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nafex - [NAFEX] powdery mildew okay in the mulch pile?

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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: NAFEX Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] powdery mildew okay in the mulch pile?
  • Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:31:36 -0400

This isn't strictly about fruit, but I think the principle is the same, as powdery mildew attacks some fruit plants as well as my peonies.

For the last several years I've gotten some powdery mildew on my peonies. It's time to cut them down for the winter, and they all have a little mildew, and the ones I didn't spray (with milk!!) have a lot of mildew. In the past I've carefully separated the mildewed waste and put it in my municipal trash instead of throwing it into the mulch pile. But now that the fungus seems endemic, I wonder if it's worth the trouble. What say you? Okay to just toss it in the mulch pile?

Note that my "mulch pile" isn't a carefully tended compost heap that necessarily gets hot enough to "cook" things. It's just the back corner of the property where I toss fall leaves and random yard waste, and where my husband dumps moldy fruit and the kitchen compost. Starting this year I have mined it a little for topsoil (there's very nice organic stuff under the top foot of mostly leaves.) And I expect to mine it for topsoil in the future, so I don't want to build up a heavy disease load. But I don't know how much it matters.

Thanks,
Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6




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