Bwahahaha. Evidently, my butt is not SO out of control that the zukes couldn't handle it. They're looking to be just fine, and I even hacked off a 6-incher from the most crushed one today. As we speak, I am eating the fruits of my ass-smashed plants, so...YAY! As far as what I was wearing (lol), I fell in wearing yoga pants, flip flops and a tank top. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you if I got stabbed or not, as the shock from the zucchini butt dive with a 2 1/2 twist was enough to render me totally impervious to pain. /zuke flex

redmoss, I take it that the roots of the zucchini are in a comparatively small area and the vine is spreading out. And that you are checking for moisture etc. in the root area. A certain amount of leaf loss like you describe can be quite normal, especially as the plant flowers and sets fruit. I would be concerned about the young leaves. I would look back to two or three weeks ago and see if any cultural or environmental condition occured to account for the change in the plant. Try the garden center or extension service but this time take one healthy young leaf, one young leaf with early symptoms and two or three others that will show the progression of the symptoms. If you do decide to remove the plant, do it carefully and perform a post mortem or 'CSI Plants'. Examine the roots, the stem at ground level and split the stem lengthwise to see if anything has been ambushing your efforts.

Solarization may help with Early Blight or other diseases but LATE Blight needs a host plant to survive... if you removed your plants, be sure you leave no signs of them, like leaves or fruit that may have fallen off... clean up any nightshade family weeds that may be around too. Here is the some of the latest FAQ about the northeast Late Blight problem... "Some plants may escape late blight if the pathogen does not get on them. However, the chances of this happening this year are very low based on the fact occurrence of late blight is very widespread very early in the summer growing season. " "This year there will be a lot of wind-dispersed spores with so many occurrences of late blight widely distributed in the eastern U.S. this early in the season. These spores can be moved long distances." 3. Can plants be saved in a garden once late blight starts to develop? This depends on amount of symptoms seen, type of symptoms, how early in disease development symptoms were found, environmental conditions, proximity to other gardens or farms where late blight is developing, and management steps being taken. It is more likely possible to save plants in a garden if when the first symptoms are found: 1. There are very few. 2. They are on the leaves and not stems. 3. The garden has been inspected very thoroughly on a frequent basis (preferably daily) and thus the symptoms are discovered shortly after they formed. 4. Conditions are expected to be hot with no rain or lengthy dew for a prolonged period. (uh-oh!) 5. There are no nearby places with late blight that could be a source for more spores. 6. Further development of late blight will be slowed by regularly removing affected tissue (daily cut off and bag, preferably during the day when plants are dry and there will be sunshine for several hours afterwards) and applying fungicides (minimum of weekly). Additionally, success is more likely if fungicides were applied before symptoms were seen (thus there will be fewer initial symptoms) and spray coverage is maximized by using a pressurized pesticide sprayer to plants that are trellised. Removing extra branches will also help. Realize that even with an ideal situation (all above conditions met) there is no guarantee that success will be achieved. Late blight is a very destructive and difficult to manage disease. Impact can be great considering that tomato fruit and potato tubers that become infected can quickly rot. Plants can be killed quickly when late blight is not managed. A spot (lesion) can form within 4 days of when a spore lands on a plant (even faster, less than 3 days, with one strain of this pathogen) and a day later be producing spores that can be dispersed by the wind to healthy plant tissue resulting in more spots within a few days. Lesions that develop on stems are especially destructive. Late blight is not like most other diseases (e.g. Septoria leaf spot and anthracnose) that you can live with unmanaged because the plants wont be killed and all fruit lost. Late blight needs to be aggressively managed not only to try to save plants in the garden but also to avoid having the affected plants serve as a source of inoculum (wind-dispersed spores) for other gardens and farms. Promptly remove affected plant tissue on a regular basis. Realize that when symptoms are first seen, all points of infection likely are not yet visible. There is a latent period of a few days between infection and when symptoms are visible. No fungicide can cure tissue that is already affected, and this tissue will produce more inoculum. " "Fungicides cannot cure a spot that has already developed (disease control in plants is very different from humans). This tissue will soon die, but before it does the pathogen will produce hundreds of spores. The more spores, the greater the odds some will be dispersed to plant tissue that has not received fungicide. It is difficult to achieve complete coverage of plant tissue with fungicide, especially when a contact* fungicide is used, even with the best farm sprayer. The underside of leaves is an especially difficult area to reach (the pathogen can infect through either surface), " "After about 7 days the concentration (dose) of many fungicides can be too low to be adequately effective. "

Old news. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1460248/my-spaghetti-squash-looks-like-zucchini Maybe crossed seeds. Not only do you get strange fruit from crossed seeds, but I believe sometimes you get different fruits from the same vine if the hybrid isn't stable.