Zucchini dying suddenly

18 years ago

My zucchini plant has all of the sudden wilted and died within 48 hours. I've cut open a couple of stems and have seen no worms. The weather has turned extremely hot here in the last 2 days.

Upon looking closer, I have seen some type of mold growing on some of the branches, and more importantly, what appears to be some heavy rot at the core branches. Also, there's a number of large bugs crawling around.

Here's some links to pics:

The heavy rot at the core branches

www.berry-tech.com/pictures/Stem1.jpg

The bugs I described:

www.berry-tech.com/pictures/bug1.jpg

The overall plant;

www.berry-tech.com/pictures/plant.jpg

A single stem with the mold on it I mentioned:

www.berry-tech.com/pictures/singlestem.jpg

Any help greatly appreciated!!!!

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Comments (6)

lexilani
18 years ago
Hi jtberr,
I've lost some of my zukes too. And the few I have left when they get a small zuke on it, the poor thing seems to get rotten right away. We had so much rain when I first planted them that I'm wondering if that had something to do with it.

The pic you had of the bug, I'm not sure but it almost looks like an "armor bug". Not sure of the real name...but I thought I read somewhere that they were one of the good bugs. The picture isn't real clear so I can't tell but it sure seems to have the same shape.

ok just found a link with a picture of the bug I'm talking about. It's called a Spined Soldier /stink bug. Is that the same bug on your plants?
Scroll down till you see the name:

Here is a link that might be useful: Spined soldier/stink bug
jtberr
Original Author
18 years ago
The bug looks like this. It looks like I have Squash Bugs, although I'm not sure this explains the rotting on the main stems that I pictured.

Here is a link that might be useful:
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jtberr
Original Author
18 years ago
Can these bugs just suddenly kill a plant in 48 hours?

Any help greatly appreciated...
:)
wvtomatoman
18 years ago
Your picture of the bug you have is a little fuzzy, but it still looks like a squash bug to me. Squash bugs don't really do a lot of damage, but they are a nuisance and I don't like them around. You can look up how to control them but hand picking or the board method is what I use.

When squash/zucchini suddenly wilt and die the first thing to check is for squash vine borer. But, you say you slit the stem open length wise close to the soil and saw no SVB larve. The other types of problems are fungal diseases (such as verticillium wilt etc.) or bacterial wilt. So you might want to research these a bit (google) and see if anything fits the bill. However, it seems to have happened too quickly for it to be a disease.

OBTW, another thing you can do is to check with your local extension service.

Good luck.

Randy
minirose1
18 years ago
I told of our problem on another thread, but we have always had a problem with our squash literally dying overnight. We garden in a spot that has been a garden for a very long time and we rotate every year. We could never find evidence of any vine borers, so cam to the conclusion after some research that we had a bacterial wilt problem. For the last several years we have planted our squash in other areas, such as an empty spot in a flower bed and have three large containers that we plant in and do not experience this sudden death anymore. The plants do quite well even in the containers, so long as we are careful to keep them watered and fed.
chunter
18 years ago
Have you seen cucumber beetles in the area?