Take note gardeners...

Blown in on storms this plant diesese can wipe out cucumbers, squash, and melons quite quickly.

If you look at this map we are surrounded... That basically means it is here.

So if you see this on any of your plants it is time to take action.

Here are a couple things you can try,

Some people swear by milk, dilute skim milk 1 to 1 with water and spray it on your plants once a week.

If you want to do a little more work you can use 1/4 ounce of baking soda to a gallon of water mixed with an insecticidal oil. You want to be sure you have less then 2% baking soda by weight. If you do not have insecticidal oil (like NEEM oil) you can try this recipie... 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

Some natural food stores sell food grade hydrogen peroxide but people will also use just regular. Spray with a 1.5% solution. Since most of the stuff at the drug store is 3% that is a 1:1 mix. If you use a stronger solution add more water accordingly.

So, you may ask yourself what do we do? Well, we have used both hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in the past BUT as a preventive, before we see any signs of problems. Once we see a problem (especially downy mildew which is fast and horrible!) we switch to a commercial product (organic of course.)

For a home gardener I would suggest a product called Serenade Garden, we use it's big brother Serenade Max Powder.

Good luck, and here is hoping this years downy mildew is not as bad as last!