AAAAARG! I missed one whole day looking at/harvesting/watering my garden and now see fungus on my cuc leaves. :( Anyone know of a good organic treatment for this? I have lots of cornmeal to make cornmeal water but not sure if this works. I could try neem oil but not sure if this would just fry them! Janet
There's a fungus among us...
What kind of fungus? Cornmeal sprinkled on the ground might help as well as dry powdered garlic.
Here's what the leaves looked like yesterday morning.
Another shot.
And these yellow spots I don't think are fungus but have been on a separate cuc plant. I've been lopping them off as they appear.
I am about to go check on things now. I'll mix up my cornmeal water and spray tomorrow. I'll also sprinkle it on the ground. Maybe some of this will help. Do you also sprinkle the garlic powder on the ground?
Yes, you sprinkle the garlic on the ground under the plant. I have purchsed the big container at Sam's to use in my garden. You can poke holes in the top to make like a shaker and then use plastic wrap under the lid to keep it fresh once you've finished shaking it on the ground.
What does the underneath side of the leaf look like? I'm wondering if you've got spider mites or white flies.
bariolio
I'm envious that you came up with that tiltle before I did. Nice job!
Haha hrp! Thanks!
Ok, so I did some fungal research. I came up with cornmeal water to spray on foliage (soak 1 c cornmeal made from whole grain, not degerminated, with 5 gallons water. Let sit for 1 hour. Strain and spray.); skim milk mixed with water to spray on foliage--1 part milk to 9 parts water; neem oil and other various herbal mixtures; cornmeal spread on soil, lightly watered and let dry a bit; and some other stuff that I don't have access to like biological controls. So tonight I made the cornmeal water and sprayed. But the cornmeal (Hodgson Mills) had been in my freezer for several months so I'm not sure if it'll work. I also spread it on the soil. I bought ready made mixture at Lowe's with rosemary and several other oils to try later. And more neem oil. And I'll try the garlic powder. Will report back when I know something.
Oh, and I'm 99% sure it's powdery mildew. Janet
bariolio, the photo of leaf with little yellow spots is something I'm having an awful lot of this year on both vegetable plants and flowers. I'm wondering if it is thrips or ?? I have never in all my life had so many different bugs on plants, and they aren't good bugs, for sure ! Very discouraging.
Janet, how'd you like the smell of that cornmeal water??? LOL Be sure you're using horticultural grade cornmeal and not the stuff from the grocery store.
Can you wipe the spots off say with a damp rag if not could be insect damage if it wipes off then for sure must be fungus >>I am just thinking about possible causes,,Fungus always scares me because it is so hard to get rid of without hurting the plants ..I have found the old timey recipe of 1 tbs of baking soda and 1tbs of dish soap mixed id one gallon of water works pretty good but not 100%
Yes, it wipes off. I sprayed some stuff from Lowe's made with herbal oils like peppermint & rosemary called All Natural Disease Control RTU last night on the cucs, okra, eggplant and my Thunbergia. Nothing is dead yet! And even if that stuff doesn't work very well, it smells terrific! Garden air freshener! I think my butterfly bushes also have fungus. I'll try spraying that also. Sheesh...
I was just reading through all the different "recipes" for spraying and a baking soda/detergent one has you put 1/2 c baking soda and a couple of drops detergent into 1 QT of water. Says does not hurt plants in any way. It's just alot more than you suggested. What do you think? Also, I can try a milk spray of 1 c skim milk in 9 c water. Repeat any of these every 2-3 days until fungus is gone. At least these are easy to do!
once upon a time I did severely hur some plants with that same recipe don't know for sure what the baking soda does but I think it is very alkaline ..Fungus just drives me up the wall so much of the comm. fungicides are just plain dangerous to use .I buy them then get them home and read the labels carefully and sit them on a shelf where they are still sitting LOL
Janet, soapy water will kill your maters, pronto!!!