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Does insect-friendly fungicide exist?

dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
in Problem solving
Hi, I have powdery mildew on scabiosa and lonicera, and rusty roses. I there a way to treat it that is ok for wildlife?
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Yes.  Here in France they use a purin made from soaking horse tail/mare's tail weed in water for 2 weeks.  Strain, dilute and spray.  harmless to insects and cures as well as prevents mildew, peach leaf curl, black spot on roses, tomato blight....

    1kilo fresh horsetail, bashed and bruised
    9 litres of water

    Combine the two in a plastic bucket - not metal - and leave for 2 weeks.  Stir occasionally.  It's ready when the water has gone black.  It will smell so you may want a lid.

    Strain the resulting liquid, put the goo on the compost heap and dilute the rest 1 part to 9 parts water and spray.  Not harmful to plants or insects.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Sounds good Obe,    My roses are an eyesore! 
    Now to find an unfortunate person with horsetail. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I'd have been OK in Belgium @Lyn but don't have any here but I can buy it in GCs and garden shops.  Haven't needed it yet but some of my roses are looking a bit spotty and there's already been mildew on some of the cucumber leaves so I'll get some as soon as I can go shopping.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Hello France & Belgium! For anyone reading in Dorset, horsetail is taking over along the SW coast path from Osmington Mills. :( I feel sorry for all wild nature and lovely gardens there.
    Very interesting solution (excuse the pun) I'll see if I can reproduce it. Thanks
  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Bonjour ! I managed to get a concentrate and followed the instructions. It says on the package that it's an insecticide and fungicide. Both are true, the ant that were farming aphids on my sunflower are very upset! I'm hesitant to use it on plants that the bees are using (only used it on a leaf of two of the sunflower). 
    I found the diluted milk solution very effective! But I haven't tested it on animals (aphids)... Yet!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Please consider carefully the need to use fungicides … their use  is causing serious health problems  … 

    https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1030843/fungicide-worries/p1

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Thanks @Dovefromabove, great info. I could feel my lungs getting worried as I read it! Lots of people are making sense in that thread... some not so much. I will gladly cease and desist. 
    I hate to anything that ends in -cide. I was in the GC today and sped up when going through the “killer killer killer” section.
    I don’t mind cutting back the scabiosa, however it would hurt to lose the Lonicera. What’s your take on the milk:water 10:90 mix? 
    While I'm at it, must these things really come in sprays? If people insist on using life-i-cides, how about not spraying it everywhere and using a brush or something more targeted
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2022
    If my honeysuckles start to get a bit of Powdery Mildew I like to give them a thoroughly good soaking at the roots, and continue to ensure that the roots are kept damp. They've always recovered with this treatment.  I've never ever used fungicide on my plants.

    This year is very tough and, although we don't have a hosepipe ban here yet I'm trying not to use the hose on non-food plants.  We're keeping a bucket in the kitchen and filling it with rinsing water and non-greasy grey water and using it for flowering plants ... just to keep them alive ... even if they don't look particuarly healthy at the moment I expect most of them to survive. 

    I would just keep your honeysuckle's roots as damp as you can.  It may look horrid this year, but that way it'll survive and come back fresh next year.  

      

    My Lon. Graham Thomas is having its second flush of blooms … there’s some powdery mildew on the leaves but not too bad. I’ll give it a few buckets of water when I can. It may lose some leaves but I think it’ll survive. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Yeah, there's no mystery as to why it's struggling :) I've been using grey water for at least a month to supplement the garden tap. We're very stingy with our water consumption and have had a couple of plant casualties. Thanks again, I'll keeping chucking the kitchen sink at it and hope it recovers. 
    It will be very interesting to see what planting combinations people come up with for the new and ever changing climate. Currently, I really don't like the thought of a cactus garden, but I will have to adapt!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Sorry … I posted the photo after you’d replied. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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