White powdery mildew is a type of fungus that affects cannabis growth by limiting photosynthesis, until the plant dies. The worst part is that once it appears, it can spread like weeds and kill the entire harvest if not taken care of early on.

So, the first question that stems its head is, where does this thing even come from?

As surprising as it is, powdery mildew travels via wind and any other living organism that includes your dogs, cats, and even you. Unless the conditions aren’t suitable for growth, it won’t appear. But once it finds suitable conditions – high humidity, crowded space, and less sunshine – there’s no stopping it.

That said, despite measures, if it still appears to happen, you need to identify the signs early.

• If you see white or gray powdery spores on leaves, it’s time to start the cure already.
• If the leaves get yellow, pale, and wilt for no reason, but you can’t spot mildew on the leaves, look under them. A lot many times it is present under the leaves and, thus, goes unnoticed.

Now comes the first solution and that is prevention.

It is best if you can just prevent it by following the steps below.

• Make sure you don’t overcrowd the space. Give each plant plenty of room.
• When indoor, make sure they see at least 5 hours of sunlight. You can use UV lights for the same.
• If outdoors in areas that receive less sunshine, use autoflowering seeds that depend on less sunshine.
• If you use general seeds in areas that are naturally hot and humid, choose the location where there’s 12 hours of sunshine every day.

If it still appears despite efforts, you can get rid of it in the following ways – they work out best when the fungus is spotted early.

Natural Method to Kill Mildew

• As soon as you see white spores on the first leaf, remove that plant. Make sure you use something like a plastic bag when removing the affected plants so that mildew doesn’t find its way to the surrounding plants.
• Use a mixture of baking soda, vegetable oil, water, and liquid soap to make a potent anti-fungal solution. Spread it on all the surrounding leaves – once you remove the mildew affected leaves – very generously.
• You can spray the plants with a homemade solution of water and milk every tenth day. The only precaution is that you use it under sunshine.
• Neem oil, cinnamon oil, ginger oil, and cinnamon oil are also effective in killing mildew in the early stages.

All in all, preventing and killing mildew is quite a painstaking process. But, if you want your crops to flourish, you have to take extra care and stay vigilant as soon as the conditions get humid.