If you are a Jade plant parent and looking for a natural homemade fungicide for your Jade plant problems, join me in this post. After searching on Google, I found baking soda and vinegar for jade plant problems especially fungal diseases like powdery mildew, grey mold, and pests like aphids and fungus gnats. As I’m a horticultural consultant (I have a PhD in plant protection science), in this post, I want to discuss the vigor and hazards of using baking soda and vinegar in treating jade plants, I also will give you an instruction to use them. let’s get going.
Is Good Baking Soda and Vinegar for Jade Plant?
Vinegar is not a fertilizer and can only work as a fungicide. As you know, Vinegar is acidic, and in high concentrations, it can damage plants. Hence, spraying high concentrations of vinegar on leaves can cause leaf damage, yellowing, and so on. If you want to use it, you must dilute it as I’ll tell you in the next part.
About baking soda, it is a salt defined as sodium bicarbonate. While some types of salts can be beneficial to plants, sodium bicarbonate is not on the preferred list. Baking soda has a drying effect and it is non-selective, meaning it can kill any plant it comes into contact with, including your lawn, flowers, and vegetables, if used incorrectly.
In addition, while spraying baking soda, may drench and add salt to the soil, raising alkalinity to a level too high for most plants. High pH can block the roots from taking up other important soil nutrients needed for optimum health. Overuse can cause plants to wilt, dry up and die.
Are Baking Soda and Vinegar Effective Against Jade Plant Problems?
I read various Articles about the effect of Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) on controlling fungal diseases like Grey mold, Anthracnose, Penicillium, Fusarium, and so on.
For example, Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) showed antimicrobial activity against Penicillium digitatum on citrus fruit (Smilanick et al., 1999). However, it is a poor eradicator that does not kill spores and its inhibitory action is not very persistent.
In addition, Palmer et al. (1997) found that Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) could inhibit the colony growth of Botrytis cinerea at concentrations as low as 20 mM. Similar research has also been done on vinegar for controlling plant diseases and pests.
I also asked some gardeners about the vigor of Baking Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar to control disease and tiny bugs in houseplants. Most believe that Baking Soda and vinegar (especially apple cider vinegar) can help repel some pests like fungus gnats from plants, but may not be as effective as other methods.
In addition, these materials can stop spreading molds like powdery mildew and grey mold on Jade plants in low infestations but you should choose a more effective practice in severe infections.
How to Use Baking Soda and Vinegar for Jade Plant Problems (without any plant damage)?
Make a typical baking soda spray for the Jade plant:
- Dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda into one quart of water.
- You can add a few drops of insecticidal soap or liquid soap to help the solution spread and stick to the leaves.
- Only use liquid soap and not laundry detergent.
- Stir this mixture around, and then pour it into a clean, empty spray bottle.
Make a vinegar spray for the Jade plant:
- Mix 1-3 tablespoons of common apple cider vinegar (containing 5% acetic acid) with a gallon of water does job.
- However, too much vinegar can burn plants but at the same time, higher concentrations (above 5%) are more effective.
- Stir this mixture around, and then pour it into a clean, empty spray bottle.
Tips for Using Baking Soda and Vinegar for Jade Plant Problems
Here, I listed tips you should consider before spraying your Jade plant with baking soda solution and vinegar:
- First Spray only a few parts of your plant, after a while, if you don’t spot any burning symptoms, try it for the whole foliage.
- Spray the plant completely, reaching both the upper and lower leaves, and let the plant dry.
- Repeat the application as necessary to control the fungal problem.
- If the fungus continues despite the repeated application of baking soda or Vinegar, consider using a stronger antifungal agent.
- Baking soda sprays should be labelled and stored out of reach of children.
- If you have leftover spray, it can be left sealed and used next time.
- Give the spray bottle a gentle shake before use.
- The timing of spraying a baking soda solution and vinegar is important. Apply it early in the season to combat fungal disease.
- Avoid spraying during the heat of the day.
- Since baking soda is water soluble, it must be reapplied after rain or irrigation to be effective.
Conclusion
baking soda and vinegar for jade plant problems (such as powdery mildew, grey mold, and fungus gnats) can be helpful if you apply them correctly. You must use them only in early infections. These materials cannot control severe infections and you have to choose other effective ways.
Spraying Jade plants with high concentrations of baking soda and vinegar can damage your plant and cause burning, yellowing, stopping growth and so on.
If you have any questions, please ask me in the comments, and I will answer as soon as possible.
Elahe Rabiei
Hi, I’m Elaheh. My Academic major is plant protection, and houseplants are my expertise. As a houseplant lover, my house is full of indoor plants and it is my passion to take care of them. Hence, I’m here to share my knowledge and experience about growing healthy houseplants. I am also a plant protection advisor, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.