Surely, if you have plants, you will have noticed that in some it appears like a veil or velvety white stain on the leaves and stems, mainly, of courgettes, cucumbers, and fruits like melon or watermelon. It is also common in roses or carnations. It is the powdery mildew, a disease that has its origin in a fungus from which it takes its name. In this article, we will give you a series of home remedies for powdery mildew.
Normally, it appears when the plants are in a shady area where there is a lot of humidity. It rains continuously or is close to sprinkler irrigation systems. But what can be done if it has already appeared?
Home remedies for powdery mildew
Using no type of product, not even natural or homemade, it is possible to remove the powdery mildew from the plants. The most important thing is that you eliminate the leaves, stems, etc., that you see that they are affected. By eliminating the affected parts of the plant, this fungus will be prevented from spreading elsewhere or spreading to others.
Besides, you must facilitate greater ventilation of the plants. That is to say, it is better that you separate them from each other so that they have more air. In the most extreme cases, it may even be necessary to move them to a less shady area and where there is less humidity. You should also control the irrigation. So, you do not have excess water and you favor the spread of powdery mildew.
When the powdery mildew has an important presence in the plants, we can use several products that will help us finish it. These are the best home remedies to get rid of powdery mildew on plants:
- Sulfur is an element that is found in nature alone or in combination with others, has great fungicidal power, so it helps to kill fungi without damaging the plant. But for this, we must be careful in its application and not exceed its use because otherwise, it will end his life.
- Copper sulfate is another element that is usually used to eliminate fungi in plants and other types of diseases.
- Sodium bicarbonate is another excellent antifungal, as long as you use it mixed with vegetable oil. This combination acts as a natural pesticide, which you must apply with a sprayer to spread the product well over the plant.
- Chamomile is also useful to kill powdery mildew. In this case, you must prepare it in an infusion. Once cold and cast, you just have to spray the plants twice a day to kill the mushrooms. Chamomile can be used in turn as a preventive method for which it will only be necessary to spray once a day.
- Garlic is another product that acts as a natural pesticide, very effective against fungi. Its use is also in infusion, having to water the plants every day with this solution.
- Water with milk is especially indicated for crop plants or crops because it is a natural pesticide that does not harm the product or its properties and does not have bad consequences for human health.
Tips to prevent the appearance of powdery mildew
As always when talking about infections or diseases, prevention is the best thing to do. And powdery mildew is no exception since it is often difficult to eradicate. And, how to prevent powdery mildew in plants?
One of the best ways is to use propolis, which is a somewhat resinous mixture that bees get from the buds of trees. This product must be applied by spraying on the plants, although you also have the option of putting it in the air inlets – if the plants are in a closed enclosure -, to avoid that dirt comes from the ventilation ducts.
The ozonifier is also very useful when it comes to preventing the appearance of oidium due to its microbicidal properties, among others. In addition, it is also perfect to reduce the odor that occurs in plants by the presence of this fungus.
And, although we have talked about sulfur to treat oidium you can use it equally for prevention. However, using sulfur should be more careful because its use is more complicated. There are also factors that reduce their effectiveness, as with temperature. Therefore, if the plant is in an area where the temperature is below 18 ºC it will have no effect. It will also not be beneficial if you apply it when it is very hot and the thermometer reaches more than 35 ºC. In this last case, you will only burn the plant.
