This is the plantain I had treated, which is located at the stick. I can’t detect mildew. You can see the pores on the leaf. That’s where the haustorium of the mildew penetrates and sucks out the life. These plants are about half a meter apart. I wonder if the mildew can reclaim it’s position by the end of the year?
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There’s another thing I want to try. I want to try giving the plant I cured of mildew, the mildew again. How long does it take to infest? lol! Inquiring minds want to know.
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Tonight I’m going to go hunting after dark. With the UV flashlight! I’ll go and crawl around looking for mildew colonies. I want to see if there is some colony lurking up there on the leaves in the sky. Do those old leaves harbor infection? Is the colony going to regenerate from there?
what I need to figure out is this: Do you need to actually completely sterilize the whole colony to achieve the effect?
Or Does the treatment leave any residual effect in mildew resistance lending credence to jacking the plant?
Every answer, poses 2 more questions 
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Unknown mycelium detected! I don’t see any reproductive organs, so I can’t identify it.
I did the mildew assassin thing! Creeping around with the UV light! Plants glow red for the most part, except if they have mildew there’s an eerie glow where the colony is. It’s not a super bright glow like phosphor, but it’s a white glow against what should be red. Clearly defined area where the mildew lives. I spent time examining the wild aster and it’s almost like the mildew starts on the stalk and travels up the leaves.
Even on a pretty dense infestation, the mildew isn’t total. You can find total infestations though on the red clover. There isn’t a micron of free space! OK that’s hyperbole, but it is encased in growth. Interestingly enough there was less mildew further down on the clover plant. The leaves near the ground were almost clean… almost
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I forgot about the bruce bugbee thing! All of the elevated humidity trials ended in botrytis and peniciullium infestations. Never a powdery mildew infestation!
Same results in the legal producer fields outdoors.
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Ahhhhhh I have found some interesting things out. OK! So the sulfur does have to touch the mildew for it to kill. It’s not magically floating around and eliminating the mildew, or becoming systemic. You have to directly spray the sulfur on the mildew colony to kill it off. Makes it a little harder to kill off outside. Also tells my brain that adding it to the soil won’t work. I’m still gonna try it though. 'Cause remember, observation is key!
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Ahh here we go! The colony is starting to grow back on the wild aster! Looks like parts of the network are dead though. Real dark strands! I didn’t spray the area back there, and it’s the perennial version. I just dosed the plant itself! I wanted to see what would happen. Definitely answers the question again: Does it enter the plant and prevent the mildew? No. I would say this colony is going to take over.
Mind you it does seem like when the mildew touches sulfur crystals it doesn’t grow very well. Probably kills parts of the network.
The large ground patch I sprayed outside is still doing OK, but slowly the mildew is starting to creep. I thought it would regain control faster than that. BUT! The parasite IS entering replication mode on the plants in question. I wonder if the spread really speeds up afterwards. Would make sense, since in most cases it just seems to rip through suddenly in the end of summer when you have it outdoors.
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These insights will help with different powdery mildew colonies outdoors and definitely explain a few things like if you miss some of the colony on the ground it can come back. Also, why it seems to take longer to come back if you miss some of it.
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Lately I’ve been noticing the black walnut ,roses and comfrey are getting pm deff worse then last year how would you exterminate a very large area
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Lots of sulfur and a really good sprayer! I’m not sure you can get rid of the tree fungus because of the size, but hey! Sulfur is cheap as hell.
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They make hose sprayers that are pretty cheap. You can mix a strong mixture and use pressure to get it to the top of any tree.
Like this one: Garden Hose Nozzle Sprayer With Thumb Control On-Off Valve, 8 Patterns Hose Sprayer High Pressure, Metal Water Hose Nozzle With Soap Dispenser, Car Wash Foam Gun https://a.co/d/dICR5xv
Edit: You can’t mix it too thickly and kill the plant. So personally, I would fill this sprayer about 1/3 with sulfur powder and the rest with water. If you spray and the plant dries and there’s no white film noticeable, mix it thicker.
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parents owned a hobby farm 25 acers workable most in pasture we had a bunch of fruit trees they/we used to use a barn sprayer a fogger they were called they would mix 3 diff chemicals in it at the same time sulfur was one something for scab and rust and another drawing a blank on what it was you can find them cheap at farm auctions best part is you are a long way from the spray 25 50 100 feet depending on your cord step back and plug it in
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I love those suggestions! I should start thinking about industrial-style eradication!!!
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Oh hey! If you want to test the 6 meter spread, it’s easy. Put one infested plant 6 meters away from a clean plant. You have to make sure that the mildew strain in question isn’t already rampant though, lol!
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lol! I was checking on the test patches for mildew and I was like WTF how did that shit finally cross the 6 meter gap? Oh… it’s not mildew. Fucking coulda fooled me!
These seedlings came from the clean room to the outdoor mildew test patch. Never coming within infestation distance from the locus of infection. Woulda been really shocked to see it was mildew.
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wow! OK so I did some nuts shit. When I was driving down the road I noticed a replicating colony at the neighbors. So today I just wandered down there to have a chat. Case study time!!! I know her well and we are friends. I’ll call her Kris. lol! Made up name time.
me: “I want to talk about your powdery mildew infestation”
Kris: “that’s what that is?”
me: “when did it start?”
Kris: “Two years ago when I bought plants from the nursery, and planted them in the greenhouse and out here in front of the window”.
me: “Is the mildew growing in the greenhouse now?”
Kris: “No, but I have some cucumbers from the same nursery growing in there”
me: “May I take a look?”
Kris: “Hell yah!” We trot over to the greenhouse and push through tomato plants.
me: “I detect infestation, right there” point at a leaf
Kris: “I thought those leaves were just getting old!”
me: “May I get a sample”?
Kris: “Go ahead”! I gather the samples into baggies for transport. Seal them up.
me: “Thanks! I’ll email you the results!”
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Then, I go to the neighbors. I’ll call them Pat and Jim. They come to the fence
PJ: “Matty, what’s up?”
me: “Hey I got a couple of questions about your garden”
PJ: “Sure, go ahead!”
me: “You got any powdery mildew?”
PJ: “Nope! Haven’t had any since we moved here and started gardening”
me: “Where do your seedlings come from?”
PJ: “Pat sprouts them inside and then plants them outdoors”
me: “Perfect, keep that up. You’ll stay mildew free. I was just investigating the neighbors infestation, Kris”
PJ: “Oh shit, I should put up a screen to keep it away from my garden!”
me: “I’ll tell you a secret, it’s never going to spread to your garden, it’s 30 meters away. Shit can’t make it over 6 meters.”
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I know some people think that I’m totally wrong about the spread of the parasite. The problem is…
Reality. BAM!!!
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Wow! That’s the colony, for sure! Same dimensions and growth habit. Squash plant, and it was so infested it almost looked brown with dead debris from the colony.
