure the amount of hydrogen ions. Values closer to (1) are more acidic (have more hydrogen) where pH values closer to (14) are more alkaline. Sometimes soils are more acidic because of certain minerals in the soil but also due to high amounts of acid rain. You can neutralize the acidic soil by adding lime and some fertilizers.
Looking further online for info related to powdery mildew, I came across a commercial product called GreenCure. It’s environmentally friendly and non-toxic. Its active ingredient is potassium bicarbonate and has a surfactant that helps stick to leaves and plants. This sounds a lot like the home ready described above (baking soda-liquid detergent) which costs a lot less. Click on the link below for more info on GreenCure ……. http://www.megagro.com/greencure.htm?source=Y-greencure
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