Just can't figure out cucumbers...

[greghamsher]

Hi folks... new to the forum, and pretty new to gardening. I've had a garden for the past 4 years, and have gotten pretty good at growing tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, green peppers...

But then there are cucumbers... Every year we plant them, and they start the year off great! Dark green leaves, tons of flowers... And then slowly the lowest leaves start to brown, and and get very dried out. Then the small cucumbers near the base of the plant also start to brown and shrivel. I've attached pictures to help. The first year I thought I hadn't watered enough, so the next year I watered more, and then the year after that even more. And still, brown crispy leaves, very few full sized fruit, and one frustrated gardener. My plants haven't made it to the middle of August yet. This year I've been trying to follow the 1 inch a week rule on watering, and I felt as though things were going well... Well, it's started again. I've been watering a slow drip at the base of the plant, and trying to avoid getting the leaves wet as much as possible. It has been rainy, and so I use the milk/water solution to keep the mildew off...

Any thoughts? Ideas? I love cucumbers, and would really love to try my hand at pickling... if only! I have more pictures if anyone would care to see them...

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[BlackSabbathEd]

That looks like Powdery Mildew which I have on my zucchini plants pretty severely this season. Yours looks pretty bad too unfortunately.

Fungicides help a little but I just removed the leaves that were affected and got rid of them. I don't know whether the stress will kill them at this point but we will see. It's very easily spread to other plants so be careful when removing the leaves.

It's been one of the rainiest springs on record here as well as very very high humidity.

[JayPoc]

yeah....2nd powdery mildew. I battle it each year, but I can usually squeeze out a decent haul of squash, zuchs, and cukes, before it becomes a lost cause...might need to take a few year break, or go to a different spot in the yard...

[greghamsher]

Thanks folks... Any thoughts as to preventing it when I do take up cukes again? I've tried the milk/water mixture, and you can see results for yourself.

As for rain here, we've had a below average year so far. Lately we've had showers but nothing overly worrisome. As for my squash plants, those are doing beautifully thus far.