My Squash and Marrow plants don't look too good....?

The courgette's have been fine all summer and this past week the leaves have turned a funny blue dusty colour and started to fall off! It seems to be affecting the squash too, does anyone have an idea of what it could be?

Is there a way to save them?

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Permalink Reply by Clive Scoggins on August 27, 2010 at 22:40

It's probably powdery mildew. Extremely common disease in cucurbits. I used to get it all the time on courgette and squash plants at my previous allotment - I think the spores can lie dormant in the soil for some time, and are no doubt easily spread among allotment plots. Googling it will bring up advice from the RHS etc.

As far as I know it doesn't do much harm if you remove and destroy (not compost!) affected leaves to stop it spreading too fast. My plants certainly continued to crop well, we were never short of courgettes!

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Permalink Reply by Damo on August 28, 2010 at 20:06

Hi, sorry to hear that it does sound like powdery mildew. I'm a big fan of milk for combatting all sorts of pests and I've read that it helps with mildew. Take a look on the net about it. Basically I get the cream of the top of a bottle of Jersey Milk and mix with some water into a mist sprayer. I've used it on whitefly in the greenhouse as the fatty acids break down the soft bodies of the pests. If you're worried about the smell just rinse off with a hose a couple of hours later once the milk has had chance to work. Might be worth a go as it's only the price of a pint!

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Permalink Reply by Soilman on August 28, 2010 at 20:14

It's powdery mildew, Becky. Not a lot you can do about it, I'm afraid: it happens in August when the season's coming to an end. I'm usually grateful, frankly: I'm so fed up with courgettes by August that it's a relief to see them stop...

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Permalink Reply by BeckyCollina on September 9, 2010 at 11:01

Thank you for all your good advice!!

My squash look a lot better! Hopefully i'll be able to grow one!

Thanks again

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Permalink Reply by Ally on September 9, 2010 at 15:15

I think I have the same thing on one of my courgette plants (white powder on all the leaves) however the plant it is affecting is also the most productive which I found strange. I may try the idea of the milk though

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Permalink Reply by Scattered Gardener on September 9, 2010 at 16:10

Probably mildew - natural process at this time of year, mine are starting to do it too. You may still get a few to harvest but essentially I think the plants get exhausted after producing fruits all summer and give up the ghost. Hope you've had a good crop:-)