A popular gardener is showing his followers an interesting way to stop powdery mildew from taking over your plants.
Patrick Vernuccio (@thefrenchiegardener), an urban gardening author who boasts 880,000 followers, is showing the world simple hacks to level up their gardens.
"Don't be afraid to cut all the infested leaves," Vernuccio says in the clip.
The scoop
The video begins with Vernuccio telling viewers that they "probably have powdery mildew on your plants."
He goes on to explain how the white dots on the leaves of your plants are known as "powdery mildew." This mildew can kill cucumber, squash, or melon plants, in addition to many other garden staples.
The first step, he says, is to cut the infested leaves from the plant. Second, we should mix water and milk in a jar and then put it in a sprayer.
"Spray on the plant for prevention and don't forget the back of the leaves," he adds.
How it's helping
Hacks like this are a better alternative than using chemicals on plants since they can be toxic and can end up seeping through the dirt and polluting our water.
The U.S. discards around 40 million tons of plastic waste every single year, while only 5% of it gets recycled.
After our plastic is thrown out, much of it goes into a landfill, while a significant percentage ends up in our waterways and oceans, taking centuries to decompose and negatively impacting the health of marine animals and humans.
Plus, canned and other packaged foods may contain various chemical contaminants, including metals that aren't good for our health.
What everyone's saying
Viewers had no shortage of comments and questions.
"You might have just saved my cucumbers," one person wrote.
"I've found that water with a tiny amount of vinegar works well too," another added. That may be a good alternative to milk, which may not be toxic but brings about a host of environmental problems.
Another commenter expressed how this is "perfect timing since my plants are showing signs of mildew."
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