Growers Spray Crops With Milk

Growers Spray Crops With Milk SPRAYING Miscellaneous 28-3-35 Spraying vegetable crops with milk is a promising new way to control powdery mildew, according to organic growers who've tried it in Australia. The discovery was made at the Yanco Agricultural Institue in New South Wales when researchers started looking for an alternative to sulphur, which is what many organic growers use to control mildew. Sulphur is an inexpensive and effective fungicide but new organic regulations may outlaw it. Researchers applied milk as a cover spray in pumpkins and found it significantly reduced the incidence of the fungal disease, which causes leaves to wither, reducing yields and exposing the crop to sunburn. The researchers also tried other methods, including potassium carbonate. But none of the alternative methods worked as well as milk. (Town and Country Farmer)

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.