Vegetable Gardening

[OakLeaf]

I've had excellent results with Mildew Cure. It pretty much eradicates powdery mildew on all my cucurbits. It's OMRI listed, but the downside is that it's based on cottonseed oil (30%) which is not organically grown, therefore grown with extremely toxic chemicals; it also contains garlic oil (23%) and clove oil (30%) for which the oil base isn't listed on the label, but Johnny's catalog suggests it's corn oil, which again, is not organic and therefore extremely likely to be GMO.

The Mildew Cure label lists sodium bicarbonate as an inert ingredient; but after I bought it three years ago (it works really well and goes a long way!) I've seen lots of recipes for mildew control using baking soda and hort oil only, and studies confirming that it's effective. Typical recipes call for 3-4 tsp of baking soda and 2-2.5 tbsp of horticultural oil (any lightweight vegetable oil - corn or safflower e.g.) in a gallon of water. Sometimes they'll add 1/2 tsp of dish soap as a surfactant as well.

[smilingcat]

I've had excellent results with Mildew Cure. It pretty much eradicates powdery mildew on all my cucurbits. It's OMRI listed, but the downside is that it's based on cottonseed oil (30%) which is not organically grown, therefore grown with extremely toxic chemicals; it also contains garlic oil (23%) and clove oil (30%) for which the oil base isn't listed on the label, but Johnny's catalog suggests it's corn oil, which again, is not organic and therefore extremely likely to be GMO.

The Mildew Cure label lists sodium bicarbonate as an inert ingredient; but after I bought it three years ago (it works really well and goes a long way!) I've seen lots of recipes for mildew control using baking soda and hort oil only, and studies confirming that it's effective. Typical recipes call for 3-4 tsp of baking soda and 2-2.5 tbsp of horticultural oil (any lightweight vegetable oil - corn or safflower e.g.) in a gallon of water. Sometimes they'll add 1/2 tsp of dish soap as a surfactant as well.

I've read similar concotion at an organic gardening web site. My concern is that where I live so close to the ocean and arid climate, any addition of sodium to the soil is not a good thing. sodium bicarb isn't all that different than potassium bicarb so I'm thinking maybe its the Na+ or K+ that's killing the mildew.

What's really interesting is that mildew is only affecting just small portion of my garden while the rest are healthy green. Sooo how can a strain of plant is free on one area and overwhelmed in another area.

Anyway, I'm going to be testing for NPK in the bad area and also in the good part. Maybe this will tell.

Oh potassium carb can be had at a local ceramic store under potash. Sodium carb is listed as soda ash. The difference between carb and bicarb in this application is their solubility I think. It's not the carb or bicarb that is killing the mildew.

anyway if you know more I would love to hear from you. I just the problem to be resolved.

smilingcat

[GLC1968]

Massive plum picking going on here. Big red ones - delicious eating...but there are just too many to eat before they go bad.

Does anyone have an tried and true plum recipes they'd like to share? I did a search and picked out some good ones..but I figured I'd ask here, too.

Our tree is heavily laden and was *almost* ripe when we just got our first rain of the summer. Now - the fruit is splitting so it must be picked and used STAT.

[shootingstar]

Massive plum picking going on here. Big red ones - delicious eating...but there are just too many to eat before they go bad.

Does anyone have an tried and true plum recipes they'd like to share? I did a search and picked out some good ones..but I figured I'd ask here, too.

Our tree is heavily laden and was *almost* ripe when we just got our first rain of the summer. Now - the fruit is splitting so it must be picked and used STAT.

Sounds so gooood!! Cooking Light magazine has a good website which includes some plum recipes. You could do what I did the other day:

Plum focaccia/pizza- I make the dough from scratch. But since you're rooting around in your garden bounty these days , do this:
See my photo of a focaccia/pizza with yellow plums and blueberries:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ight=blueberry
1) Use premade pizze dough.
2) Stretch /roll it out on a generously oiled large cookie sheet(s).
3) Embed large slices of pitted plums all over surface of dough. Use half plum sizes. Your plums are so ripe they are juicy.
4) Sprinkle with: grated ginger root, cinnamon, cardamon/ground cloves and crushed aniseed.
5) Drizzle honey all over as a sweetener.
6) You can embed fresh blueberries at the same time, you embed plum slices into dough.
7) Bake in 450 degree F oven or higher. Takes only maximum of approx. 20 min. to bake or less.
8) Eat while still warm/nearly hot.

Slices also keep in airtight container for 2-3 days. Or you can freeze for a month or so.

______________________________________________

Bring a bowl of fresh ripe plums to workplace. You will be surprised how much people appreciate this over donuts! Especially when people are more health conscious. In my last workplace, another woman in our dept. had a plum tree. She brought in over 30 yellow ripe plums. They were snatched up by employees from the common kitchen.

[GLC1968]

Thanks, shootingstar - that's a great idea! I can even use the 5-minute bread dough for the dough without losing too much 'harvest' time! Excellent!

Yeah, I'm definitely going to bring some in to work. I just don't feel right bringing in the split ones, so there will be lots that I'll need to use up myself at home.

My dinning room table is covered with zucchini, tomatoes, cukes and now plums and soon to be apples! If the fridge weren't filled with eggs and goats milk, I'd not feel so pressured to use everything up immediately!

Bounty's a b1tch, ain't it?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

GLC- can you cut the plums into big chunks and just load them into zipper freezer bags and freeze them? Then you could use them in all kinds of ways later on.

[GLC1968]

GLC- can you cut the plums into big chunks and just load them into zipper freezer bags and freeze them? Then you could use them in all kinds of ways later on.

Yep, this is on the agenda for tonight. We will be cutting up plums and tomatoes to freeze for when I have more time for processing, oh and shredding more baseball bat zucchini too.

And I'm a bit scared as the blackberries are ripening already and it looks like another bumper crop. Eeeek!