My beautiful girls showed some mildew. So I read to spray them with half baking soda and half water. Got rid of the mildew but the pistols turned brown. They don’t look rotted. Just brown. Any thoughts?
That doesn’t look good. I’ve never had bud rot, so more experienced people will be along, but that looks like it to me.
I don’t think its rot. Probably the huge alkaline baking soda mixture was absorbed by the leaves and somehow discolored them. A better solution is Peroxide/water which will kill the mold but dissipates quickly without bothering the plants. Baking soda will leave a film on the plant that effects it longer.
I do believe it will grow out of it with a little time. Simply looks a bit discolored to me.
Don’t see many pistils on this plant yet, so you have a lot of time to recover.
I would not use what ever reference you used to come up with baking soda again. I use a high concentration of baking soda to kill weeds and poison ivy.