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In the list of plant disease, Powdery mildew
is one of the commonly occurring and a recognizable
disease. This disease is caused by fungi
of various types but the impact looks the
same in all conditions. Ornamentals plants
like lilac, roses, tulip, silver maple,
privet, gerbera, sycamore, English oaks,
honeysuckle, phlox, etc. and some fruit
bearing trees like apples are all generally
affected by powdery mildew. Temperate or
moderate climatic regions having the temperature
ranging from 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit
will be favorable to the fungus to attack.
Symptoms of this disease include white powdery
patches formation over the leaves and make
it shrink. The white patches are observed
to affect not only the upper surface of
the leaves but also the lower parts of the
plants like stalk, lower veins of the leaves
and sometimes flowers, fruits as well. This
plant disease can be fatal due to the denial
of photosynthesis, which is caused by the
pore filling. Thus Farmers in US are most
likely to face huge losses and were left
without quick remedies as the identification
of the disease is only at the mature stage.
Factors causing the disease first needs
to be considered and then by avoiding the
voluntary factors, the growth of the disease
can be inhibited. The voluntary factors
comprise dense and crowded plantation, if
it is a household garden, plantation in
the area of poor air circulation will be
a factor for consideration.
Homemade remedies of powdery mildew were
adopted by most of the farmers as advised
by the EPA. Especially testing of Neem oil
for the treatment
of powders of mildew was found successful.
Neem
oil extracted from its seeds were sprayed
over the infected plants can act as a cover
or coat over the leaves not allowing the
fungus through wind or rains to adhere onto
the leaves. Thereby the penetration of fungus
is completely avoided. Neem,
a native tree of India is known for its
immense properties. One such property of
it, is the anti-fungicidal, means it can
resist the growth of fungus in mammals as
well as in plants.
It is observed that 1 per cent of neem oil
used in the preparation of the spray can
inhibit the powdery mildew completely i.e.
100 percent, especially in ornamental plants
like lilacs, phlox and hydrangeas. Neem oil spray should be applied once in a week
during cold climate, humid and frost conditions
to protect the plants from damage.
Author: Adam teaser - neem
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