Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

All right. In a thread not too long ago some one asked how powdered milk was different from fresh milk.
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3356&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=milk
I decided to run a little test since I have pumpkins growing that were starting to show signs of powdery mildew and spraying with milk is supposed to be a cure for that problem.

Just an FYI these pumpkins are not in AP, they are in one of my soil beds. Powdery mildew is a very common problem among all plants in this plant family around these parts.

I only have a couple pictures of one of the plants before I sprayed.

I sprayed a few plants around the South end of the bed with Fresh whole milk mixed 1 part water to 1 part milk.

The plants on the North end of the bed got sprayed with about one cup nonfat milk powder mixed with 44 oz water.

If the dry milk works, that is what I'm likely to use in the future. If there is a difference is how the two milks work for this purpose, I might have to run other tests to see if it is the fat that makes the difference or the freshness.

I believe in the battle against powdery mildew, what makes the difference is that the milk promotes the grow of bacteria that will wipe out the mildew. I think it is possible to use cornmeal for this purpose and I've even seed worm tea marketed for it too. I've heard of some other uses of milk that require using full strength whole milk but I think that is against actual bugs, not powdery mildew.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Here are some pictures from the day after spraying.

These are the plants sprayed with whole milk.

And here are pictures of the plants after the nonfat dry milk

There is one that looks quite wilted, that is due to the sprinkler not hitting the area evenly and not the fault of the milk.

As can be seen in the pictures, there is at least a little bit of powdery mildew still on both test subjects after the first treatment. I will post again in a day or two when I do another treatment.

I also have some cucumbers, cantaloupe and gourds in the AP system and may need to treat for powdery mildew on some of them.

I have sprayed again tonight. Same methods as before with the whole milk mix on the south plants and the nonfat dry milk mix on the north plants. Will hopefully get some pictures tomorrow and see if there is any improvement.

(this is kinda off the topic but, due to ants invading a bucket of worm castings on me, I am now making some aerated worm tea which I understand is also good for powdery mildew so I might have to find something to spray with that to see how effective it is.)

I have some more milk and will carry the experiment at least a couple more sprayings but, I fear this experiment has not be very successful at proving anything.

Here are my observations to date.

If the whole milk mixture has any effect, it is very minor.

They Skim milk seems to have help a little but there is still powdery mildew on all sprayed plants as well as on the control plants.

This experiment was not exactly planned for and therefore the layout and controls may contribute unfairly to the results. Also, the sampling of plants tested was such a small number that the results are hard to trust since something unrelated could be skewing the findings.

Pumpkins are hard to grow here with our normally humid hot climate that has spells of dry weather, like now, that are hard on large hairy leaves.

Here are some pictures from may 10

Ack, I hit the wrong button and the edit function has been missing for me the last several days.

More pictures from May 10 with the whole milk treated plants.

Here are some pics of the plants to the North end of the beds that got the Non-Fat dry milk mixed with water.

Some pictures on May 11th
South got the whole milk and water mix

And some pictures of the North end on May 11
North end got the Dry Non-fat milk mixed with water.

And just to compare, here is a picture of one of the plants from the middle of the bed that did not get milk spray.

Here is the middle of the bed, No milk spray again on May 14th.

And here are today's photos of the South Milk test subjects. South end got the whole milk mixed with water.

And here are the pictures of the North end of the Bed may 14. These ones got the Non-Fat Dry milk mixed with water.

As noted before, this experiment has not been very through, the sample too small, and other variables not well controlled.

That stated, here is my impression based on this little experience.

Against powdery mildew, I would choose the dry milk over the whole milk. It seemed slightly more effective (though that could be for other reasons) and it is definitely cheaper and easier to store. It also seemed to stick to the leaves (and everything else) better.

There are likely other just as effective means to combat powdery mildew. I think milk gets mention since it is generally available to most home gardeners and sometimes when you have a problem, you must use what you have.

I have also done a spraying with worm tea. It seems to have had some effect but not a miracle after only one treatment. Issue with aerated worm tea is it takes some time/prep to make and then must be used very quickly.

On the dirt garden in the future I will probably stick with Neem oil since it is also effective against many other problem bugs.

In the AP, I will probably try using dry milk or worm tea when I have it handy.

I've also heard of making an aerated mixture using water and corn meal. I'm not sure if that is good against powdery mildew but I may need to test it.

Back to the milk experiment, I will probably spray the south plants with a full strength whole milk (not diluted) for the last two sprayings. I will mix the dry milk stronger for the north. This experiment will only last another week or so.