I'm starting to think that I am not very good at this gardening thing. My two Japanese cucumber plants were looking really good just 5 days ago. They were happily growing up the trellis with a couple of cute little yellow flowers brightening up the balcony garden.
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| Happy days of Japanese cucumber |
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| Happy cucumber grabbing onto the trellis |
I was getting excited about harvesting my very own Japanese cucumbers. Then bam! Almost overnight both plants started to wilt. First I thought it was water, so I tried watering and it looked as though they were recovering that evening. But after that, the leaves looked sad and droopy the next few days.
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| My sad wilting cucumber |
I cut the stem and stuck it in water to see if I can see some cloudy substance (which would have been cool to see) but I saw nothing. I looked at the base of the stem and it looked wet and squishy.
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| not so happy looking stem |
The second stem looked healthy, but the plant was looking just as sick. I'm not sure if a rotting disease is different from cucumber wilt, but if it was wilt, I didn't want the bacteria to spread to my healthy champion bush cucumber. So I begrudgingly decided to pull the plants out. I also found this guy:
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| Not a friend - spotted cucumber beetle |
When I snapped the picture I thought this was a yellow ladybug or a bad bug I should squish. I did a google search and learned that it is a spotted yellow cucumber beetle that spreads bacterial wilt. I rushed back out the balcony but by then the little bugger had flown away. Next time I will not be so kind! I'm debating whether to start new plants (in a different pot) or not. For now, I plan to grow some sugar snap peas in place of the Japanese cucumbers. And I will also keep a close eye on my still-happy champion cucumber.
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| Champion bush cucumber still happy and healthy |
It's normal when leaves droop during the day that's because they do that to hold their water this happens to cucumbers, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, bittermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, you name it.
ReplyDeleteJose
Yes, I read that too, but it was droopy during the night too. Maybe it was premature, but it just didn't look right. But I'll definitely keep that in mind for the next season! Thanks!
DeleteSorry about your cucumber plants! I hope your remaining plant does well!!
ReplyDeleteI saw a little baby cucumber in the surviving plant. I am hopeful:)
DeleteCertainly not your fault! Happens to cucumbers all the time, and those beetles are really hard to keep off. I've gotten used to starting new plants along the way in hopes that one might live. You might also have had a squash vine borer in that one stem - they'll go for cucumbers if they can't find squash.
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought about the vine borer too. I checked and I didn't see any in the stem - but I was too thorough. The symptom did look similar to borer damage.
DeleteIt's a shame that such a pretty little beetle is such a huge menace. It might help to solarize the soil the dead cuke was in, and lay black plastic mulch over the soil of the living one. The cucumber beetles lay their eggs in the soil and the larvae eat at the base of the plant, which is how bacterial wilt spreads. Supposedly you can tell if it's bacterial wilt by cutting a leaf off, waiting a few seconds, then touching the cut ends back together. If the sap is stringy when you pull them apart again it is bacterial wilt.
ReplyDeleteHm, that's a great tip. If this ever happens again, I will try that. Thanks!
Deleteugh, I'm sorry about your cuke. and that the beetle got to live. But i do think you're fabulous at gardening because you always have a plan B!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Wendy!
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