Have you noticed white, powdery spots on the leaves of your plants? Chance's are you've picked up PM / Powdery Mildew.
Powdery Mildew is usually a minor annoyance that can be easily fixed, but if you don’t catch it early, PM can turn into a nightmare that has the potential to ruin your entire harvest.
Powdery Mildew is a very common mold, found around the world. It affects a wide range of plants, including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons and cannabis.
Powdery Mildew spores are present everywhere, indoors, and outdoors, making them extremely difficult to avoid, even in isolated grow rooms.
If you haven't had the misfortune of PM on your plants, imagine circular patches of a living, breathing, fuzzy substance showing up on your plant’s leaves without any warning. Once on the leaves the mildew can easily spread to other leaves and buds on a singular plant to your whole crop, leaving you with a harvest (buds) that are unusable.
White Powdery Mildew has such an easy time spreading that even careful growers who take proper precautions can still experience it.
Fortunately, White Powdery Mildew is easy to spot since it creates white patches of fungal growth that stand out against the green leaves of your cannabis plant.
It can be removed from plants with proper treatment if spotted early on, but any buds with PM should be discarded as they most likely contain many more spores than your eyes can see.
What causes PM?
- High Humidity
- Low / No Airflow
- Poor Ventilation
- Leaf on Leaf Contact
How to eliminate Powdery Mildew?
The one good thing about PM is in most cases when PM is caught early, you're able remove all traces of the mildew without harming your plants.
Our solution to fighting the battle against PM is
Ampelomyces quisqualis is an anamorphic fungus that is a hyperparasite of Powdery Mildews.
AQ-sf reduces both reduces the growth and eventually kills the mildew. These mycoparasites can live up to 21 days on mildew-free host plant surfaces, attacking powdery mildew structures as soon as they appear.
AQ needs a temperature between 20 to 30 C in order to establish itself. AQ is killed by many fungicide formulations, specifically sulphur containing products, and is not compatible with copper, general fungicides, oxidisers and sterilizers.
Re-establishing AQ in crops during the year will reduce the number of powdery mildew spores substantially, in short it is most effective when used on a regular basis as prevention rather than cure.
Direction for use:
- 5ml per litre dechlorinated water sprayed 1-2 times per week as a preventative.
- 10-25ml per litre sprayed 2-3 times per week for infestation control
- Safe to apply until 3 days before harvest
- Apply in the coolest part of the day, if using in a grow room ensure it is applied when your lights are off to. avoid burning your leaves.
Best used in conjunction with BioTricho (Trichoderma harzianum)
Something to note!
Never consume flower if infected with PM as can be hazardous to your health including the cause of respiratory infections.