First time gardening. Everything was fine with my squash and zucchini up until the last two weeks. Located in Ohio
by kensingtonreds
First time gardening. Everything was fine with my squash and zucchini up until the last two weeks. Located in Ohio
by kensingtonreds
7 Comments
It’s powdery mildew. It has many causes, I have it on my cucumbers and courgette but it’s not a massive issue, though it’s not as pronounced on mine. Yours being so affected is probably a sign that the plants aren’t going to be much good.
If you need to go nuclear, Amistar is a good choice. Don’t know if you can get it in your state, California never. Approved for melons and cucumbers and that’s close enough for me.
If these plants are from the start of the season, and I’m guessing your first frost is potentially in a few weeks, I really wouldn’t bother doing much about it at this point. It’s more or less completely normal and expected for zucchinis to succumb to disease at the end of a season in a humid and temperate climate.
Most likely the temperatures and hours of daylight left are also not really enough for good productivity at this point.
If this was happening due to an unusually wet period in June/July, you should definitely intervene, but by now it’s more or less the end of the productive growing window.
I have the same issue with my zucchinis but I haven’t figured out what to do 🙁
Happens when mine get too much rain and cant dry out. I usually just amputate affected leaves. My Winter Squash rn looks weird af growing with a 10foot span in middle of plant with no foliage.
I’m in western Washington and mine are starting to look like this too. I take it as a sign that it’s the end of zucchini season for me. I got a pretty nice yield this year from two plants. I have fall/winter veggies I’m eager to plant so I’ll be digging up my zucchini plants and prepping the bed for something new like beets or rutabagas.
The fruit on mine are also not being pollinated because they’re not putting out male flowers anymore either. I have limited space and want to make sure I give my other veggies a chance to shine!
Just know you didn’t do anything wrong. If you don’t feel like it’s worth the effort to try to reverse this then there’s nothing wrong with digging it up and planting something else (after amending the soil with compost of course!)
Will this spread to.my winter squashed too?