Cucumber beetles maybe? Whatever they are, they kidded my last to cuke plants. Generally I can get one round of veges and these things destroy the plant. I am surprised you can squirt them off.

They almost look like black aphids, right?

Saintpfla,

I'm no expert, I'm learning too. I was hoping someone else would chime in but you need to post a picture if possible. FWIW, my plants don't look good either, lots of leaves dying off and I just can't get control of the Downey mildew but it doesn't sound like we're having the same problem. I did better last season with the containers sitting above ground, vs. now having the containers sitting in their in-ground bunkers where its easier for soil contaminants to transfer into the container soil even though there is space between the two container soils. I just picked a dozen cukes off the Spacemasters but not sure how much longer they will last, and while I have quite a few small cukes on the Bush Champion those plants look even worst that the Spacemasters....

This has got me thinking about moving the cukes completely off the ground. Tony had grown some upside down cukes and said they did well but it looks like he's pulled the pictures so I can't post them. Otherwise, I may just continue to use the short vine varieties and get them five feet off the ground in racks and just let gravity do the trick.

I might just have to whip out Sevin....

You know, I don't think pictures will come out well as they are very tiny. I can barely discern them myself.

I'll give it a try tomorrow and see if they come out well enough to identify.

TomnCath: re: powdery mildew - I have read that misting with baking soda and water mixture helps remove. it? I read it somewhere as good for roses for PM and blackspot. I have not tried it myself however. So, proceed with caution.

I have Serenade and Green Cure, both work well for powdery mildew, this is Downey mildew and the Serenade doesn't seem to be cutting it this time....

I might just have to whip out Sevin....

Sounds like you're going to bring out the big guns. I have Sevin and Ortho Max but I sure try not to use them on the stuff I'm eating, still, there are times when it's use or lose!

I just had my pepper plant attacked by flea beetles. They sound like what you described (tiny, black, round and on the leaf undersides). I sprayed them with a mixture of water, soap, cayenne pepper and garlic and that did the trick!

Saintpfla

Bugs and diseases love cucumbers!. I am no expert but before I try anything drastic I would hose the plants to get the bugs out. Then I would apply a mixture of a fungicide with horticultural oil and see what happens.

Tom

I planted my cucumbers in containers, above the ground, on top of bins, on a trellis. Lemon, Armenian and Thai. The only ones that did good were the Thai, maybe because is hot and humid there?

I saw on a video,somebody growing cucumbers successfully. She submerged the seedlings on a red fungicide mix with water. Then plant them. According to her this red liquid makes the cucumbers not attractive to the bugs.

It makes sense to me, to treat them before they show signs of trouble. Kind of preventive medicine.

Don't worry, soon we are going to start a new season and we can do better next time.

Willy

Planted some big box transplants...curled over and died w/in 2 weeks...fungus among us?

Saint, if your description is accurate, I don't think you are looking at beetles. Beetles you can easily see that they are beetles.
I think you are seeing the #1 cuke pest, mites.

Willy,

Interesting that the Thai cuke did the best. I'm on a quest to find one that will work in our heat and humidity. I ordered some Thai Ninja seeds from Evergreens last year but never got around to trying them, think they'll be next. I also found a place that sells small packs of quite a few different varieties for $0.99/15-20 seeds so after researching disease resistant varieties I've ordered Stonewall, Royal, Thunder, Dasher II, Speedway and General Lee seeds, so you can see I'm committed to success ;-)

Tom

Wow Tom!

You are going to be doing some serious cucumber experimenting.
The packs of seeds for small price is perfect for us with small gardens. This way we get to try new varieties to find out what grows well for us.

Recently I got some seeds and cuttings from overseas, as a gift. The seeds have names but not the cuttings. I am going to try them next season. I am rooting the cuttings hoping they survive, after they grow I will have to identify them.

I am growing ground cherries now. Are you familiar with them? They look like tomatillos but is more like a fruit.
They are perennial plants but I think they will be sweeter when the warm weather comes. This are my little experiments going on right now.

Willy

Hi Willy,

Sounds neat, I can't wait to hear how the ground cherries turn out, you really need to get with Tony since he's into anything new ;-) Are you going to grow the Thai cukes again? If so, I want to know how the second round goes.... If you'd like to try the vining squash seeds I purchased from England drop me a line, I still have twenty seeds left.

Tom