Milk spray

How it works

Milk proteins react with sunlight to produce free radicals that damage fungal spores, and the ferments compete with the mildew on the leaf surface.

Recipe

1 part milk to 9 parts water (any milk; skimmed is fine and smells less). Mix fresh.

How to apply

Spray on a SUNNY morning - the sunlight is part of how it works. Weekly on courgette, pumpkin, vine and cucumber from the moment the first spots show.

Targets — pests

Not recorded — the field is blank rather than guessed.

Targets — diseases

Powdery mildew

Supplies: Milk, 5 L pressure sprayer

Days to harvest after spraying: 0

Best months: not recorded

Cautions

Stronger than 1:9 can leave a smell and encourage harmless surface moulds. Not a fix for an advanced infection.

The thing people get wrong

This is the cheapest thing in the whole toolkit and it genuinely works on cucurbits - but only in sunlight. Sprayed at dusk it does almost nothing, which is why half the internet says it is a myth.