Topic: Survival after mildew?

[Spanner]

After planting out 3 yellow courgette plants and 3 veg spaghetti plants 1 1/2 weeks ago I went (swam) over to the lottie this weekend to discover all the courgette plants seem to have grey patches on the leaves consistant with downy mildrew (according to the book) and the larger leaves were going yellow :(. I'm planning on spraying them this evening with a fungicide spray but I don't know how succesful its likely to be ???. Does anyone else have any experience of this? Are the plants likely to survive? Is it likely to be a problem for the squash plants next to them? any advice much appreciated.

[allaboutliverpool]

It seems very early for mildew but I think you have taken the right action. To be on the safe side it is not too late to plant a few more seeds but put the resulting plants in a different position. I have a seedling that has grown in amongst my runner beans and I am going to leave it. It must have been a seed that survived composting after I threw some large courgettes in the bin last year.

You can see a picture of mildew on my plants last year on

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_courgettes.html

[manicscousers]

grey mould, caused by too much water ?  ???

[PAULW]

SPANNER
It is more likely to be mosaic virus in your cougettes, dont worry about it some varieties are more prone than others but it does not seem to affect the yeild.

[MrsKP]

Here's mine.  Please don't tell me it's fatal as this is one of the plants bound for the lottie, and it's already blooming (as you can see).



 ::)

[saddad]

It may be Mildew Spanner, or just mosaic... even so some of the leaves will die back after planting out while it readjusts, esp given the wet and cold we have had, but courgette leaves can be quite mottled anyway. I'd give it some protecttion and a feed rather than a spray so early...
 :-\

[PAULW]

MRS K
That is mosaic virus it will not affect the yield the older leaves will end up looking very grotty but the new leaves will keep the plant fed.

[Jeannine]

It is not too early for  early mildew,I have it quite definately on my 2 Jack be Little Pumpkins that are in a greenhouse,odd though because it is not on the cucumbers next to them and the outside summer squash don't have it either. The 2 pumpkins are in glorious health  otherwise,they are 3 foot high, and they have decent sized fruit on them, but there is no doubt it is early mildew.

XX Jeannine

[MrsKP]

MRS K
That is mosaic virus it will not affect the yield the older leaves will end up looking very grotty but the new leaves will keep the plant fed.

PaulW, that's not good is it though ?  I've now planted it and it's 5 brothers and sisters up the lottie, so now I've infected my brand new plot.   :'(

They shared the g/h with the toms as well.  Have they been infected ?

I'm quite despondent now.   :-[

[Jeannine]

Mrs KP,I do not agree that this is mosaic, it does not look typical to me at all.

My experience with mosaic has been as follows.

Yellow/green  spots appear on the leaves especially near the growing terminals,the plants become stunted,it can even come on the fruit which will become small and distorted, however there  there is no cure and plants should  definately be destroyed to prevent further problems ,it can spread to a lot of veggies.

Your plant looks too far too  healthy  to me, it has mo signs of yellowing and seems to be growing well,and Saddad is quite right, some courgettes and water melons naturally have this marking.

My experience is with Mosaic in North America and  I guess it could be different but I would not be panicing too much  if that was my plant the way it looks now.

Please someone correct me if they have more info, I have no experience of it since I moved back here so I could be wrong. I have seen a lot of it in Canada on the coast and this is not typical to me. Perhaps UK Mosaic is different,someone please educate me.


 XX Jeannine

[MrsKP]

Thanks for that Jeannine.  I feel better now.   ;D

However I will keep a close eye on everything and see how it goes.

The courgettes I've got in the ground at home don't have these markings, just the ones that were in pots and I was thinking that they'd suffered from a bit of stagnant air.  Last years courgettes (mostly same seed) suffered similarly and I didn't get a huge crop but I put it down to them being in pots rather than in the ground.

It's all so very confusing isn't it.
 ::)

[Spanner]

My plants look like the ones in allaboutliverpool's picture (though a little smaller!) so I think is definately early mildew. I've sown a few more seeds but hopefully the spray will do its job. Thanks for all the advice.

[Jeannine]

The early mildew will rub off with your finger it looks like pale grey dust ,starts like small dusty patches on good leaves, gradually covers all the leaves and as it does so they start to suffer. I definatley have it,I think because my little pumpkins are in the greenhouse,excess heat combined with condensation is a  perfect recipe for the spores to grow. it is unmistakable. I am taking mine out of there today in order to protect everything else, XX Jeannine