Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Dietryin 5/1/2010, 11:11 am

I went out this morning to check on the garden and my strawberries
plants are moldy! I did an web search for photos and I believe they have
white powder mold growing on them. Some sites said to spray the plants
with a baking soda mixture.
What do you all think? Any suggestions? Help - Strawberries - White powder mold Icon_cry

Baking
Soda Mixture:

To make: Mix
1 tablespoon baking soda, 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil with one
gallon of water. Shake this up very thoroughly. To this mix add 1/2
teaspoon of pure Castile soap and spray. Be sure to agitate your sprayer
while you work to keep the ingredients from separating. Cover upper and
lower leaf surfaces and
spray some on the soil. Repeat every 5-7
days as needed.

The above recipe calls for
pure Castile soap, which I do not have.....can I just use liq
dish soap?

martha 5/1/2010, 1:26 pm

I saw you on another thread mention this problem. So far the only experience I have had with powdery mildew was on a volunteer pumpkin a few years back - Help - Strawberries - White powder mold Icon_biggrin

- and pumpkins aren't bothered by it, even though it was extremely mildewy! Last year I had it on my squash and zucchini, and they did not survive.

However, last year the zukes and squashes were mainly for their blossoms (my husband stuffs them and tempura batters them - we own a restaurant and they FLY out of the kitchen!) Anyway, the short moral of the long story is that I have not tried any of these remedies personally, but I hope you find one that works!

http://organicgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/stop_mildew_in_an_organic_garden

Dietryin 5/1/2010, 2:31 pm

This morning I went through each plant in the strawberry patch with a fine tooth comb. I washed each leaf, cut and removed any signs of moldy berries. I removed about a pint of berries Help - Strawberries - White powder mold Icon_cry

I then applied the Baking soda spay to each plant. My next step is mulch the strawberries with straw. I read this was good for them to keep the berries off the ground. I'll let you know if it works.

Dietryin 5/3/2010, 11:10 am

Plants seem to be recovering nicely. No white mold anywhere. a few leaves still have the red edges on them, but it's only been two days.

LindainWarwickNY 5/3/2010, 11:30 am

I'm interested, as I have ordered a bunch of strawberry plants. The things we have to prepare for! I'm so glad your plants look like they are doing better.

Dietryin 5/3/2010, 11:46 am

Yes, I used liq dish soap (Dawn).

Sponsored content

Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Re: Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Re: Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Re: Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Did you just use liquid dish soap instead of the Castille?

Re: Help - Strawberries - White powder mold

Re: Help - Strawberries - White powder mold


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.