I Sprayed Bicarbonate Of Soda On Milldue With Liquid Soap And Its Gone Wrong.

[Rotweiller]

Hello All.
I`ve had a mold problem due to the high humidity in the greenhouse so i read that Bicarbonate of Soda mixed with water could fix it. the article also said about using Liquid Soap to help it stick to the leaves as well as helping to keep pests away.
I mixed 1 teaspoon of each in to 1 liter of water and sprayed my 2 baby`s lightly but now they look really ill.
Here is a Before and After Photo to see how bad it went wrong.
Please could someone help me diagnose what went wrong and How to fix it ? I`ve Never grown anything before and i have No budget to buy supply`s so it`s got to be on the cheap or free if it can be fixed.

Many Thanks for having a look for me.

 

[Luger187]

i posted this in the other thread you were in. ill put it here too

hey rot... looks like that baking soda did something to them. BTW, that is an alkaline substance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate
for the amount you put in, which that amount of water, it probably made it very alkaline.

im not sure how Ph affects the leaves if you foliar spray, but that seems to be what happened. respray it with PLAIN water, and maybe flush them too. that drooping to me looks like overwatering(dont flush if it is), but if the soil is dry, it could be a part of the Ph issue due to the spray. if so, flush out the soil with plain water also. now that i look at the pics again, that soil looks pretty wet

 

[Luger187]

heres some links to get started on how to take care of the plants. its a LOT more than just putting it in the ground and adding water

plant problems(skip the big list of questions at the top on the first link)
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/fertilizer/nutri_def.html

about Ph. its kind of technical
http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/ph.htm

edit: also, never be afraid to ask about a problem you have with the plants. nobody knows everything, and we all need help sometimes. especially on our first grows. god i had so many problems lol. sometimes you think you know how to fix the problem, but it ends up causing disaster after you do it, because you misdiagnosed the problem. but if you had 5 other ppl saying its something else, you may rethink your original diagnosis. just FYI

good luck!

 

[Magnoliobud]

Ive used baking soda on plants b4 with powdery mildew.. I Used 1tbls baking soda + 3 drops of liquid dish soap for 1 quart spray bottle... it kept the mildew at bay but of course it didnt kill it....

 

[Shadeslay]

I've used it as well, only word of cation I can verify, is don't spray it on bud hairs.

 

[Rotweiller]

Thank you Luger187 for your help and information on the other websites. although it meant a Lot of Reading it was well worth every minute of it ;o) I now feel a lot more confident with my girls although i think i will still be asking you guys (and girls) for a bit more help every now and then. You said in your first reply that my soil looked pretty wet and yes you were right. they had`nt been watered for 3 days and the first thing that i thought of after seeing how bad they looked was to give them a flush with clean water to get the Bicarb and Soap out of the soil. I only used half a liter to see if it made a difference and i also Sprayed the leaves with plane water as well. Here is an update of photos from today (Saturday 18 June) and i`ve also given them a proper Flush with approx 5 liters each of clean water. Fingers crossed that they get better soon. (This was done after i took the photos)

 

[Kingrow1]

The flush has helped, plants look better, 3 days and the pot is still wet is normal, should go a week almost without needing a watering in those pots. Maybe the flush corrected the pH as well or the soil was too hot with ferts for the plant. Either way a flush has helped.

You get milldew on the plants, no reason why you can't stop this happening in the first place. Why have you got milldew anyway, humid growroom? overwatering? not a sterile environment? Solve the problem and then you will never have to spray with bicarb of soda.

 

[Rotweiller]

Thank you Shadeslay. I will bare that in mind for when or if it happens again. God i hope it does`nt happen again coz it scared the life out of me when i saw how poorly they looked. Fingers crossed that we All grow Perfect Ladies from now on ;o)

 

[Kingrow1]

I think i see why you get the mildew problem, these plants are in an outside plastic greenhouse right? Whats the temps and humidity? Been lots of rain recently? A max/min humidity meter and thermometer would help if you don't have one. Peace

 

[Rotweiller]

Thank you Kingrow1. I live in Wales also on top of a mountain so leaving the door open on my greenhouse would be fatal (it would take off like a kite) as you know, we have had some Hot weather for a change and i`ve got a lot of Fruit & Veg also in the greenhouse that need a lot of water. I think thats what is causing the high humidity. I`m going to have to find a way of putting a vent or something in the roof of the greenhouse that the wind cannot get too.

