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Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

These are the ones that I can think of. I often only include the commercial trade names because these are the ones I am fimiliar with. Consumer names are added if I know them.

>>M-Pede Insecticidal & Fungicidal Soap. Was previously sold to consumers under the trade name "Safer Soap". That name is now illegal in some states (NY & CA) Mycogen sold the rights to this product to DOW & I'm not sure what the consumer preperation is called now. Pretty good for Powdery Mildew. I used it here successfully on Lilacs for PM. Kills aphids too. Has temperature restrictions. Foams like mad if mishandled. Potassium salts of fatty acids.

>>Armicard plus Oil. Really just Baking Soda. Works by raising the pH of leaf surface so as to make a Powdery Mildew inhospitable environment. Oil is to make proper contact with the leaf. We might run experiments this year at my son's school with Baking Soda plus Organosilicone surfactant to substitute the oil. Oil is by law a pesticide & I would have to notify the whole bloody school board & faculty every time I sprayed otherwise. If thge board cooperates with the notification requirement, I'll use coventional fungicides when the kids are on summer vacation.

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3/13/2004 12:25:10 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Seaweed & Fish extracts are supposed to suppress Powdery Mildew in the same fashion as Baking Soda. Applying 2 & 3 times weekly wasn't adequate at the school last year. Though the week we went on vacation there were zero sprays made for 8 consecutive days. I wish I could say the plants were clean up to that point. But they weren't.

>>Neem oil. All I have read lately indicates poor fungicide results. But I have no first hand experience with Neem as a fungicide. We sold Neem back in the early '90's for insects. I was less than impressed. Aphids are easy to control at much lower cost with even less toxic materials.

>>Zerotrol. Never used it. Have heard horror stories & success stories. How have other users liked it?

>>Compost Teas are purported to supress pathogenic fungii. I have very little background in foliar applied teas & will refrain from comment in this area until I do. No experiments planned for this year here. I wish I had the time & space to do this approach justice. This is exciting stuff.

What else? I must be forgetting something.

3/13/2004 12:25:24 PM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

You somehow forgot about Milk Steve.
It contains a protein called Ferroglobulin which when exposed to sunlight produces "Superoxide Radicals" which are toxic to Powdery mildew.
Only works when the sun is shining.
Watch out for a groundbreaking milk and hairspray experiment in my patch this year!!

3/13/2004 12:47:08 PM