I'm bumping this up because: I seem to be having the same problem with my cucumbers. One plant started wilting - I mean really soft and hanging. I was able to bring it back once with watering. A few days later it was doing it again and it didn't need water, we'd had rain for 2 days. I thought maybe something had cut it off at the base the day before. Nope. The leaves on all my cucumbers look really good, no visible bug damage. I did some research on the net and the only thing I could come up with was that some sort of beetle had done something to it. Can't remember what all it said but the remedy was to dig up the affected plant because it would not be able to be saved. So I did that and there were certain tests you could do like checking for a milky substance in the stem, touching the stem near the base and it should produce strands of sticky stuff. Well, I cut it down to the ground, carefully removed it from in between the other growing and seemingly healthy plants, did the tests and.....nothing. I didn't find anything of what they were talking about. I figured it was just bad luck. Now I have another one doing the same thing today. I have no idea what the problem. I'm hoping someone here knows. Thanks - Val

Thanks Miguel, I was hoping that my troubles might help answer some questions for others. I know there are some wonderfully descriptive posts on wilt but sometimes pictures help a bit too. I believe it is Princess Diana. I can't be 100% positive as the marker was lost this spring during a leaf blowing incident. I have many clematis planted nearby and no others are displaying signs of weakness. Josephine is her immediate neighbor and is beginning to bloom nicely. Multi-Blue is on the other side a little further away and is very happy as well, no buds yet but lots of strong vines and foliage. Others along the same stretch are Arctic Queen, Alpina Pamela Jackman, Sir Trevor Lawrence and one other that is missing it's name tag.

Verticilium is a problem for me also, and attacks nearly everything to some degree. When it attacks beans, it usually hits the seedlings soon after emergence; I always over-plant, so I can destroy any stunted seedlings immediately. I generally lose a few mature pole bean plants each year to late attacks. Cool, wet weather aggravates the problem, so losses can be severe if beans are planted too early in cool soil, or if there is a long wet cold snap. I plant my beans later (around June 1rst) to avoid this, and water only when the plants show signs of water stress - this reduces the losses to very minor levels.

Pulling plants as they get infected doesn't diminish disease levels during the season... pulling as much of the root out of the ground after the plant dies may help a little, but there are infected roots that you won't be able to get to. The spores are released into the soil as the infected roots decay. So if they're obviously dying or dead, pull them, but it won't do much to help the others right now. I replied to your other post with some possible strategies to deal with Fusarium wilt, though it's a tough nut to crack. Best of luck. --Alison