Has anyone else had a problem with powdery mildew on copper plants? Mine are absolutely gorgeous, but today I went out and noticed white spots on the top sides of the leaves. Looked at the backside of the leaves and they are literally coated with powdery mildew. We've had a bit of rain in the past couple of weeks and the humidity is very high, so I guess this is what caused the outbreak. Anybody know what's safe to spray on them to control this? Thanks for any help.
Copper Plants & Powdery Mildew
Spray them with low fat milk and water, 1 to 10 ratio, spray well under the leaves, and all over, it works great.
Josephine.
This message was edited Aug 5, 2006 5:11 PM
Thanks so much, Josephine. I've never heard of this but I'll definitely try it. I use as few chemicals as possible and this is great to know. So far this year, I've only used chemicals twice and that was on fire ant beds.
You are welcome, ever since I learned about it I haven't had problems with mildew on my Phlox which used to get it pretty bad.
Now as soon as I see a spot, I use it and no problems. I keep a spray bottle of the solution in the refrigerator, if I don't use it all at one time.
Josephine, or anyone, upon closer insprection of these plants, I've found little bugs. I think they're called cottony somethings, but can't remember. They are little flattened ovals, fuzzy white looking, with legs out to the sides. They whole this is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long. Can you tell from this description what they are? They are all over what I thought was powdery mildew. Are they causing the powdery stuff of is it causing them? How to treat?
Spray with a mixture of dishwashing liquid, not the kind for the dishwasher,
at a ratio of 1 tablespoon to a quart of water. This is good for aphids and many kinds of sucking insects. You may have to do this more than once, and be sure the plant is not in the sun when you do it, the soap could burn it.
Good luck, I think they are called cottony scale, but I am not sure.