Need some powdery mildew advice

J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
Nobody is telling you to kill your plants. Citric acid is a good remedy for bugs and PM. Used in the right amounts. Of course using too high of a concentration is going to hurt your plants just like anything else. 2.5 tsp per quart of citric acid will not harm your plants nor will a commercial product like NukeEm or Dr Zymes both of which are citric acid based as long as you use as directed.
Click to expand...
I literally stopped my work in the garden just so I could make this post. I've been battling a got-dam spider mite problem for 2 cycles now. I'm wore down. I've spent upwards of $400 between organic pestcides and nasty toxic ones. Out of spinosad, neem oil, horticultural soap, and habanerro extract spinosad was the only one worth a shit. The others just wasted my time and damaged my plants.

I remembered you recommending citric acid at 2-3tsp/quart that decimates mites and there's no ability for them to build resistance to it's effects. I only used it once at the full dose of 3tsp/quart. It drooped the plants for a day then they all bounced back. I freaked out about the leaf droop after my terrible experiences with neem and horticultural oil so I shelved it from my IPM until 2 days ago. This time I mixed up 2tsp/quart of citric with a yucca wetting agent and hosed down 2 plants. The next day I saw zero damage of any kind. Beautiful. Fragile new growth wasn't harmed at all and I observed zero leaf droop.

Today as I was inspecting leaves from random plants in my flower room and veg nurseries for mite activity I noticed the only plants with nearly zero mite eggs were the 2 plants I sprayed with citric acid. I couldn't believe it considering all the nasty expensive shit I've used over the past month to no avail. Citric acid has been the most effective miticide I've used yet. I've got forbid, avid, and tetrasan on hand. Citric acid beat them all. Thanks for the great advice and for saving my garden. Before I saw the results of the citric on my 2 test plants I was literally sitting on my stool in front of a microscope and leaves stressing out from the number of mite eggs I was seeing even after spraying forbid. Then after seeing the amazing results of the citric acid sprayed plants I'm stressing no more. This shit right here is why I love RIU!

Here's a pic of the strawberry cough I sprayed with the citric acid. She's healthy as a horse. Spraying the rest of the garden today. Flower and veg.

20211025_135536.jpg20211025_135532.jpg20211025_135536.jpg
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
I literally stopped my work in the garden just so I could make this post. I've been battling a got-dam spider mite problem for 2 cycles now. I'm wore down. I've spent upwards of $400 between organic pestcides and nasty toxic ones. Out of spinosad, neem oil, horticultural soap, and habanerro extract spinosad was the only one worth a shit. The others just wasted my time and damaged my plants.

I remembered you recommending citric acid at 2-3tsp/quart that decimates mites and there's no ability for them to build resistance to it's effects. I only used it once at the full dose of 3tsp/quart. It drooped the plants for a day then they all bounced back. I freaked out about the leaf droop after my terrible experiences with neem and horticultural oil so I shelved it from my IPM until 2 days ago. This time I mixed up 2tsp/quart of citric with a yucca wetting agent and hosed down 2 plants. The next day I saw zero damage of any kind. Beautiful. Fragile new growth wasn't harmed at all and I observed zero leaf droop.

Today as I was inspecting leaves from random plants in my flower room and veg nurseries for mite activity I noticed the only plants with nearly zero mite eggs were the 2 plants I sprayed with citric acid. I couldn't believe it considering all the nasty expensive shit I've used over the past month to no avail. Citric acid has been the most effective miticide I've used yet. I've got forbid, avid, and tetrasan on hand. Citric acid beat them all. Thanks for the great advice and for saving my garden. Before I saw the results of the citric on my 2 test plants I was literally sitting on my stool in front of a microscope and leaves stressing out from the number of mite eggs I was seeing even after spraying forbid. Then after seeing the amazing results of the citric acid sprayed plants I'm stressing no more. This shit right here is why I love RIU!

Here's a pic of the strawberry cough I sprayed with the citric acid. She's healthy as a horse. Spraying the rest of the garden today. Flower and veg.

View attachment 5016584View attachment 5016585View attachment 5016586
Click to expand...
The active ingredient in several popular commercial products is citric acid. No need to pay through the nose when you can mix up just as effective of a solution for pennies.

I think many people are paying too much for products that don't work any better than inexpensive solutions. You don't need to pay $50 a liter for some product to get rid of mites. Some bugs have already developed a resistance to many of the specialized commercial products.

I have heard from others that 3 tsp per quart of citric acid cause some leaf spotting. I've always used it on larger plants with older leafs so that strength might be too strong for fresh leaves and new growth. If 2 tsp did the job then I'd stay with that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top