Topic: Milk against mildew on cucurbitaceae (melon, courgette, pumpkin, etc.)

[ina]

Looking around today on the internet and reading about growing melons, I found an interesting article about combating mildew on plants in the cucumber family.

Spray once a week with a milk/water solution 1:9 (10% milk, if used in a higher concentration there is a chance of fungus).
Skim milk is just as effective as fresh milk.
Tests have shown that it works as well as chemical mildew spray.
It is thought that it works because of the amino acids and salts (mildew is sensitive to salts).
It will not only protect the plants from mildew but also feeds the leaves and improves the immune system of the plant.

Since mildew doesn't usually become a problem till august, I think I'll wait until then to try it. Maybe I'll even wait until I see the first signs.
So, what do you think of this?

[busy_lizzie]

I read about this too Ina.  The article I read said that Farmers in the U.S. sprayed a milk solution on their grain crops to combat mildew.  It would be an interesting test to try wouldn't it? :) busy_lizzie

[allotment_chick]

Hey guys - it really works!  It saw off mildew on my courgettes within a week last year!  Used it for mildew on sweet peas towards the end of the hot summer too.  Cheap and effective - my kind of result!
AC x

[Shuffles]

I used it last year on my courgettes (all outside) and it worked well. I'm not sure if its 'correct' but I found it more effective to use a concentrated blast of it to clear off as much mildew as I could from the leaves rather than just a fine spray to coat them.

Not sure if thats textbook advice, but they're big fat leaves, they seemed to take the blast of milky water ok and though it didn't stop it completely it slowed the mildew enough to get a good crop from the plants...

Hope this helps.

[philcooper]

The HDRA did some work on this a couple of years ago and confirmed that it worked on a wide variety of crops

[aquilegia]

I feel an experiment coming on this summer. My courgettes were covered in the stuff last year.

Oh manure, I've forgotten to include courgettes on my plan as mum always starts them for me. Where am I going to grow them? I think extending the veg patch might have to happen this year instead of next. (sorry for the ramble - no work to do at the moment!)

[philcooper]

Have you tried in amongst sweet corn?

The good leaf cover stops weed growth and the thin tops of the corn allows  in.

I used cucumber and marrows last year very succesfully

2 crops for the price (well space) of one!

[aquilegia]

You're full of great ideas for me today Phil! I was planning on growing my squashes under the sweetcorn. Would there be room for both (probably three courgette, up to five squash - depending on how many germinate and how many I give away). Or could I do my squashes under the tomatoes?

I need a bigger garden!

[philcooper]

Cordon tomatoes might be ok if you space then apart more than usual but bush tomatoes will probably block out too much light.

The great thing about the sweet corn is that it is so splindly that lots of crops, especially those that like a small amount of shade such as lettuce, cohabit (in the nicest possible way) very well.