Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenbaas
Thank Bill I've tried it before and will continue using it but it truly nailed the plants a bit. That could be because of a high concentration or just having very bad mildew. Even my seedlings seem to be affected so I was looking for a "milder" solution. I guess I can keep on dropping the concentration of the bleach solution I'm using and try and see where a good median is.
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If you have the concentration right it will not damage healthy growth at all. I use it on even small tomato seedlings that are only a few inches tall if they are showing signs of damping off with no problem except on the ones that are already affected by the damping off.
A few years ago I got tired of mildew destroying my squash just as it was starting to make despite using fungicides and keeping them mulched. I was spraying some tomatoes with gray mold problems and just went ahead and sprayed the squash. You are right it did give the badly infected plants quite a hit but it did nothing to the healthier plants with little mildew on them except for spotting a few of the leaves where the mildew was. Since then I have been much more proactive with my squash plants and try to give them a spray with the bleach solution about once a week. I start doing this as soon as the leaves get big or I see just the slightest bit of mildew on the underside of a leaf. This seems to get the mildew before it can get a good foothold on the plants and without the damage to the leaves. By doing this regularly and keeping some Sevin dusted on the base of the stems for squash vine borers I can continuously get squash til I get sick of eating them. Once that happens I quit the regimen and within a few weeks they are covered with mildew or the vine borers have taken over. I use the same technique for cucumbers also; but they are not quite as susceptible to the mildews since I keep them running on a tall fence.
Bill