Cucurbit Crop & Disease Management

Jul 29, 2019

Cucumber downy mildew disease confirmed in research plot in southwest Michigan | MSU Extension Vegetables

Downy mildew on cucumber has developed in a small research plot at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan. This is the first confirmed report in Michigan in 2019.

Jul 27, 2019

Cucurbit Downy Mildew Update | Cornell Cooperative Extension

Up until this week, most of eastern NY was under "low risk" of spores blowing in.  However, the CDM Forecasting System now lists NY at high risk for CDM (especially cucumbers).

Jul 25, 2019

July 24 Michigan Vegetable updates | MSU Extension Vegetables

Cucurbit downy mildew has not been reported in Michigan yet or in the Midwest, but spores were captured back in June.

Jul 22, 2019

New photo gallery: Choanephora fruit rot of summer squash | Cornell Cooperative Extension

This common disease occurs when humidity and temperature are both high. Symptoms usually start to develop at the blossom end of fruit touching the ground. The pathogen is in the soil. Affected tissue develops a wet, soft rot. The pathogen’s growth is distinctive. It looks furry (hairy) and like a lot of pins in a pin cushion. Blossoms and leaves can also be affected. There are no known ways to manage this disease.

Jul 13, 2019

Cucurbit Downy Mildew ipmPIPE July epidemic updates

CDM was reported between June 20 and July 11 in VA, NJ, AL, MD, NC, and GA on cucumber, butternut squash, and watermelon.

Jul 10, 2019

Fusarium Wilt Management in Watermelons | VSCNews

Fusarium Wilt has a host range limited to watermelon. However, there are different types of this pathogen that can infect squash, cucumbers and other melons, but these types do not infect watermelon and vice versa. This is one reason why grafting with squash or other cucurbit rootstocks can nearly eliminate Fusarium Wilt.

Jul 8, 2019

Cucumber downy mildew spores detected | MSU Extension Vegetables

The Hausbeck vegetable pathology lab at Michigan State University has established a network of spore traps in major cucumber production areas of their state. This year, they have the ability to distinguish the spores of cucumber downy mildew from the spores of hop downy mildew.

Jul 2, 2019

Managing Southern Blight in the Southeast | VSCNews

Southern blight is a severe disease of vegetables that favors warm and wet weather common to production in the Southeast.

Jun 27, 2019

Watermelon rootstock knocks out disease, pests | Morning Ag Clips

Carolina Strongback is a rootstock watermelon that is resistant to Fusarium wilt and the southern root-knot nematode, according to William “Pat” Wechter, plant pathologist with the ARS U.S. Vegetable Research Laboratory (USVL) in Charleston, South Carolina.

Jun 26, 2019

Wet, humid weather challenges vegetable disease management | MSU Extension Vegetables

Cloudy, humid and wet weather are perfect conditions for downy mildew. These conditions also favor the transport of downy mildew sporangia into our Michigan growing areas.