I am back and having more trouble with my cucumber and squash plants. I am assuming something is eating them, but I can never find bugs on them during the day. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and some brown and wilting. What can I do to try and salvage these plants? They are in a 12ft long x 4ft wide raised bed.




Thanks a bunch!

I have tried spraying a mixture of rubbing alcohol, water and dish soap. This was suggested in a few places online as an organic way to get rid of the pest. I am trying not to sevin dust unless necessary.

I don't see much insect damage. My guess would be one of the myriad diseases that attack cucurbits.
https://aggie-horticulture.tam...

Would your recommendation be to just use a vegetable safe fungicide on the entire raised bed?

My best advice would be to look carefully through that Texas A&M site and try to identify The problem. LSU has an extension service that serves the same purpose. Many of the diseases are not curable once they take hold. A fungicide can control a specific fungus disease on leaves if applied in early stages. not much available if it is a soil borne fungus. But it could also be a virus or bacteria. Identify and then follow the Agricultural extension recommendations

@Farmer_T , are these hybrids or open-pollinated cucumber plants? If they are open-pollinated then you might want to try a hybrid that has a good disease package with it. I had dismal results in 2017 planting an open-pollinated variety (Ashely, I think). Downy mildew (or one of the mildews) took them down. The following year (2018) I planted a hybrid called "General Lee". General Lee has a good disease package and I made plenty of cucumbers and the vines stayed healthy for a long time and produced well past the time the OP cucumbers of the previous year had perished. Living in the deep south we're blessed with a pertri-dish of disease and pests. I wanted very much to grow open-pollinated vegetables and save seed from them. The first year I had a 50' row of some of the prettiest tomato bushes a person could hope for....and not 95%, or 99%, but 100% of the hundreds of tomatoes that were produced...rotted. The following year I planted all hybrids, except for one Brandywine. The plants and tomatoes weren't all perfect, but compared to the previous year I was in tomato-heaven!!! Oh, the lone Brandywine made a few tomatoes but died quickly from blight or something...very inferior to the hybrids that I planted. Sure, some people down this way can grow beautiful OP vegetables...I'm not one of those people. I decided after that terrible 2017 tomato year that I wanted most of all to EAT tomatoes...and if they all rotted I couldn't save seeds anyhow from them.

Like I said, the General Lee hybrids have done me good. I didn't know it, but General Lee cucumbers only produce female flowers...they are know as "gynoecious" plants. Thus, they require a different type of cucumber (pollinator) that produces both female and male flowers...these are known as "monoecious" . These pollinators are usually included in a packet of General Lee seeds. If planting only a part of a packet you might want to add a known monoecious variety for pollination purposes to insure you do have some male flowers. Or, just plant the whole packet of seeds.

Soapy water is good for different pests...aphids, caterpillars, etc.,. Alcohol?....I dunno about that.

And, though you didn't ask, my best hybrid large tomato has been Big Beef (grown from seed).....for cherry-size Cupid hybrids have done excellent (but seeds are kind of pricey).

Btw, if @farmerdill shares information/advice with you take it to the bank with you...it's gold.

Best wishes!
Ed

The cucumber plants I have are of the straight eight variety from bonnie. they are the already started plants since I only hold about 12 plants in my raised bed. I am not really sure if they are hybrid or open pollinators. If i had to guess i would say open pollinators.

Yes, they are open pollinators. You might consider purchasing a pack of hybrid seeds of some sort, though that would put you behind a bit, time-wise. Or, find some hybrid cucumbers already started. I'm not sure what the future holds for your current cucumber plants but it doesn't look too rosy to me. I'd get them out of there before they contaminate your raised bed soil more than they have already. I'm no big fan of Bonnie plants, but they're about the only "game in town" for started plants these days, unless maybe you could find a local nursery that actually starts there own plants.

By "only hold about 12 plants" do you mean that your planting these along the back of the bed on a 12" center (plant-to-plant) and trellising them? Other vegetables in front?

Best wishes!
Ed

I have 6 plants in one row and 6 in the other since I have a trellis. 2 basil plants, 2 bell peppers, 2 squash, 4 cucumber and 2 zucchini. I think I may try and pull them up and restart. I planted these plants about 3 weeks ago and they do not seem to have grown much after the spots started to occur.
I will have to check some local nurseries around me to see what they have.

My basil and peppers are doing great. The others, well, they just get this clear looking film sometimes and then the next day there is the start of a hole right there. Or there is just the holes and rotting.

I like what you're growing in the raised bed! Good variety!

Starting over? I'd really consider direct-seeding, the seedling won't be disturbed while it's getting established...no transplant shock. Look for a hybrid with a decent disease package. You've still got plenty of time. But, don't bank on 100% solving the problem with new plants...a good hybrid, though, will help. Or, if you want to give it another chance with OP maybe try a 50/50 mix of OP and hybrid. Just some thoughts.

Question? Wouldn't the squash and zucchini be suffering the same problem if the issue was in the soil? If so, it would make me more suspicious of the cucumber plants being the problem.

Good question, but I don't know its answer. Would the cucumber plant be more susceptible to something like Downy Mildew that the squash? DM comes in on the wind, from what I understand though not necessarily in the soil. But, seems early for DM. Maybe Dillard can give us more thoughts on it. The plants certainly look rough.

My squash and zucchini do have the same issue just not as bad as the cucumber plants. The cucumber plants look torn up, while the squash and zucchini have about 1 leaf that is "eaten" up or has holes in it.

Here are some more images of the cucumber plants I took today.

I'm leaning towards #2 or #3.

https://apps.extension.umn.edu...

I did not realize that that you were using nursery plants. Cucumber plants are more fragile than squash plants. Both are tricky to transplant. If you bought them and transplanted them without gradually hardening them off, you probably have sunburn/windburn. Sort of like when you work in an office all winter and then take a day off to hit the beach without sun protection. Alcohol is a drying agent that probably made it worse. If this is the case they may outgrow it.

Thanks Dillard! You got me to searching more! Farmer_T's plants definitely resemble the picture in this link... https://blog-fruit-vegetable-i...

Yes, it looks more like some other kind of damage. For insects you can usually find the insect.