Powdery mildew started a week or two ago; and, zuke production has slowed

So far only on the tulled zukes, not the one untulled zuke yet.

I wonder if the slow-down in zucchini production is related to the mildew, or if it's because I'm not doing a mid-season amendment.

130th zucchini harvested!

I thought this was late in the season, but actually, looking back to past years, the latest I harvested zucchinis was into November!  And October frequently too.

So, maybe the harvest will go on longer than I thought... Though things are massively slowed down, hardly any flowers happening and when they do, the zukes are very slow to grow.  I think part is they must have depleted the soil, given how amazingly productive they are... plus the powdery mildew doesn't help either.  

Powdery mildew is slowly expanding among the zukes (I'm not interfering)

Not interfering with it; will see how the plants fare.

Powdery mildew update (I won't intervene at all)

The only plant that has it so far is the Golden Glory in the west bed, north pair, east one.  I had removed a couple of affected leaves a few days ago; other leaves in this plant are showing it too now.  I'm going to just let it be and not remove any more leaves or interfere in any way, and see how these supposedly PMR varieties will do (Golden Glory and Eight Ball).  Besides, the harvest has been amazing so far, so hopefully even if they all succumb to it, I'll already have had a bunch of zukes.

Powdery mildew on two Golden Glory zucchini leaves!!!

Oh no!!!  Both leaves are on the GG plant in the west bed, north two, east one.  One leaf had tons, the other had a bit.  There's relatively decent airflow seeing as these leaves are right next to the path, so I'm surprised...

Removed both leaves and put into garbage.

Golden Glory is supposed to have powdery mildew resistance...  with its appearance today I hope that means it can keep growing well despite powdery mildew...  

The weather has been warm in the day and cool at night, which seems to be prime conditions for PM.

Zucchini plants not looking very good

I'm especially puzzled why three of the four central late season zucchinis have been flops.  Didn't produce anything, and now are flopping over / looking wilty, maybe borers.  But sheesh.

I still hold out hopes for the southmost central late season plant -- it still looks good, harvested one off it today and another on it will be ready in a few days.  But then its next pre-flowering starts are looking white/pale, so, perhaps this will be it...

One of the original zukes in the north bed flowered yesterday and I pollinated it; if it takes, it will be that plant's second zuke...!  Sigh!

Powdery mildew is certainly taking over this must be a factor for sure.

Powdery mildew marches on

Whoa, all of a sudden (or so it seems) there's powdery mildew all over the upper leaves of the cushaw, and to a less extent some other cushaw leaves too.

And some of the central zucchini leaves, so I removed their tulle permanently for more air flow.

Pruned the worst leaves and some other leaves too for air flow.

DO try horsetail fungicide again next year -- this year I got too busy to use it properly

With powdery mildew making its presence gradually but persistently known the last few days, I just don't feel like fighting it much.  Due to the dog broken leg situation etc. I haven't been on it and I really should have been spraying it in recent weeks.  Also hesitation to use it due to risk of "aroma" and bothering neighbours, combined with the rat situation -- I don't want to push my luck.

So, next year yes definitely try horsetail fungicide again, as this year was not a test of it.

Powdery mildew on underside of air conditioner ronde leaves

Sigh... The march of the powdery mildew.  Didn't do anything about it.  Don't have the energy to deal with it right now what with the lame dog situation.

This ronde is freestyle:  no tulle, no vertical, so relatively decent amount of air circulation.

Powdery mildew all over a/c zucchini vertical and under tulle -- so I removed whole plant

My vertical method is quite terrible -- the leaves get all squished up in there, no air flow at all.  Then factor in the tulle too.  Hadn't noticed until today all the PM in this plant, but then, have been pretty preoccupied the last week with a dog with a broken leg and then another dog who turned up three-legged lame three days later.

Didn't feel like trimming the plant -- it has produced one single zucchini all year and might have produced another at some point but nah, decided to just toss the whole thing.

Removed tulle from the last tulled north bed zucchini

To give the plant a good pruning and increase air flow as much as possible, now that signs of powdery mildew have appeared in that north bed.

