Deteriorating Zucchini Plant

 

Over the past month, the zucchini plant has deteriorated. Problems began with the onset of powdery mildew in early August.

While we avoided watering the leaves of plants in our garden, the frequent and oftentimes heavy rain drenched them. This coupled with the humid weather provided favorable conditions for the onset of powdery mildew.

We removed badly infected leaves and The Organic Gardener crew applied GreenCure to help combat the problem.

While the powdery mildew persisted, the zucchini plant’s stems began to wilt. At first it was only a handful of stems, but within a matter of weeks the majority of the plant’s stems were wilting. 

During Jeanne Nolan’s recent visit, she and The Organic Gardener crew members Adrienne Detanico and Courtney Behrens suspected the damage to the plant was caused by a vine root borer.

The wilting and damage to the base of the plant were consistent with that of a vine root borer, Nolan said.

“It will affect the whole plant and eventually [the plant] will die,” Detanico said. “This is the time of year zucchini begins to wind down anyway.”

In order to tell if the plant was damaged by a vine root borer, they would’ve had to cut open the plant, killing it in the process.

Since it is near the end of the zucchini season, Nolan and her crew opted to allow the healthy stems of plant to continue to grow.