Painting by Pio Carlone

Bordeaux Mixture

Bordeaux mixture was originally used in France in the 1860s to control grape diseases.

The standard formula for bordeaux mixture is four pounds of copper sulfate, four pounds of hydrated lime and 50 gallons of water. Mix four pounds of the lime in four gallons of water. Do the same for the copper sulfate. Strain the lime mixture through cheesecloth, add to 42 gallons of water, and then add the sulfate mixture. Use immediately.

Small amounts can be made by mixing four ounces of hydrated lime in 2 gallons of water. Mix four ounces of copper sulfate in 1 gallon of water. Pour the copper sulfate mixture into the lime mixture.

Bordeaux mixture can cause damage to plants if used improperly. Damage or injury results more in humid weather and when the mixture doesn't dry quickly.

Bordeaux mixture will leave a bluish-white deposit on the plant.

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Bordeaux mixture stain removal.
Fruits and vegetables such as apples and tomatoes sprayed with bordeaux mixture are often so smeared as to be repulsive looking. So the stuff must be removed; but the cloth-water-elbow-grease method is too slow, tedious and unsatisfactory. The following plan which is explained by a little knowledge of chemistry will reduce the work to practically nothing.

Bordeaux mixture consists of copper sulphate and lime. The former is slowly soluble in water; the latter much less. In fact, it is the worse of the two and the one that spoils the looks of the fruit. Both of these chemicals, however, are readily soluble in acetic acid and vinegar. Even dilute solutions as weak as one part of acid in twenty of water will dissolve these two chemicals until all the acid is "used up."

Having prepared such a solution or with a supply of vinegar, place the soiled fruit in a wire basket, immerse it for a minute or two in the liquid, raise and lower it several times, remove, and rinse it, pref- erably in a stream of water from a hose or a faucet. . It will not need to be wiped except to remove the water; but even this may be allowed to evaporate. The solution may be used until the acetic acid has all become neutralized by the lime and copper sulphate- it has dissolved and will "take up" no more.