Zucchini leave issues

11 years ago

Will someone tell me if my zucchini below has powdery mildew or if it is some other ailment or pest symptom or if it looks like normal variegation?

Two high leaves seem to exhibit it but others don't and one shadowed lower leaf shows the variegation I noticed not longer after growing them from seed (so I believe is normal and has more natural pattern).

There is nothing on the underside of leaves and hasn't been, and the only bugs are a few ants that mostly hang around the soil (and one iridescent fly that seems to hang out on top of the leaves).

The only thing that's happened recently is I sprayed a few nearby plants with insecticidal soap at sunset as they had some small flying bugs that I haven't been able to ID. I don't recall that that zucchini did though and don't recall spraying it.

Only a few days ago there was no sign of this:

The fly that hangs out but I assume is harmless:

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Comments (8)

winorchids
Original Author
11 years ago
Here are some photos of the bugs I sprayed on my lemon cucumber nearby (not sure if they could have traveled over). No clue what they are really.

nymph looking ones:
noinwi
11 years ago
The silver mottling on the leaves is natural to certain varieties, not a disease or pest problem(I think it's beautiful and am always disappointed when the variety I'm growing doesn't have it). The fly is beneficial. Can't tell what the other is but I would just use a fine spray of water to remove it, but look under the leaves for other signs of pests beforehand. Always try to identify your critters before spraying with pesticide so you do less harm to beneficials. HTH
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noinwi
11 years ago
Sorry, you've stated you already tried to ID your bugs. Forgive me.
Jean
11 years ago
The first bug is a fly. Not a problem.

The other insects are too small to ID.

Stop spaying for pests, be that disease or insects, until you get a firm ID.
winorchids
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I don't think it was correct that the leaf changes were natural. See updated:

What is going on?? Fungus?

I've done nothing to it except once I barely fertilized it with Dynagrow foliage at 1/4 tsp to 1 gallon (which isn't even the 1tsp recommended)
winorchids
Original Author
11 years ago
Is this mosaic virus? Can someone give me a good ID?
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
As noinwi said previously, the silvering on the leaf veins was natural. However, you've got that plant in a relatively small pot for a zucchini and it was probably rootbound when you initially posted (due to the way some of the leaves have begun wilting). Since then it has only gotten more rootbound. Add to that the fact that you "barely fertilized" only once and you've got a plant that is severely stressed and more prone to pest/disease issues. Sorry to say but your plant is a goner at this point.

Rodney
drmbear
11 years ago
Many of those small flying creatures are types of wasps, that do things like prey on caterpillars and other things that we don't like. The reason we avoid using pesticides is to protect these things so they can do all the hard work in the garden to get rid of things that want to harm our gardens. Spraying pesticides on them is a bad idea.