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  • From: "Ginda Fisher" <list@ginda.us>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Got Milk?
  • Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:07:51 -0400

I mixed 2% milk with a little water, maybe 60/40 or 50/50.  I did not notice any rancid or sour-milk odors, but then, I don't go sniffing my peony leaves.  (I sprayed after petal-fall, but I don't much care for the scent of peonies, and don't sniff much during bloom, either.) I only sprayed once, at the first sign of mildew, although I think a followup spray in a month might have been better.  I used a hand-held spray bottle and tried to get both the top and bottom of each leaf.

I had no trouble with clogging that I noticed, but haven't tried to use the sprayer since.  I did wash it well with warm soapy water in the kitchen sink when I was done.  (hey, it's safe to use milk in the kitchen)

-- Ginda

Richard Harrison wrote:

Ginda,
    Did you spray it "straight" or dilute it? I have some cantaloupes looking good right now---with fruit larger than softball size. The leaves are beginning to have some yellow spots and I was considering a fungicide spray of some kind. Milk sounds very interesting--and cheap, too. It MIGHT even increase the Ca nutrient content of the plant!
                                                                           Richard

--- On Wed, 9/16/09, Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us> wrote:

From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Got Milk?
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 12:43 AM


On Sep 15, 2009, at 9:52 PM, Mark Dorogi wrote:

> My wife read on the internet (so it must be true) that milk is 
> effective
> against powdery mildew on cucurbits. . . .
> Any opinions as to milk's effectiveness?
>
> Mark
> Ann Arbor MI

I've also read that milk is effective against powdery mildew.  I've 
had trouble with powdery mildew on my peonies for a couple of years, 
and on a winterberry (ornamental deciduous holly) last year.  So this 
year I figured, "what have I got to lose", and tried spraying them 
with milk.  I even did a sort of slightly controlled experiment, 
spraying some in the row of peonies and not others.  I only got around 
to doing it once, though.

The results were astonishing.  The mildew stopped, and only started 
growing again quite recently.  All the plants look better than last 
year.  The unsprayed peonies also look better than last year, but 
worse than the sprayed ones.

I wondered if it was just the weather.  (a very damp cool summer.  I'd 
have thought it ideal for a fungus, but perhaps mildew needs warmer 
weather?)  But I've been looking at other peonies in the neighborhood, 
and they seem to be as mildewed as mine were last year.

So I don't know about cucurbits.  But I plan to spray my mildew 
sensitive plants with milk again next year.  Maybe I just got lucky.   
But hey, milk is cheap and safe to use.  What have I got to lose?

Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6


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