Once the conditions change for the fungus it will probably not be a problem. Spray it with soapy water, rinse, let dry - it should be safe for the cat. Brooke

Unfortunately I can't put my finger on anything I did differently as far as the SVB goes. The plants were yellow crookneck from Pinetree Seeds and I started them inside about 4/15 and transplanted out about 6/1. I haven't had any difficulties with SVB on anything else but summer squash and zucchini. I planted more SS and zucchini later in case of SVB, but the powdery mildew has seemed to be holding them back but not completely killing them. In fact the other day I fertilized them again and watered them deeply and this afternoon I noticed new leaves that are, at least for the present, free of mildew. I never gave up on the Serenade untill the plants were all but dead. I did not start using it in time is what I am thinking, but I was under the false impression at the time that with the dry weather there really shouldn't be any problem. I guess I was spoiled by last year as I had little problem, although it does show up most years and I should know better. The other problem is I hate to spray ANYTHING on my plants organic or not. Happy Gardening, Tom

I've never had PM on my catnip, but I used diluted milk on the PM that was on my zucchini and cucumbers this year. It did slow it down, but didn't stop it completely. Could you post a picture of your plant? I have two pots of catnip that I brought in for my cats. They have smaller leaves now due to less light, are sitting next to a small lamp with a compact flo bulb, and I have chicken wire cages wrapped around them to keep the cats from eating them down to the nubbin'. They keep the plants trimmed down to the cage. The plants also get 'very' dry between waterings, and we keep the apartment at least 70 degrees most of the time. Do you have catnip seeds? I would start some new plants in new medium asap for back-up in case the current one succumbs to the PM. HTH

Basil is one thing Ive never had powdery mildew on. Really glad for that, since itÂs an eatin type thing! Several years ago I did get it really bad on the peas, but that was towards the end, and since I wasnÂt eating the pods, I just washed them off and ate the peas anyway! HavenÂt seen it on the peas again since thenÂand I think that was one of the years I wasnÂt around here to water regularly, so they were way stressed that year. Jennifer, lots of weeds, and bindweed in particular, can get mildew really, really badÂespecially when theyÂre/itÂs not getting water and is stressed, based on my experience at my last houseÂwhere there was a whole (unseen from the house) "field" of it that I mostly ignored since it was a rental house! Maybe you should do a better job of watering your weeds! LOL! I do recommend you keep cutting and pulling themÂjust to keep it from reaching critical mass! Ka-boom! There goes Nederland! Most of my little omnipresent purple violas are starting to get it by the time they reach middle age, and as soon as I see it, I just pull them out and toss them in the trash! There are ALWAYS more to replace them! I havenÂt had a serious problem with it on any of my perennials since I got rid of my Scabiosa a few years back. From my observations, I still stand by my theory that the more stressed a plant is, the more likely it is to get mildewÂand various other maladies. So I try to keep most things well watered, and to keep dead, dying, and damaged leaves cleaned off, and get things cut down pretty promptly when they finish blooming. But IÂm going to resurrect a thread from Â07 where we were discussing mildew and some of the possible options for dealing with it! I never got back for a final report at the end of that thread, so here it is! The baking soda I was experimenting with didnÂt seem to work any better or any worse than the commercial topical fungicides I had tried in the past. It had to be sprayed over and over and over, and then there was a white residue from the baking soda, which didnÂt look much better than the mildew, but at least didnÂt seem to damage the foliage! I gave up on the baking soda the same as I had given up on the commercial stuff. But at least the baking soda was way cheaper than the store-bought stuff! Then I tried the milk solution Digit brought up above. That pretty much had the same result as the baking soda and everything else I had tried. It had to be applied over and over and over, and while it seemed to help somewhat when I kept applying it, as soon as I stoppedÂMILDEW! Gave up on that too! My final solution for the Scabiosa that was NEVER without mildew, no matter how young the leaves were and no matter how well it was taken care of, was to dig it up and throw it in the trash! No more mildew on the Scabiosa! With basil, I guess IÂd recommend cutting it WAY back, and trying the baking soda or milk spray just to keep it going long enough to get some useable basil. Keeping it well watered, and washing it off thoroughly with the hose when youÂre watering it may help too, and definitely wonÂt hurt. IÂm still not convinced that wet foliage is the main promoter of mildew, but just to be sure, IÂd recommend the watering and washing early enough that the foliage is well dried before dark! (IÂm not convinced of the wet foliage theory, because several times when I was back in HIGH HUMIDITY, wet all the time, Illinois, roses and other things I expected to see COVERED with mildew, had NONE! In my head, that really messed with the theory that too much moisture on the foliage was the cause of mildew!) So hereÂs the link to the old thread which has some good info and some possible things to try. Good luck with the basil, Skybird