To control powdery mildew and other fungi, use a mix of powered milk in water. Spray both under and top sides of leaves. So far I have found this to be a very useful solution for fungus on tomato plants, chile plants, cucumber and squash plants! I use about a 50 percent milk solution. I have had no problems with the leaves burning. Leaves already infected generally still die back, but the newer leaves are staying healthy.

Alternative method:
To control powdery mildew and other similar fungi, use 1 tsp baking soda in 1 quart of water and spritz the leaves top and bottom. Spray leaves at first sign of the mildew. As the name implies, powdery mildew looks like a fine layer of white or a water spot–white halo spots on leaves. Crepe Myrtle gets powdery mildew in Texas quite often. I spray when the myrtles begin showing leaves in the spring. Snap peas and snow peas also have this problem when the temperature hits about 78. Again, you’ll have the best luck if you spray early.

Because Baking soda isn’t good for the soil, do not overspray. The baking soda changes the pH on the leaves and inhibits the growth of mildews.

I often put a tsp of soap in with the baking soda–the soap works as an insecticide for soft bodied bugs (aphids, some stages of thripes, etc). Use liquid hand soap–not dishwashing soap or detergents.

Tomatoes and other plants can also get a mildew although it is a different type. The leaves turn yellow from the bottom of the plant up. Little brown circles are often on the yellow leaves. The fruit will continue and be unharmed, but a spritz of the milk solution (or baking soda) can help. Note that some bugs such as spider mites will cause yellowing of the leaves from the bottom up.

Update Some recommendations advise using milk one week and baking soda the next. Thus far, I’m having better luck with the milk–it doesn’t burn the plants in 90 degree weather and seems to work better. The baking soda solution works also and has the added benefit of killing bugs when I put soap in the mix–however I have had some leaves burn pretty badly. I read that the milk solution works best against the mildew during sunny days because something in the ultraviolet gets the action started that kills the mildew. A similar milk solution with flour added is rumored to kill spider mites. I’m hoping that the milk alone might kill them also as spider mites are always trying to get a hold on my garden!

I had fearsome slug problems in Houston. The slug bait works well—but it kills birds. I had several dead baby birds (they tend to be feeding on the ground during their “learning to fly” stage.) They eat the bait because the poison is hidden in grain.

Best solution is to put the slug bait in a plastic bottle (soda type bottle). Put the lid on, and cut a hole (slug door) in the side of the bottle about half way down. Bury the bottle up to the slug door. The slugs will crawl in and eat the bait. The birds will not.

Dispose of the whole bottle when a few slugs have made it their graveyard.

Note: Beer does not kill slugs. They are attracted to the beer, and they probably drink it. They also swim around in it and out the other side because I’ve watched them do this. A deeper container just seemed to make their stay last longer. I never actually saw any of them drown.

Second Note: Don’t use salt. It does kill slugs, but it ruins the soil for all other things you are trying to grow. Slugs weren’t much of a problem in the hill country, but I haven’t tried growing strawberries yet, a favorite food of slugs!

All you Texas gardeners, the first spider mites have been sighted! Time to get out the soapy water and spritze the underside of leaves before they web the plants and suck all the juice out of the leaves!

What are spider mites? Tiny little insects (not actual spiders–oh that they were!) These nasty beasts eat the sap of leaves and multiply very, very quickly, generally destroying one plant at a time in the garden. This year (in Austin) like last year, the variety that is in my garden is a red spider mite. The red spider mite looks like tiny red dot on the underside of snow peas, snap peas, tomato plants, raspberries, juniper trees, etc. If you see webbing near the top of a young juniper tree later in the season–where there is new growth, it’s usually spider mites. The juniper trees can generally handle the mites unless it’s a very dry year when the mites can kill the tree.

How to spot them? You can see them with the naked eye if you know what to look for, but they are difficult to see. They are generally near the bottom of the plants–lower leaves. The lower leaves may be starting to yellow. If there are eggs, this looks like a smattering of dust tucked under the leaves–very light brownish/beige dust. There may be what looks like a tiny web across the back of such leaves. The mites themselves can be beige, brown, red, or brown with a couple of spots (you won’t see any spots unless you’re using a magnifying glass). Some people say you can put a white sheet of paper under a leaf or two and tap on the leaf and see if mites fall off. I think the suckers cling to the leaves, so you’re better off looking for yellow spots and webbing on the leaves or using a magnifying glass to inspect the lower leaves.

