black hairy mold on squash

[glamer85]

my squash plants are very big and have been doing great but recently ill find this hairy gray and black mold on the blossoms and the squash. what is causing this? can i fix it with out chemicals?

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I'm thinking this might be downy mildew or something similar.

I would recommend a few things. First, pick off all of the infected blossoms, spray the plant with a mixture of 1 part water and 4 parts milk. Then let the ground around the plant dry out.

Try watering from the base and not letting the plant touch the soil. Using a bark mulch or newspaper might be helpful.

Good luck!

 

[blurose]

I planted my squash in front of my cucumber trellis and although it doesn't climb pursay, I prop it up on the trellis (no-climb field fence), which sort of encourages it to grow up the trellis a bit. This keeps most of it off of the ground. I did this because of not wanting the little squashes to touch the wet soil, the poor babies. So far so good.