Wednesday, May 5, 2010

mini-update about the mold thing

I had completely forgotten to mention also sour milk (or fresh or powdered milk) is also an anti-fungal.

I remembered this when I opened my fridge today and noticed the leftover milk from making yogurt with (if you want the simple, super awesome recipe just ask! It's so easy and magic) had gone bad.


Did a little research and found a nice little science for backup. (note especially the 30% dilution mention)

Also having slipped my memory (as I don't have to deal with problem often, and once you find one thing that works you sort of stick with it) is that chamomile tea, garlic solutions, and cinnamon solutions (or powder) are also an purported method of mold/mildew prevention/treatment.

So, cuppa chamomile-garlic-cinnamon-milk tea anyone?  (I'm sort of seriously thinking of doing this)

This fact made me whip up a dust of powdered milk, ground cinnamon and garlic powder (NOT SALT) which I sprinkled at the base of my house plants in hope that it will drive away any pests.

This would be interesting to use in a solution as long as you filter it ahead... gunked up sprayers are no fun.

Other helpful links:
http://www.yougrowgirl.com/tips_disease.php
 http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/columns/cut_flowers/2005/0505/disease.shtml
 http://www.ghorganics.com/page15.html

3 comments:

Sylvana said...

I was just thinking about milk. I have just lost a couple broccoli plants to damping off and was considering spraying everything with a milk mixture to solve that issue. As far as the broccoli goes, I had extra, so I'm not crying over those.

Angie said...

I would love to have the simple recipe....please? :) I'm always looking for home solutions rather than 'remedies' from a store. Thanks bunches for sharing with us!

persephone said...

@Sylvana: 1) love your name and 2)Lucky you have extra! Mine all bolted up now, the bees love the flowers, and it's not as though I can't eat it in that stage, but I figure I'll just save the seed. Mine grew uncovered through winter and it's nice to watch hardy plants progress though the cold.

@Angie: Hi Angie! Which simple recipe were you wanting? Some of the links have some good recipes, but my garlic powder-milk-cinnamon thing was essentially a 1-1-1 ratio, though a bit less cinnamon because I love it so (even though I get it in bulk at Costco). I was observing some fungus gnats I unfortunately have in a clear glass pot of mine (no drain hole, bad and I need to repot the orchid that's in it after it's done flowering) avoid going to the surface of the potting mix that I sprinkled well with this stuff even though I put tempting potato slices on top of the mix the night before. Usually those gnat larvae love potato slices, so that was an interesting observation. Hope that helps!