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Mildew on my scabious
linzijayne74
Posts: 198
Hello there, me again! I planted some bee-friendly scabious in my steel trough earlier this year. It's been doing well but I've noticed there's now a white, powdery residue on the stems and leaves and any new flowers are really droopy, quite stringy and weak, which I'm very sad about. My husband's Aunty said it was mildew. Does this sound correct? What causes it - is it perhaps from too little or too much water? Is there anything I can do to resurrect the problem or will I have to remove it entirely before it spreads to other healthy flowers? Sorry for all the questions! Many thanks in advance. 
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It's been a problem this year, with often dry conditions at the roots and humid conditions upstairs. As said, water well, but ensure you use a free-draining compost. Scabious like it well-drained. Container growing is difficult for so many plants which require freer drainage than pots and troughs can provide and yet we keep making them do it! I experimented this year with native mixes and found that a mix of chalky soil lovers (wild carrot, wild basil, trefoils, scabious) grew very well together in one large clay pot, well watered but all the plants fighting for the water which kept the soil from ever being soggy.
H-C
Hello again; thanks so much for all your advice
. I should point out that I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to gardening so even the basics are new to me! I did indeed use multi-purpose compost when I planted the flowers! My stepdad drilled some holes in the bottom of the trough and I also added a layer of broken crockery to aid drainage; when the flowers are watered I can see the water draining away out of the bottom very well, so hopefully this is sufficient?!
I have also noticed that there IS some green leaves around the bottom of the scabious, so hopefully this is new, stronger growth emerging.
Thanks again so much for taking the effort to reply, it's appreciated by a novice like me!
Thanks Verdun; that's interesting to know. It's difficult to know how much drainage to incorporate, how different drainage is needed for different plants, etc, especially for a novice like me! There are no borders in our garden, so a couple of pots and trough is the only way to go, sadly. I've cut it back as suggested; there wasn't much worth keeping unfortunately, so I'm sure cutting it back will do the trick. Thanks so much for your feedback.
When I grew scabious plants from seed they all got covered in a powdery mildew whilst they were small plants. They nearly all died. I covered the leaves and stems in bicarbonate of soda powder mixed with water, which got rid of it within days.
Last edited: 28 July 2016 20:22:36