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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 13, 2010 13:35:36 GMT -5
Last year I planted some lemon cucumbers.
When the vines were about 6" tall they succumbed to a powdery mildew infestation.... Nothing else in the garden was bothered by it.
So I figure this year I will plant gobs of lemon cucumber seeds just to see if any of them survive.
Perhaps I've got a great garden for developing powdery mildew resistant crops.
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Post by ottawagardener on Apr 13, 2010 16:49:42 GMT -5
Sounds like a great idea. The couple years I've grown them, they were poor produces and developed wilt so I stopped trying. So mildew is your friend then eh? Any varieties of classically attacked plants that outperform their counterparts?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 13, 2010 17:07:02 GMT -5
So mildew is your friend then eh? Any varieties of classically attacked plants that outperform their counterparts? It was the first time in my life that I ever saw an entire crop consumed by disease... It just looked like fungus spores sitting there in the shape of a plant. Sometimes in late summer, on a few cucumbers or squash leaves, on a few plants, I see a bit of mildew, but by then they have already produced a full crop, and I figure the plant was dying anyway so I never paid much attention. I'll make more detailed observations this summer. Regards, Joseph
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Post by raymondo on Apr 13, 2010 17:46:41 GMT -5
Living in a summer rainfall area, powdery mildew is a common sight on cukes and their relatives. As you say though, they still mostly produce a crop before succumbing so it's not worth bothering about. It would be nice, though, to find varieties that are able to shrug it off. It will be interesting to see what happens with your large planting of lemon cukes. This is an area where some of the PM tolerant hybrids come into their own. If the hybrid is a tasty one, it might be worth trying to stabilise it, or crossing it into a preferred variety.
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Post by canadamike on Apr 13, 2010 21:30:42 GMT -5
The funny thing is that powdery mildew is about the last disease to care about in my garden...preventive sprays of milk have worked, almost all the time, but it was preventive...and the sulfur spray has ALWAYS taken care of it.
It might be a regional thing, or I might no have lived a full life yet, but to me powdery mildiew is a thing of the past..and the present..
Just the summer before last summer, our phloxes got it( I use them as a PM indicator, they get it a few days before the lilacs, which get it a few days before the cucurbits), the peonies are somewhat in between , it depends, but these are the 3 best PM indicators I know.
They get it before it hits the edible garden, here at least. Cucurbits are next in line.
Last year, it was the peonies, we had moved and had no phloxes.
In both cases, I simply took sulfur and sprayed it onto the plants and voilà, half an hour later they were green and shining. I also have used milk many many years ago as a preventive, and it worked here.
I am gonna grow 200 different melons and a load of cucurbits this summer, and I sure aim for disease resistance. But resistance to PM is very low on my priorities if I compare it to downy mildew or cucumber mosaic virus. Not that it is not important, but I'd rather have resistance to a disease that I cannot control than one I can obliterate in seconds.
When your peonies or phloxes or lilacs ( or else in different parts of the continent, but I mean the first ones to get it) get powdery mildew, sulfur spray them and come back to see them shining like bright stars in the night half an hour later...then try the milk thing on your cucurbits or your other susceptible crops that did not get it yet and if it is too late spay sulfur,,,problem solved.
Apparently the ''one teaspoon ( no more) of Cow Brand/ Arm and Hammer ( sodium bicarbonate) in a quart works well too. I used it eons ago as a preventive, but then I am stuck with the reality that when something does not happen... you dunno. »I sure did get nothing when I did it. I had no non patches fields to prove anything in a ''differential'' way. But I SURE got nothing bad...
Mind you, it is only in the last years that disease resistance became really important to me, before, I had no diseases. I still do not have much...but I am getting more and more rain every July month, and more cold too, so I dunno anymore.
Sulfur, sulfur, sulfur
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Post by canadamike on Apr 13, 2010 21:51:15 GMT -5
The funny thing is that powdery mildew is about the last disease to care about in my garden...preventive sprays of milk have worked, almost all the time, but it was preventive...and the sulfur spray has ALWAYS taken care of it. It might be a regional thing, or I might not have lived a full life yet, but to me powdery mildiew is a thing of the past..and the present.. Just the summer before last summer, our phloxes got it( I use them as a PM indicator, they get it a few days before the lilacs, which get it a few days before the cucurbits, the peonies are somewhat in between) , it depends, but these are the 3 best PM indicators I know of. Pre-veggie garden I mean. They get it before it hits the edible garden, here at least. Cucurbits are next in line. Last year, it was the peonies, we had moved and had no phloxes nor lilacs... always have phloxes in the garden to control PM safely. It might be a new thing to you, I never read about it in garden books but there is 24 years of gardening life behing this piece of advice...get phloxes, get phloxes get phloxes......... Is Martin here...Hey...Paquebot, I am sure you can come in and add something here... In both cases, I simply took sulfur and sprayed it onto the plants and voilà, half an hour later they were green and shining. I also have used milk many many years ago as a preventive, and it worked here. I have such a huge garden now, I have no more incentive for prevention when the cure is sooooo freakishly easy. Sorry for my lazyness. I have only one frail back and one good shoulder, so I save energy now I am gonna grow 200 different melons and a load of cucurbits this summer, and I sure aim for disease resistance. But resistance to PM is very low on my priorities if I compare it to downy mildew or cucumber mosaic virus. Not that it is not important, but I'd rather have resistance to a disease that I cannot control than one I can obliterate in seconds. When your peonies or phloxes or lilacs ( or else in different parts of the continent, but I mean the first ones to get it) get powdery mildew, sulfur spray them and come back to see them shining like bright stars in the night half an hour later...then try the milk thing on your cucurbits or your other susceptible crops that did not get it yet and if it is too late spay sulfur,,,problem solved. Apparently the ''one teaspoon ( no more) of Cow Brand/ Arm and Hammer ( sodium bicarbonate) in a quart works well too. I used it eons ago as a preventive, but then I am stuck with the reality that when something does not happen... you dunno. »I sure did get nothing when I did it. I had no ''non treated patches'' to prove anything in a ''differential'' way. But I SURE got nothing bad... Mind you, it is only in the last years that disease resistance became really important to me, before, I had no diseases. I still do not have as much as some...but it looks like it is changing. I am getting more and more rain every July month, and more cold too, so I dunno anymore. Since global warming has arrived we are freezing our balls in summer here ;D ;D Sulfur, sulfur, sulfur
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Post by grunt on Apr 14, 2010 0:19:02 GMT -5
I haven't used anything more than milk or baking soda the few times I've seen any sign of PM.
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Post by ottawagardener on Apr 14, 2010 7:30:59 GMT -5
I don't normally have a bit problem on veggies as they hit the curcurbits late in the season in my garden. As for perennials, I just cut them back after flowering (around the time they seem to get hit). I haven't ever had serious PM on my lilac though I've seen some neighbour's hedges disfigured by it.
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Post by Alan on Apr 24, 2010 16:19:21 GMT -5
I try not to do anything about PM unless I just have too, I figure if one of the crops gets infested and I get a few plants that not just live but thrive through the infestation I've done a good job of screening for the tolerance trait. Ken Ettlinger over at LI seed advocates screening by mixing up PM spores and water and spraying on young plants to find tolerances, would definitely save time, effort, and compost in the selection process if one would do so while they were still seedlings.
With cucumbers I have noticed that white skin varieties (and yellow like Lemon) are more sensitive than most other varieties for some other reason, possibly simply because they have never been as commercially viable as green cucumbers to the canning industry.
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