Dealing With Powdery Mildew: Does Ozonated Water Kill Powdery Mildew?

Posted by Eileen Durfee on 9th Aug 2022

Are you looking for a safe, effective, and environmentally-friendly way to get rid of powdery mildew on your plants?

Whether you’re a grower or an avid gardener, powdery mildew is no joke. Besides looking unsightly, powdery mildew presents serious health risks. Consuming plants that have been contaminated with it can cause respiratory infections or lung disease, especially for someone with a compromised immune system.

Powdery mildew is also difficult to get rid of, and it can easily wipe out an entire crop. In addition, once it begins to appear on your plants, it’s difficult to stop it from taking over.

Fortunately, ozonated water helps slow the spread of powdery mildew and can even prevent it altogether. In addition, it will work for plants and garden vegetables like broccoli and cucumbers. If you take a proactive approach using an ozone water treatment, you should be able to save your plants.

In this article, we’ll explore the effects of powdery mildew and the benefits of ozonated water. So keep reading to learn everything you need to know to get rid of powdery mildew with ozonated water.

What is Powdery Mildew?

As its name suggests, powdery mildew is a type of mildew that appears on plants in the form of a white floury covering. The “powder” consists of conidia, which is a type of spore produced by fungi.

More importantly, powdery mildew is a fungal disease that can affect a wide range of different plants. For example, many different species of fungi cause diseases that appear as powdery mildew in the order Erysiphales.

Perhaps the one good thing about powdery mildew is that, unlike some plant-infecting diseases, which can be difficult to diagnose, powdery mildew is easy to notice and identify. This is thanks to its distinctive symptoms, usually consisting of white powdery spots on the leaves and stems of affected plants.

Powdery mildew can spread rapidly. It can appear on any part of the plant above ground, and once it appears, it may spread to cover the entire plant. It can then spread to infect an entire garden or crop if it is not halted.

As a powdery mildew infection progresses, the white spots will become larger and denser. This is the result of new spores being formed, which reproduce and spread up and down the length of the plant.

The presence of powdery mildew can dramatically decrease crop yields, making it a particularly costly problem for large growers. And as we mentioned earlier, it can also cause serious health issues if consumed.

There are a few different causes of powdery mildew. The most common are probably a lack of sunlight and poor air circulation. This may explain why powdery mildew tends to be a frequent problem for greenhouse farmers.

If your plants are growing too close together, are too moist, or don’t get enough sun exposure, that could explain why you see powdery mildew.

How Does Ozonated Water Work?

As you can see, powdery mildew is a common problem and a serious one. It can appear on multiple types of plants, often due to poor sunlight or air circulation.

But how can you stop the spread of powdery mildew when it appears? Better yet, how can you prevent it altogether?

As you may have gathered, keeping your plants properly spaced and providing sufficient sunlight is a good first step. But that won’t prevent all cases, especially if there are other environmental factors outside your control.

Fortunately, powdery mildew is no match for the effectiveness of ozonated water.

Ozonated water is water that has been purified using ozone treatments. Ozone water treatment consists of dissolving ozone gas, a powerful oxidizing agent, in water. After the water has been oxidized, the ozone gas turns into oxygen, making the water safe to use and even drink.

Ozone water treatments are essentially a form of water purification. The process kills bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi, resulting in very healthy water. But what’s even more amazing is that, despite being safe to drink, ozonated water is an effective fungicide.

Ozonated water has been shown to prevent and kill powdery mold without harming the plants. This is due to ozone’s fungicidal qualities, which make it an effective mold killer.

Ozone is composed of three oxygen molecules. This unique makeup allows it to bind with mold spores and alter them, killing the cells that make up the mold. Ozonated water can be sprayed on any surface to prevent mildew growth.

This is excellent news for health-conscious gardeners who prefer to raise plants without chemicals. And as a bonus, ozonated water has many health benefits to plants due to its high oxygen level.

Get Started With Ozonated Water Treatments

And with that, you now know everything you need to get started treating your plants for powdery mildew with ozonated water. Whether you buy ozonated water or make it yourself, ozone water treatments provide a simple way to protect your plants against mildew, both for growers and backyard gardeners.

Of course, killing powdery mildew is just the beginning. Negative ions and ozone have many positive effects on plants, helping improve quality and increase yield. Check out our products for growers to see how our water ozonators and ionic refreshers can help improve your crops.