You didn't say where your garden was, but I have the same problems with dying leaves, and plants. Just after the vines produce a few cucumbers, the leaves get brown and the whole vine eventually dies. This happens to some other vegetables, and I believe it is rust, a fungus disease. I just plant new ones all the time but a possible treatment is baking soda with a dormant oil applied to the leaves. Other fungicides are available at the garden shop. This fungus grows better in wet areas but I live in Wainane a very dry area.

Cucumbers can be difficult in Hawaii, but I've had friends who've had success with them.

It's difficult to make a diagnosis without a picture of the damage, but here are some ideas:

Google "leaf miner damage" and see if the trails on your lower leaves are a match. In Hawaii, leaf miners are typically the larva of sawflies. The damage they do is unsightly, but usually it doesn't kill the plant unless there is a large infestation. Another common pest in Hawaii is the melon fly. Their larvae (caterpillars) like to tunnel into the hollow vines and eat the plant from the inside, cutting off nutrients to vines.

One blog that I like to visit, just also happens to have lots of information about plant pests and what time of year to plant certain crops, especially if you live at or near sea level where it's hotter. Check out "A Kitchen Garden in Kihei" at the following URL:

http://akitchengardeninkiheimaui.blogspot.com/

You can also check out the information that UH puts out at the following URL:

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/site/BrowsePubs.aspx

Good luck!

hi, i live in wahiawa and have grown both japanese and ...regular cucumber? haha. i don't know what they are called. anyway, they have grown and i have harvested them fine. the leaves do turn yellow/brown around the edges and eventually the vine dries up and dies. i just assumed it was the life of the cucumber plant. I have had some cucumbers turn brown as babies and wilt and die, but I have read that it is normal for some cucumbers not to make it.

i have learned that cucumbers LOVE water. I water it everyday and gave fertilizer maybe once every two or three weeks. When I watered them twice a day, they seemed to love it too (morning and night). Maybe you need to water them more? And give them A LOT of sun, fertilize kind of frequently. - especially since you grow it in a pot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here are my cucumber plants. 4 seeds in a cinder block by the fence.

I live in Nanakuli and I also have the same problem, not only with cucumbers but with squash and string beans. I learned to grow them in pots with strerile soil to avoid nematodes, but they still get rust. I used to live in Makawao, and even though it was wetter I didn't have as much rust. Go figure. I hope someone comes up with solution, because I don't like having to spray my plants all the time.

That all sounds like nematodes. I recently read that chrysanthemums planted in infested soil kill the nematodes, but haven't tried this yet. There was some idea that marigolds help as well.