Dying cucumber vines - Ask Extension
Cucumber plants were doing well and had just started to produce their first male flowers when some stems started dying, the leaves wilted, and right ...
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Dying cucumber vines #422534
Asked August 21, 2017, 12:13 PM EDT
Cucumber plants were doing well and had just started to produce their first male flowers when some stems started dying, the leaves wilted, and right next to the dying ones are still healthy plants. The plants are in a shadier spot I've never used before. They get about six hours of sun. The plants are taller than their supporting tomato cages. Seeds planted 7/19/2017 Is there anything I can do?
Prince George's County Maryland
Expert Response
Cucumbers can be susceptible to several disease and insect pests that can cause wilting such as bacterial wilt and downy mildew. A common disease is bacterial wilt which is transmitted by the cucumber beetle. It only takes one beetle to infect an entire plant. Take a look at our website for prevention and photos. You can also perform a simple test for this http://extension.umd.edu/growit/bacterial-wilt-vegetables
http://extension.umd.edu/growit/downy-mildew-cucurbits-spinach-and-brassicas-vegetables
From the time cucumbers start producing, you can expect about 3-4 weeks of really good fruiting, but then the plants decline.
Remove affected plants. All you can do is pull them and consider planting fall crops. Next season look for resistant varieties. Here is our vegetable profile on cucumbers.
http://extension.umd.edu/growit/vegetable-profiles-cucumbers
https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_images/programs/hgic/Publications/not_updat...
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http://extension.umd.edu/growit/downy-mildew-cucurbits-spinach-and-brassicas-vegetables
From the time cucumbers start producing, you can expect about 3-4 weeks of really good fruiting, but then the plants decline.
Remove affected plants. All you can do is pull them and consider planting fall crops. Next season look for resistant varieties. Here is our vegetable profile on cucumbers.
http://extension.umd.edu/growit/vegetable-profiles-cucumbers
https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_images/programs/hgic/Publications/not_updat...
mh
