summer squash leaves

womillerjr · Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:18 pm

If I have a white powdery substance on my squash leaves but nothing on the actual squash....is it still okay to cook and eat the squash or not?

nes · Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:35 am

It's probably powdery mildew, you can treat the leaves with a 1:4 (up to 50:50) mix of water & milk as a fungicide. There was a thread about eating the veggies, I'm not sure.

splat42069 · Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:29 am

are you sure its powdery mildew? Zuchuini and squash leaves turn silverish/white on the veins of the leaves, its normal.

Now if the whole leaf is covered with a powdery color then its mildew, if its just on the veins its normal.

applestar · Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:17 am

Unless the squash are extremely small, you can always pick them before the mildew has the chance to do too much damage. The mildew/mold leaves sunken spots on the skin that turn yellow/brown. If it's only on the surface, then wash with some salty water. You can even pick the baby ones with flower attached -- just like in gourmet restaurants.

My first zucchini started off at about 3" when it flowered, and for most varieties, the recommended size for picking is 6"~8". Yesterday, it was about 4". Matter of fact, I'd better go check how big it is NOW.