So bummed that my most prolific plant seems to be diseased and needs to be destroyed. Planted this zucchini plant from seed, and starting about two days ago, the oldest leaves started looking...weird. Over the last 24 hours they look absolutely terrible. I think I know that it is squash mosaic virus, but I'd love confirmation before I pull up my favorite plant!

One last question...I have tomato plants nearby. Can these be effected? I'm hoping my cucumbers are far enough away (rooftop large container garden).

Photos attached. The first one is what it looked like two days ago:(

Have you had any insects on the squash? The reason I ask is that there are several different mosaic viruses that have been noted to occur on squash in Illinois. That makes it difficult to say if it could be transmitted to your tomatoes, for example squash mosaic virus cannot (as far as I could determine on a quick Google) but cucumber mosaic virus could. Different insect vector though.

Here's a research article I found where they did a survey of squash viruses that occur in Illinois.
http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/...

I'm not certain a virus is what your problem is, it's not obvious enough in a photograph. It also just occurred to me that a virus might not start on the oldest leaves - I will go check that in a minute, if I do that now I may lose what I've written so far as my iPad sometimes reloads pages when go back to them

My suggestion would be to ask your local Extension office, they may know what's "going around" this year. If I find something that suggests symptoms would not start on the older leaves I'll post back.

Edited to add, I found one article that said cucumber mosaic virus symptoms start on the youngest leaves. Whether that would apply to other viruses that can affect squashes I don't know, I didn't find an easy source of info on that but your Extension office may be able to help.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I noticed tiny fluorescent green bugs on my flowers. I thought they were aphids. I didn't see them anywhere else, but I sprayed water with dish soap yesterday (after the leaves had already started turning to look terrible). I'll attach the zoomed in pic of the tiny insects.

So you think this is more and infestation than a virus? That's good news for me, I guess! I'll try also sending better pics of the plan, but the youngest leaves look healthy.

When I searched for zucchini disease, the squash mosaic just looked soooo much like the leaves, it was hard to think it wasn't that.

They do look like aphids. The reason I asked about insects is that viruses are commonly transmitted by them, different insects transmit different viruses to different plants. So it wasn't that I thought it looked more like an infestion, I was just looking for a clue as to which virus it might be (if it is a virus) because you were concerned about your tomatoes. It's not clear to me from the pictures that it is a virus, distortions would show up better on a photograph. If you ask your Extension office they should know if it is the right time of year there and what viruses might be around. If you're close enough to take them a leaf it would probably help more. It is useful to know there are aphids. Have you seen any cucumber beetles?

No cucumber beetles. I did look around a lot, and I'm actually really scared of bugs, so I take notice!!

CarineLS said:No cucumber beetles. I did look around a lot, and I'm actually really scared of bugs, so I take notice!!

Squash mosaic virus is primarily spread by cucumber beetles. Other squash viruses can be spread by aphids, however. You may find this article about viruses in cucurbits of interest:

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath...

Howdy, there 😁!!!
Like Sue said, take specimen to
co-operative. Lots of bugs, dont kill plants, the disease they carry do.
Leaf footed bugs, or, Cucumber Beatles, desimated, most of my garden, last year. Both carry disease/virus.
Leaf footed bugs, i would only see around 7 in the morning, on beans.
Cucumber Beatles ! There devilish. Look like a lady Beatle. Few and hard to find ! Much less catch !!! Butt ! If you find one. Well ???
They lay eggs at base of plant. Larva burrow into stem, and eat roots. They dont really hurt plant, butt ! Virus, kills plant.
Cucumbers, curcubits, squash, beans, tomatillos.
Spray or dust, DE, on base of plants, to kill eggs or larva, before they enter plant.
Also ! You can find, lots of DIY traps on net.
Good Luck Buddy !
😎😎😎