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Vegetable Gardening

Wilted cucumbers

10 years ago

Have a two-fold cucumber problem. First, noticed recently that the leaves on my cucumber vines, which were otherwise very healthy and robust, and I'm already seeing large fruit growing (English cucumbers, which I know can be quite large, and while not fully mature I have at least three that are 5-8" long and thickening) were developing small white spots. After reading various forums and watching videos on youtube that showed similar plants, determined it was probably powdery mildew. We had very heavy rain earlier this week in Toronto, and the soil yesterday morning still seemed damp, and the air temp dropped, so I didn't water yesterday, which turned out to be a sunny day. I did however follow instructions elsewhere and spray a solution of water and baking soda on the leaves, with a touch of dish soap as a surfactant. (early in the am, before 8) and went to work. Got home after dark so only checked this morning. All the leaves are wilted! Soil quite dry, so I watered and have again gone to work, and am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Now wondering: are the plants salvageable? The sudden turn in the leaf health seems to me to be dehydration, not the mildew (although it could be a factor I suppose). I noticed that at least one of the larger cukes this morning felt slightly soft and not as rigid as it had been growing. Assuming the leave bounce back, what are the possible next steps? Should I prune weaker leaves and fruit? Should I harvest the largest cukes and hope that the plant directs energy back to the leaves and smaller ones? Is there any hope? Sorry I don't have pics to post, was in such a rush to get to work this morning I neglected to take any, and hope that the plant bounces back. It's another sunny day (although the air is much better, (high today of 82 [28c]).

Comments (6)

seysonn
10 years ago
@ OP: Your main concern and problem should be to combat the PM. Wilting may or may not be related.

It seems that it is PM season all over. Right now there are 3 or 4 posters currently experience this problem.
If not treated properly and early on, cucurbits will be devastated.
A word of caution here is in order to those who do not currently this problem, to acquire some preventive measure before the PM strikes. I will do just that this weekend myself. These posts have given me good warnings.
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
10 years ago
"I did however follow instructions elsewhere and spray a solution of water and baking soda on the leaves, with a touch of dish soap as a surfactant."

I'm going to guess that this was the cause of the sudden wilting. You have to be careful about homemade sprays when it comes to cucurbits. ALWAYS test it out on a couple of leaves first to see if there are any adverse effects before you spray the whole plant. What ratio of baking soda to water did you use? And unless I'm mistaken, a regular dish soap shouldn't be used.

Rodney
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Hmmm...well, there are two plants next to each other and only one is wilty. The nasturtiums are in front of both plants. I don't have any mulch down in the garden (a huge sin, I know), but the garden patch holds water very well. I'll try my best to get out and water in the mornings, but I have a newborn and a toddler and it's usually 11am before I get my first cup of coffee! I guess I should just be happy I got any plants in the ground at all this year. I hadn't thought of SVB on cucumber plants. I actually chased one moth around the garden with a huge metal spoon one day, cursing and screaming (I never got her). Since it's been more than ten days since that incident (the neighbors are convinced I'm insane), I assumed somehow I'd escaped as my zucchini plants so far are fine. Though today I trimmed some branches off them that had wilted leaves and found the stems completely hollow. I feel the beginning of the end... Ah, well, at least we got a dozen or so zucchini and some cucumbers. I won't give up on the plants yet, I guess. Thanks for your responses. It's always this part of the summer when I feel I don't control the garden, it controls me.
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echoedmyron
Original Author
10 years ago
"What ratio of baking soda to water did you use? And unless I'm mistaken, a regular dish soap shouldn't be used."

I followed a fairly standard ratio of 1 tablespoon baking soda per gallon of water (and no, I didn't use the entire mixture for this). I never saw anything that specified NOT to use dish soap, and as for that we use an organic dish soap, not something like Dawn etc, and only added a drop. I also only sprayed the leaves that had the white spots, which weren't all of them, maybe about 15 - 25% of them. But all the leaves were wilted this morning, which is why I was inclined to suspect it was the soil which had suddenly dried out and not the spray. But based on the available information, am still wondering about the likelihood that it may bounce back, and further steps if it doesn't.
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
10 years ago
Ah, got it. After reading your response, it probably wasn't the spray that caused the wilting. It could have been the dry soil (if they bounce back this is the cause) or it could be bacterial wilt from cucumber beetles. If it's bacterial wilt then the only thing to do is pull the plant and throw it away.

There were discussions about homemade insecticidal soap recipes on these forums a few times and the issue of what type of soap to use was brought up and that's where the thought about not using dish soap came from.

Rodney
echoedmyron
Original Author
10 years ago
yeah, I hadn't seen those posts, and went by what I found in many other places that simply said "liquid soap" without defining it. I'll see what it's like when I get home after work and hopefully it's perked up.
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
10 years ago
The posts I were referring to are kind of old plus they were on the Organic Gardening forum. And the discussions are about how the soap kills bugs, not about it's surfactant properties. So I don't know if the same rules apply for what type of soap to use or if it matters.

Rodney

Here is a link that might be useful: Insecticidal Soap Discussions

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