On the morning of Aug 29th I went out to the garden to take a quick walk around and to pick a few things for a lunch we were having with some visiting friends. I had not been in the garden for two days because of other guests who had been staying with us and I was surprised to find my summer squash leaves covered in white spots! I knew it wasn’t good, but I didn’t have a name for it or any idea what to do.
A quick google told me it was powdery mildew. I couldn’t deal with it that day so the next morning I returned to the garden to see that it had spread significantly to the pumpkins and just a bit to the winter squash. Oops.
I knew I needed to act quickly. I harvested the remaining summer squash, ripped out the plants, removed the worst of the pumpkin leaves and proceeded to treat the pumpkin and winter squash with a solution of baking soda, milk, water, and dish soap. I had a helper for some of the applications.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. The pumpkin leaves that had begun to get the mildew still have white on them but it has not spread. A couple of days later we spotted the mildew on the cucumbers, but after culling a few infected leaves and treating the rest we seem to be fine. This week I noticed a couple of leaves on the cantaloupe but I acted quickly and they seem to be no worse for the wear.
It has been very dry lately and several of the nights in the week before the mildew appeared we did some evening watering with a sprinkler. This seems to be the likely culprit and in retrospect was a mistake.
Next time I will keep an eye out for the mildew and try to catch it early and I will treat all of the plants that are susceptible to it right away. I will also purchase a container that I can hook up to the hose for the milk and baking soda application as I think I filled that little spray bottle at least 25 times in individually spraying each leave on the top and the bottom.
This may be the last of our summer squash…
But hopefully we saved the pumpkins and butternut squash that are still forming.
