Question
Hello.  Hope you can help.  I have a small garden but I grow a pretty comprehensive variety of vegetables.  I have very good luck with everything but cucumbers.  I do have a mesh system so they can climb and I keep the PH and moisture level at acceptable limits.  However the plants do very well a month or so and produce young cucumbers.  But then yellow spots appear on the leaves.  The spots slowly get bigger and bigger and then kill the entire plant.  Cucumbers are the only vegetables that present this problem.  I grow a lot of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, beans and so forth.  They all do well but cucumbers have this yellow "blight" that so far I have not been able to stop.  I appreciate your help.  Jim Lowry,  Deland Florida  

Answer
Jim, it sounds like the plants are contracting angular leaf spot or anthracnose. Both are fungus diseases that are very prevalent in humid environments and very common in Florida.

The only control is spraying the cucumbers early in their growth cycle with a copper fungicide. An even better preventive measure is to plant disease resistant varieties such as Marketmore. Another good practice is to rotate the crops every three years to prevent soilborne disease from reappearing.

The good news is that there are several resistant varieties available. Most vegetables today are hybrids that have been bred to resist these diseases. However, heirlooms and open-pollinated varieties are highly susceptible.

Attached is a website that will give you even more information on the various diseases associated with cucumbers. I would also search the other links I have attached for cucumber seed that would grow well in your area.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PG046

http://www.parkseed.com/

http://www.burpee.com/category/vegetables/cucumbers.do

Good luck, and please write again if I can ever be of assistance.

Regards,

Mike