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Vegetable Gardening

Help with cucumbers dying (pics)

14 years ago

Can anyone identify this problem? My cukes have been doing great for weeks, then all of a sudden they went into a quick decline. I planted "Bush Champion" cucumbers. Several of the vines are mostly dead, and several seem to still be doing ok. Of the vines that are affected, they seem to be dying all the way back to the branching point. Hopefully you can tell from the pics.

About the only thing I can come up with is a disease called "wilt" that I found in a Southern Living garden book.

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Thanks,

Phillip

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Comments (7)

scully931
14 years ago
Early blight?
Not sure, but mine did something quite similar.
eibren
14 years ago
Looks like something is chewing on the leaves, and possibly entering a virus.

Have you done anything to deter squash vine borers? I think they also go after cukes.

My DH has been religiously placing diatomacious earth (for gardeners--the pool kind can cause breathing problems) around his vines after each rain, and it seems to help.

Some place floating covers over their squashes to deter borers--you might want to read some of the old threads on squashes and cukes.
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Squash borers will come. I always take part of the vine further down the plant and root it. Giving it more rooting points along the vine seems to keep production away from die back. I sometimes just cut the infected part away once I know the plant has additional roots. Literally, just mound up a little dirt over any part of the vine and it will take care of itself. It wants to live, too. I've got borers--but more squash than we can eat, so I just get over the appearance of the vines. (We also perpetually have white mildew from our humidity). Last year I had considerable cucumber die back, but not until I canned three batches of cucumbers. For me---the earlier you get the squash in the ground, the better off you are to beat the bug attack. Then, when it comes, it is too hot, I've gotten all the harvest I can handle and my friends are sick of my food, too, and I'm ready for the break the die back gives me.
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Some possibilities: You may have too many vines in each pot. You'll have better luck if you plant just one vine to a pot so that the roots have room to spread and no competition for water and nutrients. Are you watering and fertilizing regularly? Veggies in pots need alot more attention to both in order to thrive. It is recommended that you put slow release fertilizer in the pot at planting time AND feed with liquid fertilizer at least twice a month too. How old are these plants? Cucumbers and squash do not produce well forever. They produce a nice crop and then the plants begin to noticeably "age" (yours look like that) and they stop producing very much until they give it up. This year, I planted a second crop of cucs a month after the first ones. It worked out really well. My first crop is starting to play out and the second is beginning to bloom.
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I would restart. If they're indoors with low light, they've probably become etiolated and are very difficult to recover at that point. With cucumbers and squash, it's easiest to start them outdoors, in the ground in a spot that gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. I've found cucumbers grow better in the fall here because the heat quickly makes them go bitter in the late spring to summer. What I do with squash and, to an extent, cucumbers is plant 3-4 seeds spread about 6-12" apart in a spot that's at least 3' square, and then cut out 1-2 plants that take a little longer to grow. This gives them plenty of room for roots. Initially, I water them every 2 days, then spread that out to about 2 times a week after about 4 weeks. (How much you should water depends on what type of soil they're in) After they're about 3-4 weeks old, I put mulch down around them. I also start fertilizing them with a lighter-than-normal fertilizer, but more frequently than on the instructions. I've had big yields from just 2 plants doing this.
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Whew! I have been searching for this answer ALL morning! We have a large (24 site) homemade system with different veg in it, all of which require the same-ish PPM and pH. But the leaves of our zuchinni (I know, I know you shouldn't grow zuchinni hydroponically, but we are not novice or new growers) and cucumbers have began to do the same thing....turning yellow right along the edges....but with all the research I've been doing, it was either deficient in magnesium or potassium or too much nutrients. Tks guys and good luck!
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m_lorne
14 years ago
Have you seen any cucumber beetles around? Yellow with black stripes (north) or spots (south).
Todd Evans
14 years ago
Mine did the same thing. I have had a lot of cucumber beetles around, so I am sure I lost mine to bacterial wilt. I knew the darned beetles were around and did everything I could but put out poison and they still got all but one of my cukes.
philliph
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks. I haven't noticed any cuke beetles, but I may need to look harder. Are they fairly obvious, or do they hide pretty well? I don't think it's vine borers. I'm very familiar with them as they destroyed my squash for a few years before I figured them out. Now I use permethrin to somewhat keep them under control (is there an effective non-chemical control for vine borers?). I've been dusting the cukes occasionally too. They've still gotten to a few squash vines, but the cuke vines are much smaller in diameter and very easy to see. I don't see any physical damage to the vines themselves.

Thanks,
Phillip
m_lorne
14 years ago
Cuke beetles like to hide in the soft and tender spots, namely the new growth, the flowers, etc. Look for them there. Once you find them...well, good luck, it ain't easy to get rid of them.
charlsie142
14 years ago
This is my first year gardening, but I've had quite a problem with cuke beetles...on everything, including my non-veggie flowers. Also, I've noticed they are quite intelligent. It's like they see me coming and try to hide on the backside of leaves when I approach or climb down the plant to where I have trouble seeing. I even had one that I knocked onto the ground of my garden, and when I went to look for it (to kill it), I couldn't find it. So I sat and waited. The darn thing had grabbed a small piece of mulch and flipped over with the mulch on top of it (as camo)! As soon as it made a run for it, I tried to get it and it did the mulch-camo thing again! Crazy. But I eventually caught that one and he met his maker. Now I've got the second generation on my beans to keep me busy. Somehow my cukes are still alive, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

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