Powdery mildew starting to appear in north bed wimpy zucchinis

Pruned the zukes/rondes today and noticed first signs of PM but only on the north bed.

Haven't been applying the horsetail fungicide much.  Should.

Sprayed horsetail fungicide proactively on most zukes (no signs of PM yet)

^^^

Powdery mildew never bothered the peas; I removed the pea plants today

The powdery mildew that I first noticed on the peas on June 23rd gradually spread up to cover pretty much the whole pea plants, but it never affected harvest at all.  In fact it was a bumper harvest, very roughly 6 or 8 pints or so, which is plenty for my needs and I was able to share some too.

I pulled all of the pea plants today, and with that another couple of cups of final harvest.  This will improve air circulation in the area, and allow sunlight through to the recently sowed buckwheat along the north wall.

Several zucchini and the cushaw are are all close in that area -- not seeing PM on them yet, but I wonder if they'll be among the first to show it...

Proactively sprayed horsetail fungicide made May 16th on most zucchinies/rondes

STINKY!!!!!!!  OMG I hope the smell will dissipate after it dries!  Maybe it's meant to be used a little fresher than this...

Because of its stinkiness, I didn't spray any of the central bed plants, nor the hydro meter plant, nor most of the cushaw, nor any of the butternut.  For those under tulle, I sprayed through the tulle.

This is just as a preventive, not seeing any powdery mildew on the squashes yet.  (Despite seeing it on the peas, goldenrod, and yarrow.)

Powdery mildew on peas!

I don't recall seeing this in past years.  So far the squashes look ok...

Powdery mildew on yarrow AND goldenrod -- applied horsetail fungicide

A week or two ago I noticed what looked like powdery mildew on the yarrow (the volunteer in the patio stones next to my chair which started growing last year), so I sprayed it with the horsetail fungicide.  Google says yarrow is susceptible to PM so I do imagine that's what it is.

Lately I've noticed more of it, so, I sprayed it again today.  (This is still with the original batch I whipped up a few weeks ago.)

And today I noticed the goldenrod (the volunteer in front of the hose well which started growing last year) also has white powdery specks on the leaves, so I sprayed it too.  And Google says goldenrod is also susceptible to PM.

So far not seeing signs on the squash/zucchini, but it's early days yet... (haven't sprayed them with the fungicide yet)

Horsetail fungicide (home-made) applied to grass edges

Collected horsetail from Bb yesterday, chopped it up, and soaked it in the recommended amount of water for 24 hours.  Then today, boiled it up for 15-20 minutes, and once cooled, put it into jars, stored under the sink.  

Applied some today to the grass edges though it looks fine now after the mow.

Powdery mildew on grass!!

Sheesh it's not even the middle of May yet!  Powdery mildew in multiple places on the yard grass.  Mostly along edges, perhaps gets less air flow there.   I haven't mowed yet and the grass has grown quite long, maybe could have avoided this with more pro-active mowing.  Scissored the edges and tossed whatever powdery mildew I could.  Then whipper snipped the rest.

Powdery mildew and horsetails

Definitely want to try this this year, given the complete lack of success with last year's powdery mildew battle.  The silica content of the plant makes a natural fungicide.

It needs to be applied frequently as a preventative, before signs of trouble.

https://laidbackgardener.blog/2015/07/18/using-a-weed-to-your-advantage/

https://www.nature-and-garden.com/gardening/fermented-horsetail-tea.html

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=32884


https://swisshomegarden.com/blogpost/homemade-horsetail-plant-fungicide-recipe/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0sBkE4i8h4

https://permies.com/t/5865/Blight-Mildew-squash-Horsetail-Equisetum


https://growingspaces.com/powdery-mildew/


https://nodighome.com/2017/06/17/horsetail-potions/#:~:text=Horsetail%20is%20a%20beautiful%2C%20highly,resilient%20plant%3B%20a%20great%20survivor.&text=A%20natural%20fungicide%2C%20horsetail%20'tea,and%20as%20a%20soil%20feed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PArv0-Wb2H8

- harvest when the frilly leaves are out

- chop into small pieces

- boil in water

- simmer for 20 minutes

- let it cool

- next day strain it, run it through a coffee filter or something like that