Powdery Mildew - Neem Oil only works for a short time - Apply Seranade?

I found some powdery mildew on some new clones i got. Last time i get clones off someone else. Unfortunately, they have been in close quarters with my other plants in my wardrobe setup. Both my veg chamber, and flowering chamber. I have not noticed any spread to older plants, which are of a different strain and grown from seed. The problem became apparent about a week ago, and I applied neem oil twice. Still, twice the pm has returned. I have purchased seranade, and I am hoping it will help.

My closet is small. I run 400 watt hps in a cooltube in the flowering room when I am home, and t5's when I am away. t5's also power my veging and mother rooms. My temps are usually around 26 celcius, and i run a huge inline fan when the hps is on. There is a less powerful, quieter fan that draws air 24/7.

Has anybody else tried seranade? I've heard mixed reviews, and several other techniques of dealing with the problem. Baking Soda stresses the plants a bit, and milk spray seems a bit odd, but i could be convinced. I'll let folks know how it goes. This is my first experience with pm, indoor or out, in 12 years growing. I almost thought it was something that only happens to other people...

Unfortunately once your plants have PM, I don't think there is really a way to get rid of it. You either have to deal with it or raze it and start over. It is not good to ingest PM by the way. You can try to control it, but from my experience, once it manifests in the plants, you will have it always manifest again even if you cut out the affected area.

I'm really not expecting to be rid of it. I know that it is possible to safely control it while it is present, but it is an internal problem. I was just wondering if I take preventative measures on other plants, will I still probably face the same issues? Has anybody tried the milk or baking soda sprays? I am one week into flower, and other than the mildew the plants look fantastic. I'm not quite ready to chop them down.

I have been fighting this issue and cant win but have noticed when using the milk mixture it does help for a few but then of course will come back. But think its my fault being low on air circulation

Rascality Afoot said:

I'm really not expecting to be rid of it. I know that it is possible to safely control it while it is present, but it is an internal problem. I was just wondering if I take preventative measures on other plants, will I still probably face the same issues? Has anybody tried the milk or baking soda sprays? I am one week into flower, and other than the mildew the plants look fantastic. I'm not quite ready to chop them down.

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I tried the 9 parts water to 1 part milk and that worked for the day, the next day I started seeing PM, thenI did the baking soda,soap thing and that worked a little longer, I think like 3 days, but I am still dealing with it.

what I have read is, once the PM is showing on the leaves, it has been in the plant for a week or more travelling through the plant. I recently was gifted a rather sickly Purple Kush plant that had a BAD PM problem. The guy I got the plant from, was using Baking soda spray on it, without much success. I bought some 'sulphur powder' (92% I think) from a local garden shop (waaay cheaper there than the grow store). I applied the sulphur powder as a foliar spray, allowed it to sit for 24 hours, doused with water and repeated maybe 4 times. It was looking MUCH better, so I brought it into my grow room. (I have the humidity quite low as there isn't anything on the go at the moment) I lightly 'dusted' the plant with the sulphur powder, and sprinkled some on the soil. To my amazement, the plant, by all outward appearances, seems to have recovered. Even the bits of stalk that became discoloured and 'moldy', recovered. I have even cloned this plant, and it continues mold free.

There is also a thread somewhere on this site, titled something like 'mold free clones' or something similiar, that uuses a technique of full submersion of clones in a water and bleach solution.... but it would appear this info is a bit late this time around. Good luck with your crop, be vigilent and pro-active... I've seen this get REAL ugly REAL quick.
*edit: Why did I even try to save the plant? Because I can't STAND to see a wasted plant!!

pm is caused by airborn spores... the spores attach to your leaves and root to them....they can be passed on from an infected mom to the clone or cut taken from it.

you can get rid of pm but you have to get 100% death off all spores....For your plants....there are 2 things that i have used that have worked to wipe out the spores

1) In a 32 oz spray bottle... 4 scops Greencure, 1/2 cup of a 3% hydrogen peroxide and fill the spray bottle the rest of the way with water spray 100% of your plant leaves (top/bottom) stems, stalk, soil.

2) Get a product called Eagle20 .....this is a systemic herbicide ment for veggin plants .... spray 100% your veg plant



Thats is just phase 1 of the cleaning process now we have to clean up the entire grow room

Walls, ceiling floors all equipment....you can either use a water bleach solution or.....a AERO BOMB

I used FUNGAFLOR its a aero bomb that kills and covers everything like a sulfur vape only no rotten egg smell


...........................lastly you need to filter all incoming air to your grow room

Hey! Thanks for all the info everyone, I appreciate it a lot. Powdery Mildew is some strange voodoo and there seems to be many strange tails surrounding it. Some end in bliss, some in misery...

I purchased serenade. I coated my leaves. I washed my walls down and replaced the sock on my carbon scrubber. I know that I can't get into every nook and cranny though, and there is always my dirt, and the room that my wardrobe grow is in has alot of hiding places.

Serenade has been working well. The problem is getting better, thanks also to the fact that I have been running my 400watt instead of T5s and keeping the temps up a bit. I will install a small oscillating fan soon as well. Little patches have been appearing but very sparsely.

I also added some beneficial microbes to the soil after i flushed it thoroughly. Really, if I provide an environment that the mold doesn't like, it might not die, but it won't appear on the surface, or very vigorously within the plant.

My room has filtered intakes. As I said, the problem was bringing clones in from another guys room. He's never noticed the problem because his room is not conducive to growing PM.

Anyways, I hope that this update helps some other poor bastard who's in the same boat, and I'll update as I flower so that we can learn some decent techniques to prevent it and inhibit it.

