spotty mildew on cucumber

[ben polit]

Any suggestions for treating spotty mildew on cucumber? Any dos and don'ts to help prevent it? Please email me. Thanks!

[nutNhoney]

Bravo works well to prevent mildew if you are not doing organic gardening. A milk solution applied 3 times works well if your are doing organic gardening. When watering, water early in the day so the leaves have a good chance of drying. I have a bit on the cucumbers and squashes. I removed the worst leaves then used the milk treatment. I used about 250 ml milk to L of water. HTH

[TQ]

"ben polit" wrote in message news:cfdbq8$h9f$ [e-mail]... | Any suggestions for treating spotty mildew on cucumber? | Any dos and don'ts to help prevent it? | Please email me. | Thanks! | | You must use a fungicide to control mildew. There are several commercially available products available or you can make your own by mixing a heaping tablespoon of baking soda with a gallon of water. Whatever solution you decide to use, spray the leaves until they drip. The commercial stuff sould be sprayed every seven days and the baking soda once every three or four days.

[Susan K. Wehe]

I would absolutely stick with the baking soda suggestion as most commercial fungicides can't be sprayed this close to a harvest and can be dangerous to use.

susan, I'd really prefer the mildew to some of the sprays stores sell... always read the label!

TQ wrote:

[TQ]

Any commercial fungicide I have ever used listed 'days to harvest' as zero.

[Rick]

Exactly, Fungicides on *skinned* fruit like cukes and tomatoes rinses off with no residual toxicity. They are wetable powders and not systemics and do not enter the fruit. On other rough skinned produce like green beans, there is usually a 7-4 day waiting period. Still, I am interested in the baking soda idea because it sounds cheap and easy. Is it really effective against mildews?

-Rick

[TQ]

I am using it this year on squash and it seems to be providing good control. Wx has been wet again this summer in VA Zone 7.

Here/s a Google link where you can read all about it. Several scientific studies have been done showing its ability to control the disease.

[Liashi]

Yes, I found that the baking soda treatment was easiest. Couldn't seem to get results with the milk, perhaps I was doing something wrong as I only sprayed once.

At our local graden certan, the man there recommended something called "Wilt-Pruf" It is supposed to be totally organic and safe. Supposedly it gives the leaves a coating and can help prevent powdery mildew. You can also mix pesticides with it so they stay longer. I don't know what anyone else has experienced with it, but I mixed it and neem oil into water and applied it to my pumpkin plant. The mildew never came back where mixture was sprayed. Unfortunately the plant was doomed as it had already been infested with vine borers, but that's another story. I plan to try just useing wilt-pruf alone next year.