OK to substitute surfacant for oil & soap in powdery mildew treatment?

Offmymeds

Offmymeds

Well-Known Member
Any chemists out there? I'm preventing powdery mildew and read that adding vegetable oil and castile soap is optional when using a potassium bicarbonate solution. I'm assuming that the purpose of the soap is to spread the solution evenly. I have a surfacant on hand that I purchased for foliar sraying of silica. I thought I would use that instead. Any downsides?

Also, the plants seem to be hardy with the siliica given in the nute solution. Is it worthwhile to foliar spray silica in addition?
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
Foliar silica can help prevent/treat PM, and it acts as a mild surfactant as well. Greencure is just potassium bicarb with surfactant added. I'm not sure about the oil, but it's a good idea to add a few drops of dish soap when you use Potassium bicarb. Even better is yucca extract, because it has direct antifungal properties in addition to being a wetting agent, but use what you have on hand. Good luck! PM sucks.
 
calvin.m16

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
With Powdery Mildew don't only focus on treating the plants, figure out where it's coming from and treat the entire grow space if possible.. Clean clean clean.

I moved a bunch of old christmas boxes and clothes, old hockey gear etc into a storage unit for $20/mo then bleach washed my walls, floors, tools, pots, trays, fans, everything possible. Haven't had PM since and I was fighting it for a solid year. It wouldn't come up then randomly 2-3 weeks into bloom the mid canopy would be infected.

The only completely effective spray with zero residues I've used was BiosafeSystems Zerotol in a Hudson fogger with full PPE on. I literally fogged every fucking square millimeter of my grow rooms top to bottom corner to corner edge to edge SOAKING it all! Ceilings, floors, walls, fans, filters, pots, pans, stakes, netting, EVERYTHING. That shit requires serious protective equipment though it is stabilized highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide (h2o2).

If you just spray your plants your going to have PM come back, you're only protecting the plants from an existing inevitable issue. The real thing that needs to be done is the spores need to be destroyed in the room and then strict practices need to be put in place to keep it from coming back.

Another huge huge tip is buy some shoes/slippers that are strictly used in your grow space, do not wear outside shoes or walk into your grow after being at the hydro shop. You're likely to track in bullshit from other peoples dirty grows.
 
Offmymeds

Offmymeds

Well-Known Member
calvin.m16 said:
With Powdery Mildew don't only focus on treating the plants, figure out where it's coming from and treat the entire grow space if possible.. Clean clean clean.

I moved a bunch of old christmas boxes and clothes, old hockey gear etc into a storage unit for $20/mo then bleach washed my walls, floors, tools, pots, trays, fans, everything possible. Haven't had PM since and I was fighting it for a solid year. It wouldn't come up then randomly 2-3 weeks into bloom the mid canopy would be infected.

The only completely effective spray with zero residues I've used was BiosafeSystems Zerotol in a Hudson fogger with full PPE on. I literally fogged every fucking square millimeter of my grow rooms top to bottom corner to corner edge to edge SOAKING it all! Ceilings, floors, walls, fans, filters, pots, pans, stakes, netting, EVERYTHING. That shit requires serious protective equipment though it is stabilized highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide (h2o2).

If you just spray your plants your going to have PM come back, you're only protecting the plants from an existing inevitable issue. The real thing that needs to be done is the spores need to be destroyed in the room and then strict practices need to be put in place to keep it from coming back.

Another huge huge tip is buy some shoes/slippers that are strictly used in your grow space, do not wear outside shoes or walk into your grow after being at the hydro shop. You're likely to track in bullshit from other peoples dirty grows.
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Thanks for the tips to both of you. Fortunately this is for prevention and everything is inside a tent. Next time I'll prepare the tent better as well. I've had a PM problem before but not in this tent..

:leaf:
 
manfredo

manfredo

Well-Known Member
Offmymeds said:
Thanks for the tips to both of you. Fortunately this is for prevention and everything is inside a tent. Next time I'll prepare the tent better as well. I've had a PM problem before but not in this tent..

:leaf:
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For prevention, the best thing I have found, and it's certified organic, is Regalia....and they also make a few products for, bug prevention...I use their Venerate for bugs. Both excellent products that helped me overcome PM and maintain strong, healthy plants.

marronebio.com

Regalia® | Control Powdery Mildew | Pro Farm Group - Formerly Marrone Bio Innovations

Regalia® Bioungicide delivers improved crop yield and harvest quality by stimulating a plant’s ability to fight diseases. Effectively control Powdery mildew.
marronebio.com marronebio.com
 
ISK

ISK

Well-Known Member
Here is a homemade formula that I have used in the past

Ingredients:

1 gallon of water
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid

Mix the ingredients together and add them to a spray bottle.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
You're fine using oil, potassium bicarbonate, and a surfactant. The point is to keep the pH on the leaves outside of the range where PM can grow. Potassium bicarbonate will do that. Most people already have everything they need in their kitchen. No need to spend money on a commercial product that isn't going to work any better.

I eradicated and prevented PM in my yard using a foliar of sesame oil, potassium silicate, and liquid soap. Works as good as anything you're going to buy in a bottle.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Jjgrow420 said:
Cool but less effective imo
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I've had absolutely no PM on plants in my yard the last couple of years using my home remedies. I don't see how anything could be more effective than that. Plant therapy is mostly soybean oil with some citric acid and soap same thing with Green Cleaner. I have all that in my cupboards and can mix it up for pennies instead of $20 a bottle. Same ingredients and same results.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
I've had absolutely no PM on plants in my yard the last couple of years using my home remedies. I don't see how anything could be more effective than that. Plant therapy is mostly soybean oil with some citric acid and soap same thing with Green Cleaner. I have all that in my cupboards and can mix it up for pennies instead of $20 a bottle. Same ingredients and same results.
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Meh. I've had mediocre results using home remedies. I'd rather spend some money on Athena. It gets rid of pm, not just suppress it. Works for me. I'd rather just get rid of it right away then mess around with stuff that half works etc.
Best things I've found to get rid of pm
Sulphur
Copper
Athena (enzymes)

Other stuff that kinda works but have to keep applying over and over
Potassium bicarbonate, peroxide, high pH water, milk.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Jjgrow420 said:
Meh. I've had mediocre results using home remedies. I'd rather spend some money on Athena. It gets rid of pm, not just suppress it. Works for me. I'd rather just get rid of it right away then mess around with stuff that half works etc.
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My home remedies prevent it. I went from PM on roses, squash, cucumbers, and other plants to not a single instance of it anywhere in my yard using the home remedies I'm using. I guess many of the commercial products are home remedies since they're basically the same ingredients I'm using. I just choose to mix it up myself rather than pay exorbitant markups for the same stuff mixed in a bottle.

Athena is just some essential oils, citric acid and water. For the cost of one quart I could mix up gallons and gallons of the same stuff.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
My home remedies prevent it. I went from PM on roses, squash, cucumbers, and other plants to not a single instance of it anywhere in my yard using the home remedies I'm using. I guess many of the commercial products are home remedies since they're basically the same ingredients I'm using. I just choose to mix it up myself rather than pay exorbitant markups for the same stuff mixed in a bottle.

Athena is just some essential oils, citric acid and water. For the cost of one quart I could mix up gallons and gallons of the same stuff.
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There's actually enzymes in it.
I know you're big on making your own stuff. I do when I can, but I'd rather spend a few bucks than spend my time reverse engineering already made products. A few bucks dont bother me. My free time is more valuable spent with my rod bent on the river ;)
 
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