Topic: is it diseased??

[thifasmom]

i have four melon plants all are doing well at the moment in the conservatory till the greenhouse has room for them to move into around mid May.

but this one melon (the only one I'm growing from saved seed via a supermarket purchase) last weekend developed white spots on its leaves as though it was sun burnt so i was not particularly worried as some of my young plants are experiencing this from time to time with the recent hot sunny weather.

but today i realised not only were the originally "burnt" leaves still shrivelling but the other healthy leaves are also starting to develop brown edges to them and i mean all even the fairly young leaves.

funnily enough this particular plant is the most vigorous out f the three and the others are showing no signs or defects to their leaves and they are all withen 6 to 12" inches of each other.

i have checked and checked the leaves and their undersides for any pests that maybe introducing a virus but i can't find anything lurking so I'm thinking a fungal problem ???.

does any one have any ideas as to what might the problem.

here are the first leaves to show the signs



here is the next set of mature leaves that are being affected:



then these:





now these the second newest leaves are showing signs as of today:

[shirlton]

I'm afraid I cannt help you Thifasmom. I am growing 3 melons myself this year for the first time. My plants are only small but they  don't look as robust as the courgettes and squash. I'm sure that someone will be along who will help you

[thifasmom]

i sure hope someone can give a suggestion to what the problem is soon as i have noticed today that another of the plants 'ogen' have a few of these spots on two of its leaves :(.

i googled last night and the closest thing i came up with was bacterial wilt but the most tell tale symptom of fine strands of bacterial ooze when investigating a cut stem, etc wasnot present http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/hortcrop/pp747w.htm nor do i have any bugs on the plants that can cause it to spread.

I am growing 3 melons myself this year for the first time. My plants are only small but they don't look as robust as the courgettes and squash.

yes my plants are quite a good size and overall look very healthy but robust would not be the word i would use to describe them either :-\.

[Deb P]

I think it might be Cercospora leaf spot Thifasmom....doesn't look good news if it is, this site has photos of it that look very much like your photos....

http://highplainsipm.org/HpIPMSearch/Docs/CercosporaLeafSpot-Cucurbits.htm

There are also several curcubit related diseases it might be on the same site... :-\

[thifasmom]

i'm not seeing any photos Deb P and the vectors for this disease to spread or even to occur doesn't seem to match my growing conditions ???.

arrrgh >:( i really wanted to succeed with melons this year :(.

[Deb P]

Try this link.....http://highplainsipm.org/Crops/CucurbitsIndex.html

[thifasmom]

yep that one works but all the pics were not curcubits but beans and sugarbeets. so was not able to properly compare just mark the similarities. it is though the bigger possibility even though the growing conditions don't match the normal opportunity for the fungus to take hold.

is there anyone else with an opinion.

i can't describe how upset i will be if theses plants failed, have been trying for three years plus this one to grow and produce melons, always grew 'outside varieties' with no success, so this year i started the plants nice and early to give them as long a growing season as possible and planned to grow them in the greenhouse from about mid May. they have been in their final pots since mid April to prevent them becoming pot bound and i have even given them a feed in the last two weeks, they look so healthy (apart from these doggy leaves) and were only a few weeks from going into the greenhouse where i was hoping they would then romp away. now it looks like they won't even get there. i feel gutted :'(.

[Deb P]

Don't worry, I'm famously pants at growing melons, but as an eternal optimist am having another go this year! ;D

[shirlton]

I'm beginning to wish I hadn't bothered. So pleased that the seeds were 75%off at Wilkies