How Does Your - Mild-Ew

Garden Grow?

Some sort of chalky white gunk has invaded the leaves and stalks on a couple of my shelling pea plants. Since I’m pretty positive that I’ve harvested about all I’m going to get off these plants, I’m not overly concerned. I could just pull the stalks and throw them into my compost bin, but why deprive myself of this learning opportunity?

In my detective work I have uncovered that we’re likely dealing with powdery mildew. I’m not proud that the plants I have grown and raised from seeds have returned my love and kindness in this manner, but there’s nothing I can do at this point. I read that powdery mildew is common in peas, especially when nights become cool and humid while days are warm. It’ll typically begin at the bottom of the plant and work its way up. If left untreated I will see yellow, curling, and drying-out leaves. Not on my watch.

To start, I marked the two plants with a piece of string where the mildew has climbed the highest so I can accurately measure its spread. This way I’ll know if my treatment methods actually slow the progression or if I’m just wasting my own time, which isn’t unheard of. It was suggested that thinning plants to prevent overcrowding would also help with airflow. I didn’t do this because I don’t think I have an overcrowding issue, but they might be happier growing in direct sun rather than in the shade of the garage next year. In addition, I read that I should be watering at the base and not getting the leaves wet by watering the top of the plant. I’ve been doing this correctly and I resent the suggestion that it’s my fault.

I then pruned the leaves that are the most affected which should help to curb the spread. Per Dr. Google’s instruction I mixed one tablespoon baking soda with one tablespoon of dish soap and one gallon of water and used a spray bottle to coat the problem areas with our mixture. The mildew stains, so it’ll never go away in its entirety, but it should stop spreading if I spray it every seven to ten days or after it rains. Apparently I can use neem oil as well, but I won’t lie, I’m a little afraid of neem. I’d rather get good with my training wheels on before I yank them off and go full tilt.

Researching and treating the peas has me wondering why I’m not keeping track of the issues I’m treating the same way that I’m documenting each variety of produce I’ve tried growing? I should really know better; I always tell myself that I’m going to remember something so there’s no need to write it down, but when I try to recall said tidbit it has mysteriously vanished and I’m just left annoyed with my system, or lack thereof.

So rather than rely on my mental storage space I created a section in my binder for plant ailments. As of right now we have a page each for powdery mildew, sun damage, and gnats. I don’t think that’s too bad for my first season, but it isn’t over yet. Each page asks which plant is affected and its location on the patio, what the problem looks like, when I first noticed it and what growth stage the plant was in, weather conditions before and during the outbreak, spread, diagnosis, if it was an issue the previous year, treatments and how long they took to kick in, success, and whether the plant was still able to produce anything. Phew. If this doesn’t help me, nothing will.

I was going to compost the remainder of the pea plants, but in the interest of experimentation I left them up to surround the infected stalks. I’m trying not to feel bad for using my beautiful plants as shields in my twisted investigation, but sacrifices must be made. I moved my healthy beans away from the peas and pushed the in-fected plants next to the lettuce, which I may or may not have allowed to grow unchecked since I sampled its leaves, found them to be tangy and cut most of them away. Thankfully, my procrastination served me well this time around.

In happier news, I have a few tomatoes starting to turn red. They didn’t get as big as I thought they would; I’ve seen some massive beefsteak tomatoes so I did have high expectations. Still, a win is a win and I’m excited to start plucking those and passing them out. I also have some teeny tiny beans starting to take shape and my cucumber vines are still producing a couple of cucumbers each week. And what started out as my most stressful seedlings, my bell peppers, are finally starting to drop some produce. The largest one is shaped like a chili pepper while the rest have that round shape I was expecting to see.

Oh well. Sprouters can’t be doubters.

Mandee Ellis is a reporter at The Star News. Contact her at Mandee@centralwinews.com.