need help - cucumber pics

unit649 wrote:Just came from the County Extension Office.  The problem with my cucumbers is bacterial Anthracnose.  They recommended sulfur.  I know there has been discussion on here about sulfur.  So what do you all think.

Glad you got a diagnosis! I suggest you follow their treatment recommendations! Good luck

Well the Extension should know. The pictures I found of bacterial Anthracnose online look much worse than what you put up. Really gross! Let us know if the sulfur works --

Here are a few pics of my recovered cucumber vines (after treating for spider mites with Neem Oil)...cukes coming on and new leaves are nice and green.  I still have pill bugs and cucumber beetles to deal with...and the spider mites may come back before the end of the season...need to keep an eye on them better in the future.

 

Camp, I have been seeing plenty of honey bees (small bees) but not too many bumble bees this year.  These plants didn't get a good start and I should have reseeded...I started seeds indoors and transplanted (which cukes do not like) and they were stunted for a long time.  When they got going they never really did produce like they should have...they blossom ok but hardly any cukes.  Plenty of cukes from other plants about 20' away.

camprn, I got the sulfur today from Southern States, and will apply it tomorrow morning.  Lowes had a 39% sulfur product, but I was not sure that would be strong enough, so I traveled a little farther to get the pure sulfur.  They both were the same price of $9.99.  It will take a miracle to save my worst plant, but I am hopeful.

The County Extension lady also diagnosed my cantaloupe, that I thought had powdery mildew, was actually downy mildew.  She used a microscope for both diagnosis.  They were so nice there, looked at all my pictures on my computer, was able to identify most of the critters, (which most were correctly identified by you great gardeners) and she loved my cattle panel arches. 

I also asked about my cans of tomatoes that I roasted with a little oil, so they called in a canning expert, and another lady that knew more about pressure canners.  They said
my tomatoes were probably ok, with just a little oil, even though it was a water bath canner.  I think I will make some spaghetti sauce, etc and use those up pretty soon though, to be on the safe side.  They gave me a ton of material, about all that I asked about.

Oh they also recommended surround, koalin clay for potato beetles, if anything is needed.
Thanks to everyone for all your help.
Madge

I sure hope someone can help.  After the sulfur treatment to my Cantaloupe plant for Downy Mildew, as recommended by my County Extension Agent, most of the leaves are drooping, and some of the tiny cantaloupe are drying up.  I pruned all of the dead leaves, and 10 little cantaloupes that were hopeless.  What happened?  What can I do about it?

My cucumber plant responded very well to the sulfur, and I am seeing new growth, I think.  I pruned it back and there was quite a pile of dead leaves.  But most of the left plant is ok with lots of cucumbers still growing.

I used a 32 oz spray bottle, with 3 tsp of sulfur, on both beds.  I did the cucumber 1st, and there was a tiny bit of that solution still in the bottom of the bottle, but I don't think it was enough to have made the solution to strong.  I did measure carefully.  Any ideas?
Madge

This is my cantaloupe plant after the sulfur treatment.  So sad.

And this is my cucumber that responded very well to the sulfur.


with lots of hanging cucumbers.

Unit so sorry to hear about your cantaloupe but glad your cukes are doing better. I haven't had any experience with downy mildew myself thankfully but I did look up some info for you. What I found during my research is that sulfur can be harmful to some squash and melon varieties...and cantaloupe is one of them. All the info I found cautions to use sulfur very carefully on muskmelons as it can cause damage to the plant. And I know you mentioned using Neem oil...well the treatment info for using sulfur says not to apply it to plants within two weeks of any type of oil spray. And also to avoid injuring any plant, do not apply sulfur when air temperature is near or over 85-90°F. According to the chart at the bottom of this link Clemson Coop- Cucurbit Diseases sulfur is used for powdery mildew and they recommend a fungicide for downy mildew. So, not sure there is anything you can do at this point. But you might try removing the leaves with the most damage, give it a good drink of compost tea and hope for the best!

