SERIES 17 | Episode 12

Isn't it amazing, that two of the most effective of the old fashioned fungicides you can make yourself at home and they work brilliantly.

These fungicidal sprays were developed in France, originally as a means of controlling problems of mildew on grape vines. They are also useful as relatively safe means of controlling leafcurl disease of peach and nectarine trees, brown rot of stonefruit, raspberry leaf rust and other fungal diseases of plants.

Gloves, face protection and other protective clothing should be worn by anyone with a sensitive skin or allergy both during the mixing and spraying operations. Keep ingredients and the mixtures secure, labelled and out of reach of children.

The recipes are full strength and must never be used on plants when in leaf as foliage burn can occur. The sprays are used at leaf fall in late autumn or early winter and again just before the leaves appear in late winter or spring, usually in late July and early August.

Bordeaux Mixture

1. Dissolve 100 gram of builders' (hydrated) lime in half a standard (plastic) bucket of water. (About 5 litres).


2. Dissolve 100 grams copper sulphate (available at garden centres) in a separate half bucket of water.


3. Keeping the lime mixture agitated to prevent settling, pour it steadily into the half bucket of dissolved copper sulphate.


4. If necessary add enough extra water to make up a total of 10 litres. This is Bordeaux mixture. It is at its most effective strength when freshly mixed so must be used immediately or within a couple of days.


5. It is sprayed to completely cover the main (bare) branches of peach, nectarine and other stone fruit trees to help control leaf curl and brown rot disease. It is also sprayed over raspberry canes in late July for control of raspberry rust.


6. Bordeaux mixture colours the sprayed plants blue. The spray can withstand light rain. However a disadvantage with this mixture is that it tends to quickly settle so must be constantly agitated during spraying operations. The lime content also tends to easily block the fine nozzles of sprayers.

Burgundy Mixture

This is virtually the same except that lime is replaced by washing soda (cheaply available at supermarkets in 1kg packets as a water softener).

The amounts are the same, as is the method of mixing. Always use non-metal buckets - standard 10 litre plastic buckets are ideal. If the water is slightly warm the washing soda and the copper sulphate dissolve more rapidly.

Slowly pour half a bucket of (100 grams) dissolved washing soda into half a bucket of (100 grams) dissolved copper sulphate and add more water if necessary to make up 10 litres.

The advantage of Burgundy mixture is that it does not block sprayer nozzles. It is also a little stronger and must never be used on plants in leaf.

(DISCLAIMER: BORDEAUX AND BURGUNDY MIXTURES HAVE BEEN SAFELY USED FOR MANY YEARS. THESE RECIPES AND THE WAY THEY ARE MIXED AND USED ARE SUGGESTED HERE AS A MATTER OF GENERAL INTEREST AND INFORMATION. WE ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOW THEY ARE MIXED, USED OR STORED OR ANY ADVERSE OR OTHER EFFECTS THEY MAY HAVE ON PEOPLE, PLANTS OR THE ENVIRONMENT.)