 

[Rotweiller]

The Temperature on average is around 80f although it did go up to 135f a couple of weeks ago. Night time Temp`s are the worst coz it can drop down to around 65f when windy. I think i need to get a heater.

 

[Luger187]

a small fan would work for the humidity. if you dont want to spend a lot, maybe use it as an exhaust fan(sucking up the air in the room, and spitting it out). then make some openings on the opposite side of the greenhouse. this way you dont need an intake and exhaust. dehumidifier may also work.

before all this, grab a humidity meter to see how bad it gets. and a temperature one too while your at it. high humidity can destroy a crop from mold. imagine when those girls are flowering. the buds will get wrecked if you dont fix it

edit: notice the color of the spots on the leaves. both in your first post, and now. i think that lighter brown color they have now is a good sign. plus theyre not drooping as much

 

[Kingrow1]

Easy to solve and probably stop when the wether gets better but yes find out the humidity, maybe even bring the plants in at night for the worst part. Solve this and never have the dreaded milldew again, it will be worse on the buds when they form believe you me! Good luck

 

[Beansly]

Yeah man, you made it too stron is all. Idk how baking soda you're supposed to use buy I know your only supposed to add a few drops of dish soap in a L of water.

 

[Kingrow1]

And the right type of dishsoap i think helps, some are bad for the plants.

 

[Rotweiller]

Thank you Guys. you`ve been fantastic help ;o) i`m off to the Garden center down the road to see what they have got for me. But first my dinner is ready. lol.... Thank you all sooooo much.....

 

[mellokitty]

soapburn. that's what the little gray patches are.
that is a LOT of soap ... a couple drops/liter should do. and, whenever you use soap, make sure to rinse it off, whether it's right away or something you want to leave on for a while (this applies to using it as a wetting agent as well). as much as you can, spray when it's dark or, if you're concerned about 'nighttime' rh, right before daybreak (any lubricant that remains on the leaf during sunlight will act as a magnifier).
ultimately, rinse/wipe with clean water. soap clogs stomata. and NEVER NEVER use antibac soap in a foliar spray. (not saying you did, but for future reference, bad idea.) i keep a bottle of unscented castile liquid soap on hand to use on the Ladies.
i've never heard of baking soda spray doing anything to the plants except maybe leaving white patches (like watermarks) that come off with a wipe.

i live on what is commonly known as the "wet coast" (weSt coast) of bc, we deal with LOTS of mildews and molds.
i find that milk is more effective against powdery mildew: you make a 1:10 solution with some skim milk (no soap) and use that as a foliar spray. along with changing the leaf surface ph, milk also has an enzyme in it that kills mildew. (part of the immunity-building properties of mammal milk).
on a full-out infestation you can use phUp as a spray, but that can have mixed results and i wouldn't recommend it unless you were facing the possibility of losing your crop to pm anyway.
also: in the future, on girls of that size you could just take whatever solution you're using and manually *wipe the effected leaves. this will prevent both overspray and spray-runoff problems.

@luger: for mildew, the idea with baking soda is exactly that, to change the ph of the leaf surface. pm likes neutrality, too high or too low ph (temporarily), and it'll simply FALL off.

 

[Wetdog]

Yeah man, you made it too stron is all. Idk how baking soda you're supposed to use buy I know your only supposed to add a few drops of dish soap in a L of water.

Yeah, a few drops/liter. A tsp was way too much.

Unscented Ivory is the prefered dish soap to use..

Wet

 

[Rotweiller]

Thank you mellokitty for your Very informative reply to my over zealous spraying with soap and bicarb. I really wish i had asked you all here on RIU what to do before jumping in with both feet. At least i now know that the other two websites that said they knew how to grow mj are about as reliable as a Fart in a Wind Factory...
The Question i have now though is When can i start with the Ferts again ? Normally i would add fert`s on a Saturday but as i have flushed them properly today would you say leave it a week as normal ?

 

[jawbrodt]

Indeed, way too much soap. All you need is a drop, just enough to break the surface tension of the water, so that it doesn't bead up. I use Dawn, myself, without any issue from chemicals, bleaches, etc.....