TxGramma, thank you for that link and the advice.  I did as you suggested and made a quickie compost tea.  Also have some more in the works.  Before that I made a Bayer aspirin solution and applied that.  There is still some green leaves, so I am still hoping.
Madge

Your welcome Madge. Sounds like you have done everything you can and now comes the hard part...wait and see what happens. Maybe that drink of compost tea will give it enough of an energy boost to help it recover. Good luck!

Madge, how long before your first average frost date?

Camp, 1st frost date according to Farmers Almanac is Oct 25th.  Other sources say Oct 10th.
Madge

Well despite everything that I did, I could not save my cantaloupe plant.  Of the 19 cantaloupes that were on the vine, we got to eat 3.  The first one fell off the vine and broke open.


But there were still lots of great tasting slices.  My husband said it was the best cantaloupe that he had ever had.


I don't think it was the weight of the cantaloupe alone, that caused it to fall, but the dying vine.  And I waited a little too long to harvest it.  It had turned yellowish a few days earlier.


Thanks to all for the advise, and help.  It seams downy mildew is nasty stuff.
Madge

All this talk about Spider Mites, and now I think I have them.      I feel so dumb.  From what I have recently read, our hot and dry weather is perfect for them.  They seem to be on almost everything. Experienced SM folks, does this look like SM to you? Summer squash, tomatoes and beans in these photos:

Yup! Good eye Sanderson. But don't beat yourself up. I say congratulations! you learned something new and now you see a problem in the garden that you didn't know was there.   

Now onto controlling the wee beasties.

Yep. And thanks for confirming.
   Neem oil sprayed tonight.

I feel so stupid.  They wiped out 6 squares of Rattlesnake and Purple podded and were starting on the Chinese Red Noodle beans.  Cucs starting to get them.  I have PM on some winter squash and the milk has been doing a rather good job.  Still hit them with the Neem.  I'll be gone 5 days and I would like to come back to something!

After several hosings and a Neem application, the beans are recovering enough to flower.  If spider mites like hot and dry, they sure have it with the 106*F weather we are having.
Chinese Red Noodles, 14 1/2 ", 8 feet in the air:


Purple Podded starting to flower again:

The cucumbers and squash are also looking so much better.

Nice beans!  

spider mites back again this year...funny thing is I googled "spider mites cucumber leaf" and found my old post here.

spider mites suck the livin green out of cukes and green beans.

I've also been learning Neem oil can be hard on plants...especially applied in the heat of the day.

landarch wrote:spider mites suck the livin green out of cukes and green beans.

Yep. If I have to spray, I do it at sundown.

This morning, I took my bifocals and hand loupe and looked at the stuff on my bean, cucumber and sunflower leaves.  Yep, spider mites are back.  http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7405.html

Sanderson, my plants are being ravaged again this year...(see my recent post with pics)

hot and dry = spider mites

hot and wet = disease

seems like a no win...don't have time to spray both sides of every cucumber leaf, every day, with a product.

Have you tried the bottle and spray attachment for the hose?  A lot easier to cover both sides of the leaves (and bed, and cat, and over the fence into the neighbor's).  They are around $10-20.

Sanderson..and just spray water?

I'm sorry this reply is late. I was out of town. Yes. If you want thorough coverage of leaves without getting a hand cramp from a spray bottle, using the jar hose attachment is great. Milk, Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap solution, compost tea, Neem oil solution, what ever your need. Just spray at sundown so plants can be dry by morning in order to protect pollinators. I also have a spray bottle for each product if just a small area or specific crop needs treatment, but the hose jar is good for broadcasting. Do you remember when Miracle Grow sold packets of dry green fertilizer and they sold their own jar with instructions? Maybe they still do, but I don't use it anymore.

I use one of those hose bottle attachments when I'm spraying Dr. Bronner's peppermint on to the rose bushes that have rose slugs on them. I also use it to spray the same on my fruit trees in the spring. I may try it with milk this year on the Zombie Garden squash to see if I can prevent powdery mildew.  You used it with milk, Sanderson?
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