My courgette plants have gone white overnight!

[blackcatlois]

Two of my courgette plants went white overnight on Saturday through to Sunday when we had the heavy rain? Could this simply be downy mildew (I think t hat's what it's called, my mind's gone blank here) or something more serious? I know there's something that can be sprayed on it, could someone remind me please - baking soda springs to mind maybe? Thanks

[Two_Sheds]

powdery mildew. Bicarb of soda was mentioned in y'days Gardeners Question Time as a remedy.

[Flummery]

One of mine had gone brown - almost overnight. Mind you, it's cropped its head off so I've got a couple of youngsters waiting for its space!

[scarey55]

To harvest or not to harvest, that is the question

Hi all,
Not sure if this is the right forum but this question is about courgettes specifically.
I first noticed mould on my grape vines so I sprayed everything with some anti mildew stuff I found at our local diy/gardening shop - sorry, not very organic but being a newbie I panicked and sprayed everything - Which brings me on to the courgettes.
Said something on the packet about 1 month and harevsting Trouble is, it is all in French and I'm not sure if I can harvest them or not. I'm in danger of being overrun with marrows but then I don't want to poison myself or hubbie either. Do any of you clever people know the answer?

[SueA]

Hi Scarey55, I think you really need to get someone who can translate the packaging for you. Some fungicides shouldn't be used at all on edible plants & some say you can harvest the same day as you've sprayed, it depends on what's actually in the spray. I would imagine if you were going to wash & maybe peel whatever you sprayed you could be O.K. but I wouldn't take a chance without checking the pack out, do you have any French neighbours who could help?

[Protea]

Hi all,
Not sure if this is the right forum but this question is about courgettes specifically.
I first noticed mould on my grape vines so I sprayed everything with some anti mildew stuff I found at our local diy/gardening shop - sorry, not very organic but being a newbie I panicked and sprayed everything - Which brings me on to the courgettes.
Said something on the packet about 1 month and harevsting Trouble is, it is all in French and I'm not sure if I can harvest them or not. I'm in danger of being overrun with marrows but then I don't want to poison myself or hubbie either. Do any of you clever people know the answer?

See if you can decipher the active ingredient, it will be chemically sounding and may have something like 80% w/w after it. Let me know and i'll look it up in my green book (pesticide book). What is the name on the bottle (trade /product name)? that will be a starting point.

[Protea]

powdery mildew. Bicarb of soda was mentioned in y'days Gardeners Question Time as a remedy.

I suspect this has come from potassium bicarbonate which is approved as a powdery mildew control. I have no idea if its the bicarbonate, or the potassium, or a combination thereof which works. However, Gardener's question Time should know better than to advise growers to spray with anything other than appoved products.

I have no idea if bicarbonate works or not - it certainly won't do any harm.

[zazen999]

Hi.
Downey mildew, mine get covered. I cut them off; as long as there are a couple of green leaves it will continue to grow and the courgettes will be fine.
You do need to check what you have sprayed before eating, a month is a long time to wait in the life of a courgette - if you can't i would cut off all the courgettes on there now and wait for the next batch. It won't take long if weather permitting. Better safe then sorry.
You could try putting the main ingredient into google and seeing if there is a descriptor on there - or the title of the product. You could get lucky!

[scarey55]

Evening peeps and thanks for all your help.
I think I will go with zazen999 and wait. I seem to have more courgettes coming on and I can wait another couple of weeks - as you say better safe than sorry. I have learned a valuable lesson here - next year (assuming I get mildew) I will just wait it out and cut off the affected leaves.
Just for interest Protea - the active ingredient seems to be MANCOZEBE 75% NOM HERMOLOGUE PENNCOZEB JARDIN AMM No 8800845
Please don't go to too much trouble though - as I said, I think I can wait.
Thanks again and I wish you better weather (I think it's on the way) I read somewhere that August is set to be a scorcher
Thanks again,
Clare

[Alice]

Scarey55, can you scan in what it says on the packet. Some Grape will tell you what it says.

[Paulottie]

I could probably manage the French translation for you and certainly Mrs P can... but Protea Is right, it is the active ingredient and concentration that is needed here and we can then source some information in English.

It is always wise to raise a couple of batches as in my experience powdery mildew usually appears and spraying isn't satisfactory plus it is normally systemic so once the plants are fruiting your eating it.

[SueA]

I've heard of 'Mancozeb' , Clare, I think it's also in/called 'Dithane' & you are supposed to wait a week or so before harvesting after spraying. I'm sure someone 'chemically' minded on here can fill you in about it properly.

[scarey55]

Hello everyone and thanks,

I managed to get a translation on the packet and it seems that I do indeed have to wait a month before I can harvest - hey ho, only another 2 weeks to go
Thanks everyone for all your help - sorry to be so daft, I managed to understand al the bits about dosage etc. it's just that the bit about harvesting was typically vague.
Anyway, thanks again and have a great evening... week....year.... etc.
Clare

[Protea]

Hello everyone and thanks,

I managed to get a translation on the packet and it seems that I do indeed have to wait a month before I can harvest - hey ho, only another 2 weeks to go
Thanks everyone for all your help - sorry to be so daft, I managed to understand al the bits about dosage etc. it's just that the bit about harvesting was typically vague.
Anyway, thanks again and have a great evening... week....year.... etc.
Clare

Sorry it took so long to get back to you - not on here much at the mo as quite busy at work.

As Alice said Mancozeb is the active in a variety of products, including Dithane 945. It is pointless me telling you what the harvest interval says on that packet however, as you MUST always follow the instructions on your product label, so you have done the right thing.

For future reference, its not actually the best product for powdery mildew (which it most certainly is, downy mildew looks completely different and doesn't take on such a vivid 'white' appearance). You would be better to sow a few batches as sugested, or ignore it - as long as it doesn't cover the whole pant you will still get a good number of courgettes. If you do want to spray (and i'm not against spraying where necessary) there are limited products available for that crop, try to take someone who can read reasonable French in with you to a garden centre and look for perhaps a copper type active, or look on the French pesticides website and see if you can decipher whats approved or not over there (it differs from country to country!). Alternatively look for an 'organic' or 'natural' type spray, ones based on citrus or garlic extracts work well on powdery mildew and are usually safe to spray and eat the crop the next day. Whatever you use, please make sure you can read the label and follow all the instructions.

hope this helps

[scarey55]

Thanks Protea for that very useful advice.

My courgettes are still producing like mad and I hope to get a decent crop even allowing for those I can't use. I hope that I don't have to spray anything next year but if I do, I would prefer to use something more organic. A lesson well learned though - onwards and upwards!

Thanks again
Clare