Lots of questions here, I won't answer them all but 1) cukes and squash are somewhat hardier than tomatoes. I typically put them out a week earlier than toms. They will take 45F without flinching while toms prefer 50F or more. 2) for SVB, aluminum foil or spraying the base of the plant are possible strategies. There should be only one generation so if you spray consistently (the base only) you may get them. Around here, typical times for SVB are June 25 to July 5. 3) cucumber beetles are earlier than that, and they will transmit diseases to the plants early on. I suggest that you spray the whole plant well until first bloom. From that point on, you will have to be happy with what you get. 4) showering the plants with compost tea helps with leaf disease.

Thank you, thank you -- all of you. I am going to try to post some pics I took today. I am hoping they will be more revealing. Sorry that last one is so blurry. Berndoodles, thanks for the pics of leaf hopper damage. I think I certainly have that, don't you (referring to the pic with the lovely bugs)? I also found some webbing, so I think maybe I have spider mites. Oh, joy! And I also think I have powdery mildew. I would love anyone's advice. I sure wish I had a flatbed scanner. My daughter has one, but she is out of town. And I wouldn't mind if we had a Bug Man out here in Colorado. However, I took samples to my local nursery and the very nice rose lady there confirmed that I have several separate problems. She thought that the drooping rosebuds were caused by thrips and told me to go home and cut all of those drooping buds off and dispose of them. She thought I had powdery mildew, too, and also spider mites. She advised that I use Bayer All-in-One spray, so I bought that, but after reading the instructions, I decided to try Neem Oil because the instructions said not to use when bees are active, and they are very active on Ballerina, at least during the day, but maybe I could use it at night. I sprayed yesterday very thoroughly with Neem oil and will repeat in 7 days. However, since my roses are so badly infected, and with multiple buggies or whatever, maybe I will have to go toxic. Another problem with me using a toxic spray is I have large pots of herbs close to Ballerina, in fact right beside it. I think I could cover the pots with black trash bags or something. But I also have black raspberries whose vines are kind of intermingled with one of my New Dawn climbers. I'm not sure if I can cover all of them enough. Maybe if I used a hand sprayer rather than a hose-end sprayer it would be easier. So what do you think? Thanks again. Marlene

what is milstop MilStop is a broad spectrum, contact foliar fungicide that controls a variety of diseases on plants. You can search it by name to find vendors. Other similar products are also available at most garden centers. I also linked below an excellent resource guide on p. mildew that offers additional info on prevention and controls. Hope it helps. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Powdery Mildew on Vegetables

I think the mildew spores travel so easily that pulling up your zucchini plant won't necessarily prevent it from getting to the cucumbers. It's good you've been trimming off infected leaves, but I would keep all the plants and make sure they're being well fertilized so they can better fight off the PM. Here's a home remedy often referenced for powdery mildew which I haven't tried, but is cheap and you have nothing to lose. To make one gallon of spray, use 3 parts water and 2 parts milk, plus a teaspoon of baking soda. Spray on the leaves on a sunny day. Good luck!