Experiments have shown that full-cream milk is successful against Powdery Mildew on zucchinis and grapevines. In fact, rose-growers Ross Roses in South Australia use full-cream milk successfully as a spray, up to once a week in a bad season.

Milk isn’t a preventative. It causes the fine hairs on the fungal spores to shrivel within hours of application.

Peter Crisp at the University of Adelaide, evaluated 34 alternative treatments for controlling powdery mildew.

The most successful treatments were full-cream milk, potassium bicarbonate and a canola oil-based product Synertrol Horti-oil. (Australian Horticulture, August 2005)

In 1996, GrowerTalks magazine reported that a potassium bicarbonate formulation had ‘proven effective in eliminating powdery mildew in roses, ornamentals, vegetables and fruit crops’. The product was called Ecocarb.

The product is also known as Eco-rose, an organic fungicide registered for use in Australia on grapes and roses only, but in New Zealand it is also registered for use against black spot on roses, dollar spot on turf, and powdery mildew in cucurbits, apples, strawberries and tomatoes (Organic Gardener, 2005).

Exciting news for gardeners on the disease control front with the official registration of Australia’s first organic fungicide.

Produced by Organic Crop Protectants, EcoCarb has been trialled extensively by the University of Adelaide, commercial fruit growers and wholesale production nurseries with great results.

EcoRose has recently been released as the home garden version of EcoCarb. It is exactly the same product, but comes in a smaller size for home garden use.

A broad spectrum fungicide that controls powdery mildew and black spot, the new registration applies for use of the product on grapes and roses, although it receives regulatory approval in the USA for a wide range of foliar diseases.

According to the manufacturers, EcoCarb and Eco-Rose will control and prevent leaf diseases through a combination of increased osmotic pressure, modification of leaf pH and the effects of specific bicarbonate ions and potassium imbalance on the leaf surface.

Application rates of 4gm per litre of water means a little will go a long way. Like conventional fungicides, this should be mixed with a wetting agent for better coverage and sprayed on susceptible plants every 7-10 days.

EcoCarb is an ACO Registered Organic Fungicide

In the past potassium was more plentiful in the diet than salt, but gradually, the situation has been reversed. The widespread lack of potassium in modern diets is largely due to modern processing and high levels of salt added to most processed foods. Cooking and processing destroy potassium, and added salt further robs the body of vital potassium. This departure from traditional cooking of fresh homegrown fruit and vegetables is likely the cause of many health problems faced by modern society.

Potassium and sodium are antagonistic, which means that an imbalance of one will automatically cause an imbalance of the other; normally potassium should predominate inside the cell.

EcoRose .... Sells for $18.70 / 500gm and is BFA organic approved ….

Application rates of 4gm per litre of water means a little will go a long way.

whats the difference between this and soluble potassium you can buy anywhere? the buffering?

They also use it in the lakes at golf courses to turn the water that milky colour