lilac/powdery mildew/lime sulfur/dormant spray

hello..i have had powdery mildew on my lilacs for three years.. This year, i am determined to prevent it.
i have gone to the garden center and purchased a small sprayer, lime sulfer and oil to mix with water and spray according to instructions...

my questions:
#1.Do you think i will be able to eliminate it. ?( i have cleaned up all the old dead matter from around the bushes from last year..as far as i can see, it is cleaned up)

#2. has anyone applied lime sulfer/oil spray in March in northeast and had success in defeating powdery mildew?

#3. any tips?

many thanks
alice

Hi Alice. I can't help you - we can't grow lilacs down here (:^(( but I noticed you hadn't received an answer yet. If no one can help you, I would suggest you call your county extension agent. They will be able to tell you how to treat lilacs for powdery mildew. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I also don't grow lilacs, but it sounds like you're taking all the right steps, can't think of anything additional you should be doing, but these fungal diseases are very tough to get rid of so even if you do everything right there are no guarantees that you won't have problems. If you really want to get rid of the problem, you need to plant lilacs that are resistant to it (if there is such a thing...I know for other plants that are susceptible to things like this there have been resistant cultivars bred).

Yes Alice you can virtually eliminate your problem as I have the same thing here in Northern Ohio. On my lilacs & roses I use the lime sulfur dormant spray, sprinkle granular sulfur at the base according to pkg directions, & as a precautionary measure also periodically use a fungicide spray during wet weather after the leaves come out. I'm not sure the spores (black spot--roses) can be eliminated for good (I'm not even sure how they arrived in the 1st place since I didn't always have this problem) but I see no signs of the disease when I take every measure I can to control it. I even use this on my black eyed susans because they get mildew & some kind of black leaf blight otherwise. You do have to get a jump on it, and never ever blink!

Ditto Melody:
Stay on top of it. Most fungus diseases are best 'treated' by prevention.
In addition to spraying this year, now, I would also spray a real dormant spray after they lose their leaves. If there are any overwintering spores that would greatly reduce them.

Remember to follow directions on the label, especially different doses for actively growing plants compared to dormant, leafless plants.

if you spray lime sulfur please protect your eyes.

'Never ever blink'. I like that. I understand that no real harm is happening to the plants with mildew, but, some of us are concerned just because we want our gardens to look nice for various reasons. So we make various efforts to deal with the mildew. One of the problems I have is that lets say I know it is time to put on a biweekly treatment of some kind, but it rains off and on and I can't find a time when it looks like things will be dry or when it will not rain in the next few hours. Should we go ahead anyway and put down whatever we normally spray with? With irregular weather patterns, I do not know any other way to keep up with a regular spraying schedule.

If there is not enough time between spray and rain for the spray to dry then it may be washed off, and therefore ineffective.
If you think there is a chance for the timing to be right, spray.
If you know there is no way the rain will hold off, then do not spray. Don't waste it.
Check the active ingredients and see if the same material is available in a rain-safe product. Some active ingredients are blended with different carriers, and it might be that something will be rain resistant sooner than some other product.