Oh! And also, "Kush" strains and other highly inbread indica sort strains are particularly succeptable to PM. I went for these PK clones because they were easy to get, and now I'm paying for it. My BurmeseXRomulan is uneffected. Grow diverse genetics, and we can all stop these problems for good!

I was talking to a friend with a really bad PM problem last night about it and he said that he used Serenade and it pretty much squared away the problem for him. At least enough to finish the grow with minor inconvenience. Neem Oil is a great all around preventative and pesticide. Keeping a room clean and using a good preventative maintenance practice will take care of most of the problems before they pop up. I use Neem Oil every other week and 1 week into flowering. But if PM manifests, I would try the Serenade. I have had friends use the baking soda mix and hurt their plants. Just be sure to keep an eye on your plants and if they show signs of stress, rinse them off and let them dry.

molds and mildew spread by air.. ventilation is important .. never add water or spray plants when lights are off. remove excess water. if mine i'd seperate them..

I had a problem with pm and used serenade and it does seem to take care of it. Also I have heard of ppl spraying there plants with serenade to get rid of it then they used a sulfer burner to keep it away. You could try that

I find it so weird that certain strains are so prone to this. I have several varieties going, and the ONLY one that keeps getting the PM is my purple kush also. I have excellent ventilation and low humidity. I find that neem oil makes it much harder for the PM to get started in the first place. But yeah, PM can really suck it.

A lot of good info on PM here. I'm going through the same problem, about 3 weeks into flowering. Milk & water spray helps, but only for a day. I'm going to try to find "green cure" and "serenade" as people seem to find these effective, as well as try to add a filter to my intake fan... Thanks for good info!

Alright. I'm waking this one from it's slumber for an update. I am about halfway through flower, and they are looking healthy. Around this time I start to reduce fertilizer and let a few leaves yellow. Other than that, they look great. The mildew has come back on a few leaves in the back corners, but if I keep on them with serenade, they seem to be doing well. It hasn't been affecting older fan leaves, or younger fresh growth and buds. Mostly middle sized slightly shaded leaves in back corners.
Since the fungus is in the plants, is it better to leave these leaves on for the fungus to gnaw on and get beaten back every few days, or should I remove them I wonder?
I have given two thorough aplications of seranade. I don't have a spreader-sticker, so I just put them in the shower and sprayed the hell out of them for a while from every angle.
Neem does little against this mildew. It is a great preventative though.
Many people seem to have have problems with pests and PK. My Romulan X Burmese is fine.
Reducing nitrogen ferts has also seemed to help. My plant is yellowing a bit too early, and my yield will suffer a tiny bit, but at least the pow pow is at bay!
I plan to do one more big spray down in two weeks, then continue to spot treat leaves until harvest. At one week before the chop, I will stop all serenade spraying, try to keep humidity way down, and if any bud gets attacked, I'll remove it and enjoy the rest of a sizeable harvest.
If the worst happens and I get a bunch of mildew in that last week, then I'll make a shitload of primo bubble hash. Bubble hash is safe for shroomy herb
Once done my harvest, I'm going to Dr. Doom my closet, put fresh filters in the intake, bleach clean everything, and start fresh from seed.

And remember, clones are dirty. My room is VERY clean, and I spray my plants with neem, and the mildewy clones came from a large clean commercial situation. If anyone ever offers you a clone, just stand up tall, yell "Stranger Danger! Stranger Danger!" and punch them as hard as you can in their vulnerability zone. (don't do this though)

If anyone ever offers you a clone, just stand up tall, yell "Stranger Danger! Stranger Danger!" and punch them as hard as you can in their vulnerability zone. (don't do this though)


BAHAHAHAHAHAH. I just actually laughed out loud at that.

thanks for the update rascality afoot. i've been using greencure instead of seranade, but it has also had great results. i applied (heavily) a week ago and just now i'm starting to see signs of PM return, like you said on the mid & small leaves that are inside the pot and shaded from the light. i didn't think of leaving those on for the spores to munch on... is that a good idea? in any case, i'm going to spray again in the next day or two and see how it goes -- i'm at 4 weeks of 12/12.

p.s. i also laughed out loud at the stranger danger thing haha

Well, I don't neccesarilly mean that I'm letting it run amok on the victim leaves. I spray it as soon as I see it, and it seems to return to the same area a few days later. Since the mildew is a symptom of an internal infection from the pest, I am concerned that removing these predictable problem areas will simply force the surface mildew into other potentially less visible spots. If anybody knows about this then I would love to know. I would gladly lose the problem leaves if it would seriously fuck with this mildew's furry little day.

Alright, waking this one up one more time. I cleaned my room, started from scratch, and life was so easy for a while. Two months ago I was horrified when I found that it had returned. That vile white fuzz. No strange plants have been allowed to touch my room, but I guess that spores came from somewhere. Stranger things have happened. Anyways, somebody introduced me to a product called "Diamond Nectar" from GH. I was skeptical, as upon reading up on the product, I found nothing to do with the mildew. I gave it a go anyways. His advice was simple: Flush the affected plants with water with HIGH PH (8 or so). Then water with diamond nectar thoroughly, also high PH water. Use the same high ph DN solution to spray the plants ALL OVER. While you have your plants out, clean your room out and replace filter sleeves or anything else that could harbor spores. After letting the plants chill in the high ph soil and solution for a while, and spraying them daily with the same solution, after two days you can flush them again with normal PH water and re-introduce you're normal feeding solution. It's been gone for well over a month. Anyone who has had PM will know, nothing works. This did. Seriously. I'd love to here it worked for someone else too, because then we can be pretty sure that it's legit. Happy mildew murdering everyone!

sulfur burner + 30-50%RH = NO PM