Cucumbers are one of the juiciest and crispest summer treats. They taste great in salads, on sandwiches, or just by themselves. Because they are mostly water, they are very refreshing and add a nice crunch to many meals.
It’s pretty easy to grow cucumbers as long as you have full sun, nutrient-rich soil, and soil that drains well. You can grow a lot of different kinds of cucumbers in your home yard. You can choose from varieties that are good for slicing or pickling.
But, like any crop, cucumbers can get diseases, be eaten by pests, or have problems growing. This could be one of these common reasons why your plant looks a little sad.
1. Cucumber Beetles
Cucumber bugs may be to blame if the leaves on your cucumber plant start to look like Swiss cheese. These bugs usually attack more than 200 kinds of plants, mostly cucurbits.
The beetles will chew the leaves, leaving lacing, holes, and ragged ends, even though the leaves look nice. They might also eat the flower buds and roots.
2. Bacterial Wilt
If the plants are getting enough water, the first sign of bacterial wilt in cucumbers is leaves that are droopy and look like they are suffering from lack of water.
Those pesky striped cucumber bugs spread the disease. It stays in their bellies all winter, and when spring comes, the bugs come out to eat plants and spread the disease.
acterial wilt stops water from getting into the plant’s leaves and stems. There is no fix, so the plants will fail and die in the end. It is best to take your plant out of the yard and kill it if you think it has this disease.
3. Failure to Fruit
Cucumbers are the reason we planted the plant in the first place, so not having any is a big worry. Most of the time, low fertilization rates are to blame when there are flowers but no fruit. Cucumbers that grow slowly or fall off the bush can also be caused by not enough pollination.
If you don’t see bees flying around your yard on a daily basis, try adding plants that pollinate other plants.You can also increase yields by hand-pollinating cucumbers. To do this, move pollen from male flowers to female flowers with a small brush.
Another reason there might not be enough cucumbers is that the season started too early. The first flowers the plant makes are male and won’t turn into fruit. Wait a few weeks for the female flowers to show up.
4. Anthracnose
Some of the first signs of cucumber anthracnose, a common fungus disease that affects many plants, are wet, yellow spots on the leaves. It likes it when it’s warm and wet and very humid.
With yellow to brown spots, the leaves are the first parts to show signs of damage. As the disease gets worse, the spots get bigger. The damage shows up as long tan cankers on the stems and petioles. Fruit that is fully grown may also give in, getting soft, brown spots with red seeds.
One of the main ways the plants get sick is through plant matter from the previous year. The best ways to stop the disease are to get rid of old plants and follow the rules for crop rotation.
5. Powdery Mildew
Powdery mildew is a fungus that often grows on plants, especially ones with big leaves. It starts out as rough spots of grayish-white color and grows into bigger patches. When the illness is bad, the fungus can cover the whole leaf and spread to the stems.
Powdery mildew first shows up in large numbers in the middle to late summer. The spores are spread by wind and are most common where it is warm and dry. When leaves die and fall off, photosynthesis slows down and the plant as a whole is less healthy.
The fruit isn’t usually hurt, but fewer and smaller fruits are made. Also, because there aren’t as many leaves to protect them, the cucumbers may get sunburn, which makes the skin rough and unattractive.
Plants should be spread out so they get a lot of air flow, hardy types should be used, and fungicides should be used if the infection is spreading quickly.
6. Yellow Leaves
If the plant has yellow tomatoes and leaves, it means it’s not happy. It could be because there isn’t enough water, fertilizer, light, or transplant shock.
Based on how wet the fruit is, you can tell that cucumbers need a lot of water. Two times during the growing season, use a balanced fertilizer and add a lot of organic, rich material to the soil before you plant.
The plants might be turning yellow because they aren’t getting enough sunshine if they don’t get eight hours or more of sunlight every day.
7. Spider Mites
Spider mites are very small, so you might not be able to see them. However, they can do a lot of damage for how small they are.
These are sucking insects that eat the sap from the plant’s roots and leaves. These bugs not only make holes in plants, but a big infestation can quickly kill the plants.
On cucumber trees, the leaves will get spots that are reddish and yellow. You might also see what looks like dirt on the leaves’ undersides.
There might be little bits of “dirt” on a clean white piece of paper that you put under the leaf and shake it. These are spider mites.
They like it hot and dry, and plants that don’t get enough water are a target. There is a parasitic wasp that you could try putting in, but most of the time, you should use an insecticide right away, especially an organic one like neem oil.
8. Deformed Fruits
Since cucumbers usually have a nice curve and a thin body, ones that aren’t round are a sign that something is wrong.
The fruit may not have enough water if it is pinched, has a smaller end, or is otherwise not shaped right. If you don’t water your plants regularly, the flowers will grow in a strange pattern.
If one end of the flower is fat and the other end is thin, it means the plant had enough water when the fruit was growing but not enough when it was fully grown. Every day, cucumbers need about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water.
9. Holes in Fruit
Cucumber holes can be made by cucumber beetles or slugs, but pickleworms are the most common pests. They are the young stages of the pickleworm moth and hurt things from the inside out.
The larvae dig holes in fruits and eat the soft, juicy meat inside. They then push waste out of the holes they make. The fruit ends up being soft and rotten.
The warmer parts of North America are where pickleworms are most common. They like both the cucumber and the flowers, and they can damage the flowers so much that there is no fruit.
To keep adult moths from putting their eggs on plants, put up row covers or use an insecticide if you have to.
10. Mottled Leaves and Pale Fruits
Many cucurbits are affected by the cucumber mosaic virus. Aphids are the ones who spread the virus because they get it into the arterial tissue when they feed on plants.
The first signs show up about six weeks after the plants were planted. There are spots of white, yellow, and green all over the leaf’s surface. The plant’s growth slows down, and few or no fruits appear.
Getting rid of aphid pests is the first step in prevention. If fruit does grow, it will be a light grayish white color.
Also See: 8 Vegetables To Plant In August – For An Abundant Fall Harvest