Powdery Mildew Problems

[overgrownbramble]

Hello all,

Is there anything I can do at all about massive powdwer mildew in my garden? Without any chemicals or poisons that is.... The trouble is where I live it's way beyond my garden, by high summer last year everything was coated in the stuff, including the green reserve the other side of the road! Even if I manage to get rid of it, it'll surely blow right back? It's litereally on every balde of grass, dandelion, etc etc.

In particular, I adore honeysudkle, but the one I planted last year did really well until summer, then lost every leaf and blackened with powder mildew, to the point I had to pull it up completely. Is there anything I can do? I'd really love to plant honeysuckle, in a different spot this time, but is there any point?

If not honeysuckle, are there any plants (good for wildlife and all that) that are more resistant? Even the hollies succumb with their thick leaves

[aeshna5]

Plants seem more susceptible to this fungus when they are physiologically stressed, such as drought, which is perhaps why it was so noticeable last summer. Different cultivars of garden plants vary in their immunity to the mildew- some will be prone to it, others more resilient.

I know it's not an aesthetically attractive fungus- but it's part of a garden's ecology- in fact both the small yellow 22-spot Ladybird + the Orange Ladybird are mildew feeders, the latter usually on trees + shrubs, the former more usually on herbaceous plants, so you may be supporting these attractive insects + no doubt other organisms too.

If you mulch your plants now with compost, bark, etc you should increase moistue levels in the soil which may help to reduce the water stress for your plants + make them more robust against these fungal pathogens.

Tolerance is the key to a good wildlife-friendly garden!

[overgrownbramble]

Ah, I'll try mulching, thanks. If that doesn't work, the birds and insects just can't have honeysuckle! I didn'te realise anythign would eat mildew!

I didn't see any ladybirds last year, just millions of aphids which killed off the Spindle.... not that I mind, ants like aphids, woodpeckers like ants...

[Susie]

This is a problem which particularly affects honeysuckle?

[overgrownbramble]

I don't know about honeysuckle in general, but in my garden everything else managed to struggle on in bad condition with few flowers etc, but the honeysuckle was wiped out completely, every leaf lost and the stem half blackened from bottom to top, it completely died. Maybe it was a weak plant to begin with, though I doubt it because it had been doing so well!