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Vegetable Gardening

cucumbers and squash under attack...help!

11 years ago

Again I'm a first time gardener that was so excited to see the quick sprouting of both the Squash and cucumbers. However over the last couple of days I am seeing spots, brittle leaves I don't know what I going on. I have been careful to not over water so I've thought. The zucchini looks great. I've regularly sprayed neem oil to keep pests away, what am I doing wrong?

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Comments (9)

leonaob
Original Author
11 years ago
here is a look at the squash
foolishpleasure
11 years ago
Neem oil does not fight or cure Fungi
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The problem with cucumber beetles is not the feeding per se, but the transmission of Bacterial Wilt. It only takes one beetle with a dirty mouth to destroy your cucumber and/or muskmelon crop. That's why waiting until the things are in high numbers before you start control methods is a waste of time. Controlling cuke beetles organically is next to impossible. They have been the bedevilment of farmers for over a hundred years. Here is the first line from the section on cucumbers in Peter Henderson's book "Gardening For Profit" written in 1867. "The growing of the Cucumber out-of-doors is, in most places , occasioned by the attacks of the "Striped Bug."When seed is sown in the open ground, repeated sowings are often utterly destroyed by this pest, despite of all remedies." Here are the tricks I've learned to keep the evil ones at bay. Plant your cucurbits as early as possible. Fertilize them well and get them up and running as fast as possible. Use IRT mulch for melons. Use row cover until flowering. Plant a "trap" crop such as zucchini or Hubbard squash at the periphery of your garden early on so it is up and growing at the time your valued crop is still protected. As soon as you see any cucumber beetles on the trap crop, spray the entire crop with a pyrethrin such as bifenthrin. I spray at night using a flashlight to avoid hurting bees. 7 to 10 days later, check again. Any beetles, blast the trap crop. Keep blasting the trap crop until you see no more beetles. 5. Once your crops are exposed and you see any cuke beetles, you must spray them as well. I have found with the trap crop method, the beetles disappeared for most of the season. Cuke beetles are strong fliers and will arrive in you garden from neighboring overwintering sites. 6. Succession plant your cucumbers, summer squash. Once a plant is infected with bacterial wilt, you have about two to three weeks until the plant croaks. 7. For organic growers, kaolin clay works OK, but keeping the plants covered with kaolin diminishes photosynthesis and once the plants are sprawling, I found it difficult to cover the plants. I also found the beetles were still a problem, though less so. For the SVB, I spray with bifenthrin as well. I also, inject the vines with spinosad. I haven't lost a plant to SVB for 3 years since using this method. Hope this helps.
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Normally, I agree with every common sense word digdirt writes and I also agree that it is probably best to start again with your plants. However, this bit: "they don't tolerate transplanting well even under ideal conditions. If transplanted it needs to be before the 3rd true leaf develops" is not imo strictly accurate under all circumstances. In cooler climates, like mine, squash are routinely transplanted. If direct sown it would well into June before the ground was anywhere near warm enough for them to germinate and even then they'd need sowing under a jam jar or cloche. As it is I will put mine out in mid May with some fleece protection, having started them in my glass porch 2 weeks ago. At the moment they are being hardened off. And they are often well past 3 true leaves before they get set out. You could cover all bases by starting new ones and setting out the old ones, just to see how they do.
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cucumber beetles and squash bugs oh my!
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Kristin, If you want to put a row cover on your plants, you can but I am not sure it will help since they (or their eggs) are likely to be all over the plants, and even underneath the plants. Check the backs of leaves for eggs and remove them and destroy them and that will go a long way to cut down on the population, especially with regards to squash bugs. I don't worry about cucumber beetles although, technically, they can carry and spread disease, although in my garden they generally don't. It could be that I have a healthy population of beneficial insects that keep their numbers low for me. I'd be more concerned about squash bugs, and especially about stink bugs if they show up too. One way to get the squash bugs is to go outside with a small hand-held vaccum and vacuum them up off the plants. It works like a charm, especially when they are young and small and don't have the sense to run away when they see you coming. Another way is to lay a board or shingle down on the ground right beside the squash plants. The squash bugs will seek shelter under that board during the heat of the day and then all you have to do is lift the board and step on them and squish them. Simple as pie If you put a small container of water in your garden (something like the saucer to a flower pot or an aluminum pie tin), it will help attract toads, frogs, lizards and other beneficial creatures that like to eat bugs. I have a bird feeder and bird bath in my garden too, and the birds that come to visit them often sit on the garden fence or on the scarecrow (who apparently does not scare them) or on the tomato cages and eat bugs throughout the day. Some people sprinkle garlic (chopped and minced by their own hand, or purchased garlic powder) on the ground around their squash and cucumber plants, and feel it helps repel the squash vine borers, squash bugs and cucumber beetles. You might give that a try. Don't worry about monoplizing the board. You are using it exactly as it is meant to be used and it gives us more to talk about on hot days when we may choose to spend less time out in the garden and more time inside in the air conditioning! Dawn
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leonaob
Original Author
11 years ago
so is that what is going on? I have fungi? omg what do I do?
digdirt2
11 years ago
"Regularly sprayed neem oil" means what? How often, how much? Daily, weekly, full strength? For what pests specifically? Pesticides have side effects so are used to kill pests once the pest is identified, not to "keep them away" just in case there might be one wander by.

