Cucumber problems

[aclum]

Trouble in paradise here . The leaves on my kratky cucumbers seem to have picked up some disease. (I've inspected the plants and haven't seen any critters). From looking at pictures on the web, I'm guessing the damage is caused by some sort of fungal disease . It's been very warm and dry here and the plants don't get watered in a conventional sense, but they're only a few feet from our lawn and might have gotten some overspray from the sprinklers (especially with the wind gusts we've had recently).

I'm attaching some photos to see if anyone can give me a diagnosis and treatment recommendation. I kept the photos larger than normal so it would, hopefully, be easier to figure out what's going on.

Thanks for any input!!

Anne

[zipcode]

I'd be very surprised if that was fungal. That being said I don't know what it is, it looks like some sort of burn.

[aclum]

Zipcode,

Thanks for the input. I sure hope you're right about it not being a fungus and suggesting the possibility of a burn. Today was "automatic sprinkler watering day" and I put up some plastic protection for the plants. The photo shows how much overspray hit the plastic and it does look suspiciously like the pattern on the leaves. The plants are in bright sun during the first part of the watering, then shaded for about 15-20 minutes by a tree and finally back in the sun until late afternoon. I'll keep the plastic up for a while and see if the leaves stop spotting.

Anne

[Virtex]

Try some 40% shade cloth. It made a big difference with my Cucumbers and those pesky brown leaves.

[b54red]

One problem that can cause that look is flea beetles. I had them really bad a couple of weeks ago. I thoroughly sprayed the tops and bottoms of the leaves as well as the surrounding mulch with a mix of soapy water and a bit of Permethrin. In twenty four hours it looked like my plants had received a good dose of fertilizer the leaves were so much greener and smoother looking. If you decide to do this wait til late in the evening so as not to harm honey bees which are frequently on them in the mornings.

Bill

[aclum]

Hi Bill and Virtex,

Thanks for the suggestions. As you can see from the photo, I put up some plastic to protect the plants from the lawn sprinkler overspray and haven't had any more the leaf problems (knock on wood!). The plants are next to a small shade house structure to the south so they're already somewhat shaded and around 4 pm or so the shade from our patio cover (to their west) starts creeping over the plants. We're under an excessive heat warning today (currently 95 but predicted to go up to 103 as per NOAA) and the cukes don't seem at all affected (so far anyway ). The Kratky tomatoes, OTOH, are not happy campers today . In addition to losing some nutrient water due to a system malfunction , they've been drinking A LOT and I've had to top off things a couple of times and need to get some shade cloth over them!

Virtex, If you don't mind saying, what general part of California are you located in?. I'm in the central valley.

Bill, Glad you got your flea beetles taken care of . I don't think I've ever had any experience with them - and don't want any .

Anne