Using neem oil in flowering stage to control powdery mildew

I began noticing powdery mildew on my outdoor plants in the second week of flowering. I have treated the plants twice with Neem oil and it seems to have worked well in controlling it. After reading other posts will my flowers be ruined? Or can I do anything to lessen the as affect of the oil on the flowers before harvest? I still feel they have several more weeks to go. I don't plan to apply it again but would be open to suggestions to control the mildew. Someone recommended copper fungicide.

Welcome to RIU

Don't spray neem or copper soap on buds. I've recently been using Garden Friendly Fungicide, but only in early flower. It is a bacteria strain that attacks fungus ***see the article.



Good luck! Peace

in flowering phase you shouldn’t spray your plants with neem or copper imo. whatever you spray will stay in there between the calyxes. you can control and i underline ”control” pm with a potassium bicarbonate and water solution.

No, keep the spray away in flower. Unless you like the taste of Neem.

I didnt see whay the flowers look like but if youbare early into flowering it shouldnt have a negative result you spray with neem the same day as harvest if you needed to as it wont hurt you but it will make the bud taste like that terrible smell.. good luck!!!

Thanks for all the feed back. You are all awesome. I'll plan to monitor them closely for the final weeks of flowering and use a potassium bicarbonate solution if needed. How often should I apply that type of solution to control powdery mildew? Also could I use Neem oil on the ground cover around my plants aggressively and have it not affect the flowers? I feel like they were the culprit to begin with. I attached some photos of the plants about a week ago and a sample of the average extent of pm on the leaves of the plants.

Potassium Bicarb will burn your pistils, but you there isn't really any better option during flower. I'd recommend testing your spray on a bud or branch before spraying the entire plant-that way you can see the results and judge for yourself whether you want to continue. I'd spray a second time a few days after the first application, then hold off and see how it does. Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide is good to remember for prevention in the future, as is Hyshield Chitosan (made by sipco), also for prevention.

What about using a diatenacious earth or hydrogen peroxide mixture? Will they damage the flowers just as much?