How to Fight Mildew with Something Already in Your Fridge

There's a good chance you're seeing whitish powder on your leaves right now! The weather is currently favorable for the development of powdery mildew, a fungus that can seriously damage your plants (and harvest). Fortunately, you probably have something in your refrigerator that's easy to combat.

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Powdery mildew consists of several types of fungi that together pose a problem for your plant or group of plants. Affected plants are recognizable by discolored leaves with a white powdery coating on the tops. Young leaves affected by powdery mildew can also become deformed. Powdery mildew can also (temporarily) stunt your plant's growth.

Besides powdery mildew, there's also downy mildew. This is another type of fungus that forms on the underside of leaves. You'll then see brown and white spots. Downy mildew can occur on all sorts of plants, such as grapes and apple trees.

This trick works well on powdery mildew and is very easy to apply. We'll show you how.

Making the milk mixture is very easy, but make sure you get the ratio more or less right. Mix about 40% milk and 60% water and add this mixture to a spray bottle.

Spray the mixture on the affected plant parts, preferably in the (early) morning or evening. Spraying or watering on (warm) sunny days can burn the leaves.

How often you need to repeat the spraying depends on how quickly the powdery mildew disappears. Apply it daily until the white powder is gone.

It's also a good idea to remove heavily infested leaves beforehand and put them in the green waste bin. Don't throw them in the compost bin to prevent the fungus from spreading from there.

Powdery mildew spores are always airborne and spread to plants by water (droplets), wind, and animals. The fungus gains a foothold during warm and humid weather. This is when the fungus develops the power to invade and feed on plant cells. This fungus is highly contagious and easily spreads to susceptible plants, so take action to prevent and treat it as soon as you spot it in your garden.