My rosemary has a white mildew? or mold growing on its leaves. It looks
rather like it's been dusted with talcum powder except the stuff doesn't
come off. Does anyone know what this might be and how I might rid my plant
of it?
Thanks very much,
Jack

Hi Jack,
I'm sorry to be the harbinger of bad news but I've never successfully rid
my Rosemary of powdery mildew which I imagine you have, because the cure is
something that poisons the food. Fungicides are available to treat it on
roses or ornamentals. Oil sprays to help stop Black spot can be used as a
preventative but have no business in anyone's mouths. Yuck. Mildew is
obnoxious. It spreads and destroys other plants if allowed to stay in your
garden. I'd start over with a new plant in clean soil or a different spot in
the garden and treat the ground with a fungicide in quarantine earth space
until the following season so it's out of the soil.
If you have aton of old rosemary and you're determined to save the plant you
can treat it, without eating it for a few years, then let it grow without
fungicide for a season before eating it to be safe.
Jane
"Jack Curry" Jack wrote in message
m...
My rosemary has a white mildew? or mold growing on its leaves. It looks
rather like it's been dusted with talcum powder except the stuff doesn't
come off. Does anyone know what this might be and how I might rid my
plant
of it?
Thanks very much,
Jack

On Sun, 09 Mar 2003 17:21:20 GMT, "Jack Curry" Jack
wrote in rec.gardens.edible:

My rosemary has a white mildew? or mold growing on its leaves. It looks
rather like it's been dusted with talcum powder except the stuff doesn't
come off. Does anyone know what this might be and how I might rid my plant
of it?
Thanks very much,
Jack

Have a look at

http://www.quickgrow.com/Pests_and_P.../Pest_Control/

for non-toxic remedies. I have no personal experience with the Safer's line of
products and would like to hear the experiences of others.

The bad news is that they are expensive.

The good news is that the prices are Canadian funds.
--
Spelling and grammatical errors are deliberate
to catch copyright violators. ©¿©¬
Perth, Ontario, Canada

Jane wrote:
Hi Jack,
I'm sorry to be the harbinger of bad news but I've never
successfully rid my Rosemary of powdery mildew which I imagine you
have, because the cure is something that poisons the food. Fungicides
are available to treat it on roses or ornamentals. Oil sprays to help
stop Black spot can be used as a preventative but have no business in
anyone's mouths. Yuck. Mildew is obnoxious. It spreads and destroys
other plants if allowed to stay in your garden. I'd start over with a
new plant in clean soil or a different spot in the garden and treat
the ground with a fungicide in quarantine earth space until the
following season so it's out of the soil. If you have aton of old
rosemary and you're determined to save the plant you can treat it,
without eating it for a few years, then let it grow without fungicide
for a season before eating it to be safe. Jane

Thank you Jane. You have confirmed my fears. I'm going to let the plant do
its thing for a few weeks, spraying it regularly with soapy water. If it
cures it, good. If not, I'll dig it up and start a new plant in a different
place.
Jack

Jim Carter wrote:
On Sun, 09 Mar 2003 17:21:20 GMT, "Jack Curry" Jack
wrote in rec.gardens.edible:

My rosemary has a white mildew? or mold growing on its leaves. It
looks rather like it's been dusted with talcum powder except the
stuff doesn't come off. Does anyone know what this might be and how
I might rid my plant of it?
Thanks very much,
Jack

Have a look at

http://www.quickgrow.com/Pests_and_P.../Pest_Control/

for non-toxic remedies. I have no personal experience with the
Safer's line of products and would like to hear the experiences of
others.

The bad news is that they are expensive.

The good news is that the prices are Canadian funds.

Thanks Jim. It seems that the product which might be effective on mildew is
only for sale in Canada.
Jack

Soapy water isn't going to do much for mildew, but you could try a milk spray. I
can't remember the ratio to water, try 3 water to 1 milk, or compost tea, or
fermented compost tea. For more info on that, try
www.whyy.org/91fm/YBYG that is Mike McGrath's site, and he tells how to use
the fermented compost tea.

susan

Jack Curry wrote:

Jane wrote:
Hi Jack,
I'm sorry to be the harbinger of bad news but I've never
successfully rid my Rosemary of powdery mildew which I imagine you
have, because the cure is something that poisons the food. Fungicides
are available to treat it on roses or ornamentals. Oil sprays to help
stop Black spot can be used as a preventative but have no business in
anyone's mouths. Yuck. Mildew is obnoxious. It spreads and destroys
other plants if allowed to stay in your garden. I'd start over with a
new plant in clean soil or a different spot in the garden and treat
the ground with a fungicide in quarantine earth space until the
following season so it's out of the soil. If you have aton of old
rosemary and you're determined to save the plant you can treat it,
without eating it for a few years, then let it grow without fungicide
for a season before eating it to be safe. Jane

Thank you Jane. You have confirmed my fears. I'm going to let the plant do
its thing for a few weeks, spraying it regularly with soapy water. If it
cures it, good. If not, I'll dig it up and start a new plant in a different
place.
Jack