What to do? Neem Oil or soap and water work well against these pests. If you spray now, you’ll need to repeat in 7 days and again in 7 days. I generally do a day, wait three, wait 4, then wait 7, but I use soapy water and it’s about as mild as it gets when it comes to insecticides. (1 Tbp liquid hand soap to 1/2 gallon of water.)

You can also look for an insecticide that is specifically for spider mites. Some of the broader, general sprays don’t work very well against them. Mites are hard to control–but if you start now, you’ll have a better garden!!!

I’m not big on spraying for pests and try to be organic. A few things I did learn—spider mites are prevalent in both Houston and the hill country—and most organic solutions and generic sprays including pyrethrins and malathion sprays didn’t do much against them. I even tried getting natural predators shipped to me. The predators either died because of the heat or left because of it, and the spider mites multiplied faster than a barnyard full of rabbits.

Find a spray specifically for spider mites. Most plant nurseries carry the specific insecticide—Home Depot type places did not. The spider mite spray worked very well—it was from Greenlight. I say was, because it is no longer available. If you can find something specific to just spider mites it will probably work well—spray before you see serious signs of mites. I’m using Neem Oil at the moment (also from Greenlight and I think Garden Safe also makes a neem oil product).

If you have a juniper tree (this includes cedar) dying from what looks like drought, it’s probably spider mites. Neem oil works on spider mites, but is a contact spray so you must spray 7 days apart to keep infestations down. Also, if you have had mites in the past, spray before you see any mite damage.

In some ways insecticidal soap works better than neem oil. Both pesticides have to be sprayed 7 days apart to work and you have to keep after them constantly. After trying both, I think the soap worked better, but I was spraying it more often than seven days apart. Also, any pesiticide should be used before it is too hot.

I’ve also had infestations of thripes—Sevin dust seems to work the best, but below I’ve described a few things that I tried that also worked–but they were more work. Lots more work in some cases.

Neem oil (or insecticidal soap instead of the neem oil)–Neither product is harmful to humans, fish, lizards or anything except bugs. Using the spray seemed to kill and discourage ants, thripes and aphids. I tried diatomaceous earth but it didn’t bother ants at all and killed little else except for maybe the aphids. It is tedious to use because you have to reapply after every rain and sometimes more often, depending on your watering methods. I used a basting brush to apply the diatomaceous earth on the undersides of leaves, but if your garden is large, this could be beyond tedious and frankly, I don’t think it killed enough to be worth the effort. Ants laughed and crawled right across the stuff and I saw no effect on thripes either. It may have killed some nightworms that were eating my tomato plant leaves

Most insecticidal sprays don’t get rid of thripes because they spend a lot of time down in the soil. The sprays will kill the ones out on the plant, but the majority are in hiding and they will just keep coming out and attacking when you aren’t looking, so you will have to spray once a week and early in the season to keep this bug from getting out of hand.

Bad Thripe Infestation—A malathion spray killed whatever it hit, but it wasn’t killing anything by the next day–more bugs were back and the population seemed to be growing rapidly. I finally settled on insecticidal soap for seven days in a row. I actually bought the Safer brand, but you can also use two to five tablespoons of liquid Dial in a gallon of water (I used that in Houston—the amount of soap depends on what you are trying to kill).

The soap killed everything on the plant on contact, but it took about 5 to 7 days before the number of bugs died down to zero. This product is generally pretty friendly to the environment, but can “burn” the plants if overused or if used during the hot part of the year. I try to get control of the bugs before the temperatures hit 90—after that I have to be very careful if I spray insecticides at all.

For the first two days, I was spraying first thing in the morning and again in the evening. The bugs were so bad that the blossoms were half eaten and none of the chiles were setting. By the third and fourth day I was spraying only in the evenings and most of the bugs were gone, but I could still see thripes hiding in the blossoms. By day seven, I was spotting no bugs and the chiles were setting rather than dropping off. Usually once the bug population is under control I don’t have too many problems.