This happened to three plants now. They were healthy and vigorous, and had already produced. Then all of a sudden the dominant stalk wilted overnight and was dead within a couple of days. The lower side shoots initially looked fine, so I cut off the dead one hoping they will keep growing. However, in a couple of days the whole plant was dead. A week later another one followed the same path. Now a third. Some are lemon cucumbers, some are green slicers. They are being watered daily. The raised beds have 1/4 inch hardware cloth underneath so I can’t blame this on moles. Any ideas? I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of having cucumbers this season, but would be interested to know what is causing this for future. Thanks
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It looks like it could possibly be bacteria wilt. It is spread by the Cucumber Beetle which looks a little like a yellow Lady Bug.
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Most likely cucumber wilt. No cure. Do you have cucumber beetles - small, yellow/black stripped beetles? They are carriers. I ended up growing my cucumbers in a net house, because of these beetles. Their damage is not that terrible, but plants die from the wilt. Another possibility is squash borers. You can see if it is them by sawdust-like stuff around a wound in the base of the vine.
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As the others said, bacterial wilt from cucumber beetles. No cure. Two types of beetles - either striped yellow and black or yellow with black spots. Once they find you they usually stick around so your best hope would be growing under cover, but that is tough with vining plants. You can try replanting and sometimes you can do well between generations of the beetles, at least for a while… sorry.
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Yep, had an infestation of striped cucumber beetles earlier. Sprayed some neem oil and haven’t seen them since, but there had been some damage on cucumbers from them. Never encountered them before. So weird. Thank you, everyone!
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