Please HELP! Cucumber vines dying

[Anna23]

This is my first garden and I live in Atlanta. I'm growing the straight eight cucumber variety but they're dying before even giving fruit.

First there was a subtle pale yellow discoloration on healthy green leaves, I might’ve missed it if I wasn’t looking so closely. Then yellow spots on leaves and then leaves browning and eventually dying. Interestingly, the vines continue to grow and I’m even seeing some cucumbers devolving on the larger vines.

From the bottom the vines look sick and sad but from the top they look healthy and vibrant, because it started from near the bottom and is progressively moving upwards.

Is there anything I can do? I am frustrated. I can’t identify the problem and I don't know if it’s too late But I would still like to know the disease or insect so that I can hopefully do better next year.

Also I have hard red clay soil in my backyard so I build a small 3” raised bed and dug down 1 foot and amended soil with leaves and Miracle Grow In-Ground Soil. But unfortunately I see that the soil is still too clay and has draining issues.

Plus it’s July so it’s raining a lot, it’s hot, humid and wet. In July we have mostly sunny/cloudy days but it will still rain for a few hours 3-6 times a week. And finally, I live next to a forest and have a lot of bug problems, but I did what I could and I use DE regularly.

Overall, I feel like the odds are against me and my mistake of growing in poor draining soil will kill my vines.
Any help would be appreciated!

[applestar]

Hi. I hear you — I find cucumbers frustratingly easy and difficult at the same time.

Especially this time of the year, cucumbers are susceptible to a number of diseases (soil-borne or infected by sucking pests) and nutrient deficiencies, and being shallow rooted, they need more even moisture and are less able to cope with drought but are susceptible to root diseases due to soaking wet soil or standing water.

Cucumbers are heavy feeders and need good balanced fertilizer. They need calcium, magnesium, and boron. Dolomitic Lime should have been mixed into the soil and side dressed as they begin to bloom, then as they begin to bear fruits. You can also try epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate) and borax.

There is not much to be done about insect vector diseases (look for and drop cucumber beetles, leafhoppers and plant hoppers, and stinkbugs in cup of soapy water every time you are in the garden), but you can try spraying the leaves against soil-borne and/or wind carried fungal diseases. I always suggest milk solution as a good mild fungal preventive that also supplies calcium, phosphorus, nitrogen, etc.

Check the base of the vines to see if any has split stem.

… I’m trying all kinds of sprays as fertilizer supplement as well as fungal infection preventative. I’ve mentioned them in my gardening progress thread.

… I haven’t made the final call yet, but I believe I lost another cucumber vine to disease. Its leaves were starting to wilt and collapse today, I’ll likely cull it tomorrow — it had a bunch of half developed fruits, too….

- I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that those might be planted a little too closely
- raised bed 6 to 12 inches high and filled with good soil mix would compensate for clay water logging soil

[imafan26]

The checkerboard pattern of yellow squares between the cells and veins are typical of downy mildew. You will be able to see it better on the bottom of the leaves. Although sucking pests and later pickle worms are problems later on. It looks more like fungal diseases now. It helps to get cucumber varieties that are resistant.
I only grow Japanese cucumbers. Tasty green, Soarer, Progress have good disease resistance as long as they are young and healthy especially against downy mildew.
Suyo has heat resistance and moderate resistance to powdery mildew. Diva and Sweet success are not Japanese cucumbers but both have very good disease -resistance packages. Diva was an AARS winner. Cucumbers are best picked around 8-10 inches long and eaten on the same day. They lose their crispness the longer you keep them.

It looks like you have a good place to grow them. Remember downy mildew usually starts in cold wet conditions. Powdery mildew likes humid and wet. If the weather starts to turn wet and humid and especially if it is going to be that way for a few days, then it would be a good idea to be proactive with preventive fungicides.

Plants with gray green, light green, or hairy leaves and stems like warm dry conditions. They are most prone to mildew and fungal diseases. Mulch and use drip irrigation to keep splashing down. Plant in the season where you have the least rain.
I live in a place where it is hot and humid all of the time, so I have to select for disease resistance and fungicide when the weather gets wet and humid for more than a few days. Unlike tomatoes, at least the cucumbers are also tasty, even though they don't have a long shelf life.

The new Cornell vegetable site has really good crop specific information and resistance charts to help select for disease resistance you need. You will have to try
a few to see if you like the way they taste, especially the tomatoes.

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest ... varieties/