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leonaob

cucumbers and squash under attack...help!

13 years ago

Again I'm a first time gardener that was so excited to see the quick sprouting of both the Squash and cucumbers. However over the last couple of days I am seeing spots, brittle leaves I don't know what I going on. I have been careful to not over water so I've thought. The zucchini looks great. I've regularly sprayed neem oil to keep pests away, what am I doing wrong?

Comments (9)

  • 13 years ago

    here is a look at the squash

  • 13 years ago

    Neem oil does not fight or cure Fungi

  • 13 years ago

    so is that what is going on? I have fungi? omg what do I do?

  • 13 years ago

    "Regularly sprayed neem oil" means what? How often, how much? Daily, weekly, full strength? For what pests specifically? Pesticides have side effects so are used to kill pests once the pest is identified, not to "keep them away" just in case there might be one wander by.

    All the damage in those photos could simply be from spraying too much neem oil. It coats the leaves and prevents transpiration and interferes with photosynthesis.

    What has your weather been? Windy? Hot? Cool? Leaves sprayed in direct sun or heat of the day can easily be damaged like that. Another possibility is that it is still too cool, even in your zone, for squash given the weird weather in much of the country lately.

    Dave

  • 13 years ago

    Ok... Again...---> totally ignorant gardener. First I used Garden Safe Fungicide 3 after the seedlings emerged in hopes of preventing EVERYTHING. I was under the impression that it was a fungus preventative, as well as insecticide and miticide. Approximately 2 weeks later after noticing evidence of slight leaf damage I applied Natria Neem Oil... which says it has .9% Neem for black spot, powdery mildew, rust, aphids, etc....

    I see some flying bugs etc in the garden from time to time nothing major, but I guess I thought I was trying to prevent it.

    Weather has been sporadic, sunny yet windy, dry, now a cold snap.

    I just want to save my plants :-(

  • 13 years ago

    You have no need to spray at this time, and the oil may be damaging the leaves. The yellowing at the leaf tips indicates a nutrient or water uptake disturbance, possibly aggravated by oil and sun. Chill. You will have many insects in your garden, and the best way to make sure you get a balance of the good and bad is to plant a lot of flowers to attract the good ones.

  • 13 years ago

    Thank you sooooo much for all of your help! I'm going to plant flowers and I'm not going to spray anything...chilling it is.

  • 13 years ago

    Weather has been sporadic, sunny yet windy, dry, now a cold snap.

    Then you likely planted them too early and you are seeing weather damage in addition to the spraying issue. Squash is a summer, a warm weather crop. Young seedlings easily suffer from wind burn if not protected from the wind. And even larger plants will not tolerate cool soil and drastic changes in weather exposure without damage developing.

    In too cool soil the roots cannot absorb nutrients and the leaves show the resulting damage. Damaged leaves quickly develop more damage when exposed to wind, rapid changes in air temps, and sprays.

    Bring out the fungicides early with some plants but only when they are also planted out at the proper time in the proper soil temps etc. Pesticides come out of the garden shed only when there are actual pests doing actual damage. :)

    If the weather cooperates, these plants might recover ok but if they don't you still have plenty of time to plant new ones once the warm weather stabilizes.

    Dave

  • 13 years ago

    Ok Dave, I will keep hope alive, but definitely take your recommendation and replant if needed.