Home prepared sprays

EU notwithstanding it must now be ok to talk about home made insecticides/fungicides cos on BBC4 GQT they described a spray with the 'top' of full fat milk as being effective against something. (!!) I was gardening at the time and not concentrating, mildew or something ?

Remind me to listen again on Sunday, but again it is in the gardening daytime, how silly is that scheduling ? !

 

My Grandad used to use milk to spray plants as a treatment for powdery mildew - according to his 'little book' (which I've since inherited - although it's now falling apart) it says 'Powdery Mildew - 1 pint milk to 10 pints water. Spray on.' This would have been back in the day before homogenised or semi-skimmed milk and I doubt he'd have bothered to wait around just taking the cream off the top of full-fat milk each day until he'd 'collected' a pint.

 

My Mum used to spray the gooseberrys with milk , she also used the bike pump as a spray , I had forgotten that .


Spruce

 

Thanks,

I wondered about homogenised as well, they did say that the milk under the cream was no good because the desired ingredient ( an oil or fat) was only in the cream, but of course it will be spread throughout the modern milk now.

Wish I'd known this before I lost this years gooseberry crop to mildew !

Sounds like a very interesting wee book ! Any chance of OCRing and PDFing it !!

 

I've heard that 10% milk solution was good for mildew. But I don't remember how often to apply it or when. Also, does it work as a preventative measure? My Lambs ears gets terrible mildew, but I always forget to spray it before it gets mildew, or when it has it!!

 

What brand name are you using Marley? and what acids are on the label? I've got a tub of "Borwick's" the agents are sodium bicarbonate and sodium pyrophosphate, they contain (most) have double acting acids, one low temp that works while making batter, and another high temp that rereacts your batter in the oven, sodium pyrophosphate is a high temp acid.

Just interested as another member burnt their leafs with 1/2 teaspoon, they posted on my "Washin up liquid strength?" thread in General, it maybe a case that different brands use different raising agents/acids.

Plant Potty.

 

Yes, I was about to post that "Baking Soda" and "Baking powder" are two different things.
Baking soda is (was, always has been) an abreviation for bicarbonate of soda, sodium bicarbonate, aka sodium hydrogen carbonate. A weak alkali, basic, to give off carbon dioxide when dissolved in an acidic medium,
the 'leavening' mechanisim.
It needs to be used (baked) immediately, unlike yeast that gives off CO2 over a long period.

B.Powder however has had many forms over the years (and used to contain tartaric acid which provided the needed acidic environment ) but now I am puzzled as well,, I see no tartaric in the list of ingredients in my pot of B.powder !