Nothing like throwing even more concerns at someone who readily admits they are already panicking! Hit a new gardener with all the 500 things that could even remotely be possible does not reduce panic. Mulching vs. not mulching - mulching wins hands down. No contest whatsoever in umpteen studies on the question. The mulch is NOT the cause of squash bug problems. Powdery mildew - no. What you are seeing in the photos is the normal interveinal white coloration of many varieties of zucchini plants. And if the cause was stress due to lack of water (which is just the opposite in this case) or heat then all the plants would be affected not just one. Sam - pull this plant and dispose of it so you can quit worrying about it. For any number of possible reasons it has already been even more stressed than you are and will very likely not recover. But you can. :) Just stir up the soil in that spot well, make a small hill and plant 3 new seeds in the spot. Plenty of time for it and in a couple of weeks you can have a nice new plant to keep on producing even after the others have quit. And mulch the rest. Dave

Sorry, I can't see them either, but that has to be exiting, I got exited watching fry at a breeding tank at the pond store yesterday, can't wait till mine breed

Hmmm....it looks like a spicebush, palamedes, or black swallowtail egg, but they don't use passionvines! If it were sort of elongated, it could be a variegated frit egg, but since it's round that can't be it. Maybe somebody else will know. MissSherry

Dill is a host plant for Black Swallowtails, but usually the eggs are white/cream colored. Are the eggs clustered together? I recently found this cluster http://www.butterflygardening.org/graphics/Eggs%20on%20Dill%20-%20June11th.jpg They turned out to be an unknown very small insect - approximately 1/16: long. Aphids will eat larvae and eggs. Here's a short article I wrote about the topic. http://www.butterflygardening.org/#13 Try Bronze Fennel it's a hardy perennial and you only need to buy it once. Here is a link that might be useful: Aphids, Eggs and Larvae.