Milk/water spray to stop powdery mildew

RandyL

New Member
In my last grow I had some problems with powdery mildew, but I didn't realize how serious it was until everything was totally screwed up.

Since then I've read, seen photos, and learned what to look for. In searching for a product to kill PM, I found something on the internet saying that mixing milk with water does a good job, as milk is a natural fungicide, and even has some small nutrition value.

So I've been making a 25% milk 75% water combination, and I keep a close eye out for any spots of PM, and I spray them down HARD when I see them. I'll even dip my fingers in a glass of milk/water and rub down leaves that have a spot of PM on them to help work it in and wipe out the PM.

It also seems to kill spider mites pretty well, as I saw a few on a couple plants, sprayed them, and they haven't come back in over a week now.

Anyone else ever use milk/water for this?

Since milk is a natural thing, I wonder if it is ok for it to be sprayed on leaves and buds during flowering. Any idea?
 
Spraying late into flower probably wouldn't hurt but may affect the flavor of your buds, i.e. sour milk. I had issues with PM on my last grow. I found a product called Organocide at a local shop. The label claimed you could spray right up till harvest. I saw no harm in this, because if i wouldn't have sprayed i would have most likely had moldy buds. So i applied up until about 1 week before harvest and have noticed no foul taste whatsoever. Organocide smells like ass, but did not change the flavor/aroma of my finished product.

Long story short, i have never used milk/water but if it's working for you, i say keep it up.
 
In my last grow I had some problems with powdery mildew, but I didn't realize how serious it was until everything was totally screwed up.

Since then I've read, seen photos, and learned what to look for. In searching for a product to kill PM, I found something on the internet saying that mixing milk with water does a good job, as milk is a natural fungicide, and even has some small nutrition value.

So I've been making a 25% milk 75% water combination, and I keep a close eye out for any spots of PM, and I spray them down HARD when I see them. I'll even dip my fingers in a glass of milk/water and rub down leaves that have a spot of PM on them to help work it in and wipe out the PM.

It also seems to kill spider mites pretty well, as I saw a few on a couple plants, sprayed them, and they haven't come back in over a week now.

Anyone else ever use milk/water for this?

Since milk is a natural thing, I wonder if it is ok for it to be sprayed on leaves and buds during flowering. Any idea?

I think it's a better idea to use something like neem oil.

It's natural and has less of a chance to affect the taste. Milk just doesn't sound like a good idea.


I find that the better the nutrients I use, the fewer times I have problems. Advanced Nutrients works well for me.

But I have had to use neem oil in the past and it works well with the nutes.
 
Colloidal silver and/or H2O2 should work. They should be a part of every indoor growers kit.

Why would you use colloidal silver in a grow room for anything except to coerce balls from a female?

H2O2 is water with unstable extra oxygen. High enough O2 to kill fungus may kill cannabis, or blow up your tent, ect.
Extra moisture is not likely to discourage powdery mildew.

Creating a dry, airy enviroment is best prevention.
If you've allowed PM to grow, strong measures are needed immediately to save your crop. SNS 244 FUNGICIDE
 
I've been told you should not spray the buds with ANYTHING past the 3rd or 4th week of flowering. I wonder how this applies to the milk/water spray, since the people who said no spraying after week 3/4 never seemed to know about the milk/water combination. They never mentioned it, anyhow. Anyone know?

I've been using the milk / water spray on PM and to kill mites. I check the plants several times a day, and if I see ANY of those little sunsabitches or their webs, I spray the hell out of the plants, the upper leaves of the plants on both the top and bottom, and other plants too, just to be sure. I'll empty a 32 ounce spray bottle in about 10 minutes!

PM hasn't been much problem lately, but here in SoCal we've had 5 straight days of rain with 2 more to go! So I'm keeping an eye on things!

I guess if I'm going to do a neem oil spray I better do it this week.
 
I found some PM on a few of my plants so sprayed them all with milk/water. Plants are outside but under greenhouse plastic - should I rinse the milk off at any point since there won't be any rain under there?
 
I found some PM on a few of my plants so sprayed them all with milk/water. Plants are outside but under greenhouse plastic - should I rinse the milk off at any point since there won't be any rain under there?
Welcome to the group "canadagrow". Just letting you know that this thread was from 2010 so it is unlikely that any of the previous posters will respond.

As to your question about rinsing the milk off you should keep in mind that it would be counter productive. It is the lactic acid that is found in the milk as it sours that coats the leaves and reduces the chances that the mildew spores will attach and start growing.

When you rinse it off then no more acid layer. Instead it is a damp layer which helps the spores start to grow plus encourages faster growth from any mildew that has already started.

There are commercial products and most of them should work but if you are looking for really inexpensive then consider a mix of citric acid and water. Really inexpensive and citric acid should be found in any local hardware store or supermarket that sells canning supplies. The Citric Acid is used as part of the food preservation by home canning folk.

The link below will take you to an earlier discussion on using it. The link will jump you to a specific msg so you will have to scroll down past the photos to get to the discussion......
https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/intheshed-grows-inside-out-jump-in-any-time.417558/post-5460121

For those not using the metric system the water and citric acid measurements are 5 grams of citric acid to one pint of water. I measured the 5 grams of citric stuff a couple of times and it came out real close to 1 and 1/4 level teaspoons each time so I do not weight it any more. I use the 1 teaspoon and then the 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoons in the set. If you go with this be sure to weigh the citric acid a couple of times since it is possible that the brand you buy will have a different weight to volume.

Read up on the life cycle of powdery mildew. Now is the time of year to be doing what it takes to keep the stuff under control. By the time you see it on your plants the stuff has been already growing on the leaves for 3 to 4 weeks. Plan ahead.
 
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