Suspect your plant’s health is not up to scratch? It could be a fungal disease that is rearing its head. To navigate the fine line between various mildews – specifically powdery mildew treatment – keep reading to unlock the mystery of mildew and more.
Pin down powdery mildew and more
To begin, explore our brief article indexing the various types of plant diseases, which covers a broad spectrum of common cases. These include common problems like black spot, blight, leaf curl and more. When addressing the state of a plant’s disease, it’s important to note that there are differences between the signs and symptoms. This will assist in identifying and applying the right powdery mildew treatment or more.
Plant disease signs
A sign of plant disease is the physical evidence of the pathogen, the parasitic fungal disease itself. This could be fungal bodies, powdery mildew on a leaf, or various types of rust (flecks of rust colour, usually on the undersides of the leaves, eventually grow into bumps).
Plant disease symptoms
A symptom of plant disease, however, is a visible effect of disease on the plant. For example, this could present itself as a change in colour, shape or function of the plant. This looks like yellowing of leaves, brown or birds-eye spots, or damping-off of seedlings.
Plant mildews
There are two main types of plant mildew, powdery and downy. We show the fine differences to help you understand and identify these two common cases.
Powdery mildew
This mildew shows as a greyish-white powdery growth that develops on younger plant parts. It will cause stunting and eventually shrivelling of leaves. It thrives in environments with warm, dry climates and conversely, also high humidity. Prime conditions include warm days and cool nights. Not to mention plants experiencing a range of moist conditions of humid weather, shaded spots, and crowded areas.
You will notice fungal spots have a circular, white appearance and can be anywhere on the leaf surface. After the fungus has been present for some time, the leaves will yellow.
Downy mildew
In the case of this mildew, the upper portion of leaves discolours, while the bottom portions develop white or grey mould. Stemming from fungus-like organisms, downy mildew also often occurs during wet weather. It affects many garden plants and edibles (including impatiens, pansies, grapevines, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower).
These particular fungal spots have an angular grey appearance, will be limited by leaf veins and the leaves may yellow before the fungus is evident.
You may also notice the leaves becoming yellowed or speckled, leaf edges curling downwards, and grey fuzz on the undersides of leaves.
To treat your unique plant problems, explore a full range of fungus and disease solutions. For additional problems you may suspect, also refer to our problem solver.
Efekto’s expert solutions
Within our range of fungus and disease offerings, we highly recommend using the following two key products.
Funginex is a systemic fungicide, meaning that it works by entering the sap of the plant to protect and cure the fungal disease. Due to its design, it offers long-lasting protection and is a very popular rose fungicide. It is a great solution for control of powdery mildew, black spot and rust on various garden plants – and powdery mildew and rust on several edible crops.
To correctly treat your plant’s fungal condition, have a look at Funginex’s technical sheet.
Funginex:
- Prevents and controls fungal diseases.
- Is well tolerated by popular ornamental species.
- Works from the inside out to protect new growth with systemic action.
- Is environmentally friendly.
- Acts as both a preventative and curative fungicide.
- Is low toxic (and will not harm bees!)
- Does not persist in the environment.
- Can be used on both garden plants and edible crops.
This solution is a wettable powder fungicide and bactericide (meaning it treats both fungus and bacteria). It also has both preventative and protective properties that control certain diseases on listed fruit, vegetables, flowers and garden plants.
How to use Virikop:
Explore Virkop technical sheet for the correct application quantities for your specific crop and disease. When mixed with water, the copper in the spray controls the fungus, staying on plant surfaces after the spray dries.
To work as a preventative solution, Efekto Virikop must be applied to the plant surface before disease occurs. The effectiveness of its control depends on the quality and adequacy of application coverage.
Tips for avoiding mildew
To prevent mildew from harming your garden, follow these recommendations.
- Plant susceptible plants in sunny locations when possible. Air should be able to move freely around plants and be free of crowding. This will come in good stead regardless of sunny or shaded conditions.
- Water only the roots in the morning – and not the foliage. This is important to avoid getting the foliage wet. Watering in the morning allows any foliage that does get splashed an opportunity to dry throughout the day.
- Remove dead or diseased foliage to maintain healthy plants.
- Be sure to disinfect your pruners or shears after using them on any infected plants.
- Also, be careful to not over-fertilise and cause a rush of new foliage (new growth is likely to be more susceptible to mildew infections).
Manage mildew and more with the experts
For more information on approaching fungal diseases and powdery mildew treatment, explore our blog or speak with our experts directly.
