Santas beard mycelium leading to powdery mildew?

PM bites the big one. The 'Santa's Beard' and powdery mildew are completely different types of fungi. Splashing your plants w/ a tea...isn't gonna hurt a thing. You are going to need to get aggressive with your IPM program and clean the living shit out of your room and house. Dropping the RH wouldn't hurt either. Try not to let your night temp fall more than 10 degrees than your day temp.
 
HTH

 

Wooly aphids (Eriosomatinae) and other sucking insects are often vectors of transmission for Powdery mildew, and other infectious diseases. Typically wooly aphids in sub temperate climates precede and are an indicator of various infections, including Powdery mildew. Aphids penetrate plant surfaces where they often reside and provide a host of potential inoculants through physical, digestive or fecal secretions. Aphids are often an indicator of other potential plant problems.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Milk has long been popular with home gardeners and small-scale organic growers as a treatment for powdery mildew. Milk is diluted with water (typically 1:10) and sprayed on susceptible plants at the first sign of infection, or as a preventative measure, with repeated weekly application often controlling or eliminating the disease. Studies have shown milk's effectiveness as comparable to some conventional fungicides,^[8] and better than benomyl and fenarimol at higher concentrations.^[9] Milk has proven effective in treating powdery mildew of summer squash,^[9] pumpkins,^[8] grapes,^[10] androses.^[10] The exact mechanism of action is unknown, but one known effect is that ferroglobulin, a protein in whey, produces oxygen radicals when exposed to sunlight, and contact with these radicals is damaging to the fungus.^{[10]            from wiki but I know milk will kill it.}

 

Huh. I had never heard that before. Aphids did show up when I was working in CA right about the time powdery mildew did. Interesting. I wonder if this is more likely to occur outdoors? Thanks for the info. Although I must say I'm not a fan of using milk.

 

You could make a lacto bacillus culture using milk and apply that to help control and combat PM.
 
I've only had to deal with it outside in the garden, thankfully, and as I've mentioned before essential oils dominate PM. Though I'm unsure on the longevity of the "break" it does remove any obvious issues after one application. 

 

I've found a good top mulch helps with slowing the transpiration of water from the soil. With a lot of plants it's totally normal.. especially with a crowded canopy, the leaves them selves will "grab" the water out of the air each time the light comes on and starts to warm it up, just like dewdrop, only in reverse, if that makes sense, a crowded canopy will act like an umbrella catching the evaporating water. Another analogy would be what a lid to a pot of warming water does, it keeps the water in...
Get a nice dry mulch on top of the soil, preferably partially composted or it may steal some of your nitrogen, you could also layer spaghnum moss too, or any other moss for that matter.

 

The same moist environment where Santa's Beard thrives is also the favorite environment of PM. I'd try to increase your airflow and lower humidity if needed. I've had luck with alternating treatments of neem and milk/water spray to battle existing PM. Temporary heat at 100 degrees is also said to kill PM. That would be my last route though. Good luck.