All the damage in those photos could simply be from spraying too much neem oil. It coats the leaves and prevents transpiration and interferes with photosynthesis.

What has your weather been? Windy? Hot? Cool? Leaves sprayed in direct sun or heat of the day can easily be damaged like that. Another possibility is that it is still too cool, even in your zone, for squash given the weird weather in much of the country lately.

Dave
leonaob
Original Author
11 years ago
Ok... Again...---> totally ignorant gardener. First I used Garden Safe Fungicide 3 after the seedlings emerged in hopes of preventing EVERYTHING. I was under the impression that it was a fungus preventative, as well as insecticide and miticide. Approximately 2 weeks later after noticing evidence of slight leaf damage I applied Natria Neem Oil... which says it has .9% Neem for black spot, powdery mildew, rust, aphids, etc....

I see some flying bugs etc in the garden from time to time nothing major, but I guess I thought I was trying to prevent it.

Weather has been sporadic, sunny yet windy, dry, now a cold snap.

I just want to save my plants :-(
planatus
11 years ago
You have no need to spray at this time, and the oil may be damaging the leaves. The yellowing at the leaf tips indicates a nutrient or water uptake disturbance, possibly aggravated by oil and sun. Chill. You will have many insects in your garden, and the best way to make sure you get a balance of the good and bad is to plant a lot of flowers to attract the good ones.
leonaob
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you sooooo much for all of your help! I'm going to plant flowers and I'm not going to spray anything...chilling it is.
digdirt2
11 years ago
Weather has been sporadic, sunny yet windy, dry, now a cold snap.

Then you likely planted them too early and you are seeing weather damage in addition to the spraying issue. Squash is a summer, a warm weather crop. Young seedlings easily suffer from wind burn if not protected from the wind. And even larger plants will not tolerate cool soil and drastic changes in weather exposure without damage developing.

In too cool soil the roots cannot absorb nutrients and the leaves show the resulting damage. Damaged leaves quickly develop more damage when exposed to wind, rapid changes in air temps, and sprays.

Bring out the fungicides early with some plants but only when they are also planted out at the proper time in the proper soil temps etc. Pesticides come out of the garden shed only when there are actual pests doing actual damage. :)

If the weather cooperates, these plants might recover ok but if they don't you still have plenty of time to plant new ones once the warm weather stabilizes.

Dave
leonaob
Original Author
11 years ago
Ok Dave, I will keep hope alive, but definitely take your recommendation and replant if needed.

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