The most common fungal disease in cannabis cultivation is powdery mildew. The dirty-white shaded spores appear on leaf surfaces when environmental conditions become favorable for growth.
PM causes the host plant to deplete its energy reserves, decreasing yield and the quality of cannabis flowers. Recent scientific findings conclude that smoked spores pose a threat to a patient’s respiratory system.
For this reason, much of the legal and medical cannabis industries in the United States are upheld to rigorous testing standards that implement a Pass/Fail system when testing crops for powdery mildew residue.
When powdery mildew is first noticed in your grow room, the most effective approach is two pronged:
1. Adjust your grow environment to optimum conditions
2. Integrate a simple and repeatable IPM foliar schedule (IPM: Integrated Pest Management). This schedule should incorporate routine foliar applications of products that are generally recognized as safe by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
These government standards require that all ingredients contained in the product not only work well, but are safe for you, your plants, and the planet.
Optimum conditions for Powdery Mildew Growth:
High humidity is the initial culprit for any powdery mildew outbreak. Exacerbating the spore growth are fluctuating day/night time humidity levels. This promotes rapid spore proliferation throughout your grow environment. During the night cycle humidity generally rises. When humidity is continually maintained at a level above 60%, the conditions are favorable to spawn a fungal outbreak of Powdery Mildew.
When the cool wet night time air shifts to a warmer dryer day time climate, the powdery mildew spores are released into the air and find other plant hosts to colonize. This process initially goes unnoticed until colonization levels are high enough to become noticeable to the naked eye.
Optimum conditions to stop Powdery Mildew outbreaks:
Maintain a consistent humidity level and consistent temperature range!
Optimum conditions to stop Powdery Mildew outbreaks:
How to treat powdery mildew/ what kills powdery mildew:
There are many approaches to address powdery mildew outbreaks. However, few will permanently eliminate your powdery mildew issue. By implementing an aggressive and holistic approach, powdery mildew can be successfully managed. By using the right products, growers can safely eliminate PM and always pass testing while experiencing no loss of crop!
Novice growers first turn to the easiest, most inexpensive solutions. Baking soda, potassium bicarbonate, milk and sulfur are all applied to the leaf surface in a half-hearted attempt to neutralize the spores. Although some positive results can be noticed from these approaches, the benefits are minimal. Sometimes these rookie moves do more harm to the overall plant health when compared to the value-added by implementing these approaches to treat powdery mildew.
For long-lasting, easily repeatable foliar applications, a product containing essential oils and a coating mechanism is necessary. The essential oils will encapsulate and suffocate powdery mildew spores without being systemic to the systems of the plant. A long contact time coating mechanism like glycerin will help ensure that the product lasts long enough on the leaf surface to kill PM spores.
Picking the right product that finds the delicate balance between achieving the desired result and maintaining plant vitality is imperative to the perpetual success of any cannabis operation faced with a battle against powdery mildew. Any high quality essential oil based product you chose should also contain plant reinvigorating supplements like Citric acid and ascorbic acid. To ensure that your battle with PM does not become an unwinnable war, it’s important to rely on one proven non-systemic product that is potent enough to kill PM, beneficial enough to not cause additional plant stress, and cost effective enough to allow for continued use in your cultivation facility.
To ensure that your battle with PM does not become an unwinnable war, you should try a product that checks all the boxes listed above
Defender PM by Green Eagle Technologies contains all these important powdery mildew fighting qualities, is designed to simplify any IPM regime, and is recognized by the FDA as safe for use on cannabis or hemp crops.
