Squash plant flattened?

[jemagsy]

Okay my squash and zucchini were AWESOME (well mostly) when I left for work this morning. When I get home one of them is like this...

All the other ones are fine, (well one does have one side w/ leaves turning a tad brown, but otherwise very healthy and I am finally starting to get mini zukes & squash on them)

I have already watered it tonight to try and get it back to being sprucy, but is something else going on here? I'm having issues with my tomatoes too, and lost an entire row of my garden (broccoli, carrots, onions, and cabbages to critters). I really don't want to lose my only plants that have been thriving.

And yes there are milk jugs buried in my garden, I water them down too, in the hopes it will get water a bit deeper in the ground.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Oh you poor thing. I guess your just not getting any break this season.

Are there any signs of bugs? Beetles or larval caterpillars around the base of the plants? If so, it may be a bacterial wilt.

Many times cucurbits will wilt in high heat and spring back in the evening. This is usually normal and generally do not pose a threat, as long as there is adequate watering. However, if the plants are not springing back in the evenings and are wilted all day and night this is usually a sign of a bacterial wilt. Bacterial wilts are normally caused by disease carrying beetles (namely the cucumber beetle).

If this is the case. I would recommend first to identify the culprit try looking for the beetles or any other bugs. Then remove and destroy the infected plant. And working on controlling the beetles or whatever other bug that may be causing the problem.

Good luck

 

[Tutter]

That's so sad! That's way too many losses for a garden. Darn.

I'm afraid that it doesn't look like a watering issue to me, either.

May I ask, just out of curiosity, what the mulch is that you're using?

I hope that things work out for you. Please keep us posted.

 

[Grow 4 Food]

it got stung. Yes that sounds strange but that it what probably happened. There is some type of insect that "needs" to lay eggs in that plant. However somehow in that process it kills your plant. I have seen it happen several times even if you are a religious sprayer.

It is a shame they always seem to be producing well when you loose them. You should have time to try again, Good Luck!

 

[jemagsy]

Okay... so it was looking better last night... Do I still need to get rid of it?

As for the mulch I am using Preen Mulch Plus "Midnight Black" in the yellow bag... I can use any kind of mulch for veggies right?

As far as the bugs I have seen a few beetles but none up in the garden, most of them have been on the other end of the property and near the koi pond. I talked to my husband and he said he hadn't seen any of them in the garden either... just bees, mosquitoes, flies, and earlier in the year some white flies.

I did use some Sevin Dust a couple weeks ago cause I could not stand getting bit by the flies & mosquitoes anymore. (I was coming in with around 15 whelps on my legs and arms every time I went outside). Plus the mulch has weed preventer on it... I didn't really pay that much attention before to the weed preventer... Will it kill my plants?

I thought I knew a little about gardening, but everyday it seems like I have more and more to learn. (At least its fun and we are learning something though!)

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

A few things I noticed.

I am not familiar with what you're using as mulch but I'm not sure if it's the best thing for vegetables. Either way, most mulches should not touch the base of the plant since this may cause disease amongst other problems. A lot of bugs like to live in mulch (it's moist and dark) and this can cause another set of problems.

If it's looking better then I would say no. What's looking better though? New growth? (that may not be affected yet by the bacteria).

Please do be careful with the sevin. It can really have a bad affect on our pollinators and really shouldn't be used anywhere it can come in contact with them. A little bit of lavender or peppermint oil seems to do the trick when it comes to keeping bugs off your skin.

We all learn something new everyday. Gardening is one of those things that throws you a different problem everyday. I need to go battle in my war against the spotted cucumber beetle.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

So I looked up the product you mentioned and it's active ingredients.

Trifluralin which is the main ingredient is a herbicide that is highly toxic. You can see the scorecard report Here It is a known carcinogen.

Isoxaben is the other herbicide used which is also a toxic chemical.

These may have no adverse affect on the growing of vegetable plants. I would not want to have these chemicals near my food. Another good reason that this mulch should not touch the plant or any parts.

A good and probably cheaper mulch would be shredded redwood or something similar.

Good luck

 

[Tutter]

Thank you, Oakland, I'd never heard of the mulch, either.

 

[jemagsy]

Thank you guys! Removed the mulch from my plants (sorry its been so long since I've posted - had lots of family visiting & get togethers these past two weeks).

I just wanted to tell you all my tomatoes are doing splendidly!! They have started bushing back out and (with a little help sometimes) shed all of their brown leaves. They look terrific. I will try and take some pictures this weekend to show you the rapid improvement these guys have taken.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

It's good that your plants are doing better! Can't wait to see pics!