![]() And remember that sometimes shade creeps up on the sunny perennial bed, as trees fill in over time, or new structures are built around the garden. For example, are your afflicted plants growing in their correct exposure? Powdery mildew is much more common when full sun (6-8 hours direct sunlight) plants find themselves in part shade. Lastly, it is worth making a couple of notes now, for future planning. Note that none of the fungicides change the conditions that lead to powdery mildew, so the suggestions from earlier in this article are an important part of the control process. The first is Green Earth sulfur spray the second is Safer's 3 in 1 which also contains sulfur, but also something called potassium salts of fatty acids (sometimes more than one active ingredient is helpful) and lastly a product called Natria, which is made from a bacteria which eats up the powdery mildew. At Sage Garden we offer three types of fungicides for powdery mildew, each with a different mode of action. Powdery mildew is effectively controlled by a variety of safe to use fungicides, although this tactic works best when the infection is in the early stages. ![]() It is always best to water at the base of plants, to target the water but also not have moisture sit on the foliage excess moisture on the leaves is one factor that contributes to powdery mildew. For larger plants, such as ninebark shrubs, feel confident that a good pruning is in their best interest! If plants are spaced too close to one another, try to correct this (for perennials, this may be a question of doing some pruning now, then reorganizing them in fall). If plants are getting big and possibly a little over grown, reign this in. Do what you can to improve light and air penetration. Use rubbing alcohol to sterilize your clipping utensils before moving to other plants. Dispose of the leaves in the garbage rather than the compost. Obviously not so easy to do on roses, bergamot or ninebarks. This advice is most applicable to large foliage plants such as squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. Third, while some plants often get powdery mildew, the occurrence of the mould is a clue that plants are looking for more light and air penetration, and may be under some stress (often simply associated with the season, for example blooming requires a lot of resources for the plant, which puts it under stress). Secondly, powdery mildew is very specific as to which plants it can grow on, so if it shows up in the garden, it is not going to spread indiscriminately. in fact many plants can be counted on to carry on just fine after their annual bout with the grey coating. The first thing to know is that powdery mildew is not necessarily terrible. ![]() Powdery mildew on Bee-Balm (Monarda / Bergamot)Īs with most problems in the garden, their is not a single solution for attending to powdery mildew, but rather a tool-kit approach that tackles the situation holistically. The mould is unsightly, and when severe, it can certainly reduce the vigour and productivity of garden plants. This is called powdery mildew, a group of fungal pathogens that show up regularly during the heat and humidity of mid summer. The symptoms often start as dusty grey spots on the leaf tops, that expand into a more wide-spread grey coating over the foliage. July is the season of grey on the foliage of some popular garden plants.
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