Cucumber stems turning white

mtmickey · Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:13 pm

The stems on my cucumber plants are turning white, and I'm wondering if you guys can help me out with why?

They are planted in a lasagna garden and were just transplanted a couple of weeks ago. I am in Montana in zone 5a/5b. Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

Kisal · Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:28 pm

It looks like a fungus of some sort, perhaps powdery mildew. That would be my guess, anyway. Is your garden wet?

I've never done lasagna gardening, but with regular gardens, it's important to keep any kind of mulch away from the stems of plants.

DoubleDogFarm · Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:58 am

I've never done lasagna either. What are the layers you used? Looks wet, maybe root rot.

Eric

mtmickey · Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:20 am

It has been quite wet, we have had a ton of rain, and now it is getting really hot. The angle of the picture is bad, I do have the mulch pulled away from the stems of the plants. The layers consist of straw, compost, top soil, manure, and peat (a local peat that is more like compost, not sphagnum)..oh and leaves. I'm thinking you guys are right...wet and possibly root rot.

Thanks

SarahSarah · Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:13 pm

Mine do that too. I always thought it was from slugs. The evil slugs absolutely LOVE my cucumber plants.

rainbowgardener · Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:13 pm

I'm not seeing any damage that looks like slugs. Root rot seems a good guess, because besides the moldy bits, it is very pale and puny. Root rot can keep it from being able to absorb nutrients. My guess is when you pull it, you will find very little root system left. Sorry, but I would give up on that one and start over fresh.

If it were slugs, there would be holes in the leaves, but the rest of the plant could be full sized and dark green and healthy (at least until the slugs have nearly chewed it to death).