Fungus on your zucchini?

Hi everyone. Every year we plant a little vegetable garden, it’s not really big. Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, & a couple others. This year our zucchini’s leaves got a white powdery substance on it’s leaves. So I did some research and found out that if there’s water splash back from watering, not enough space in between plants can cause poor air circulation which leads to an unhealthy plant, even not enough sun can cause it. If you put mulch down ( about 2-3′ thick) it will act as a barrier between the soil and the leaves of your plant. This will protect against water splashing back from rain.

When your plant has the fungus, you will notice the leaves will have white spots on them. It gradually will turn into the leaves looking like someone put baby powder all over the leaves. A way to tell if it’s infected is if you go to the leaf and try to rub the powder off…. if the powdery substance comes off, then it’s the fungal infection. If it does not then it is just a natural phase of your plants lifecycle.

This fungus can be on not only your zucchini’s, but it can also infect your cucumbers, beans, gourds, tomatoes and peppers.

One way to treat the plant from the fungal disease is by treating it with a homemade Fungicidal spray. So that’s what we will be doing today.

Supplies:

• Spray bottle
• water ( enough to almost fill the bottle)
• White Vinegar
• paper towels ( in case of a mess)
• Tablespoon

Step 1

In your spray bottle, fill it water so it’s almost full but not quite.

Step 2

Next you will put 3 Tablespoons of Vinegar into the spray bottle. You do not want to put more vinegar than that in the bottle, too much vinegar can burn the plant. Put lid on and shake well.

Step 3

Spray the plants infected leaves in the morning to allow the sun to dry the treatment on the leaves. No more than once or twice per week.

The first & second pictures show the difference between the healthy leaf & the infected ones.

As you can see, my son is spraying the tops & underside of the leaves thoroughly. The treatment is working on my zucchini plants. It is a slow process & will take a couple weeks. Just glad we caught it before the fungal infection took over. Treat the fungal infection as soon as you notice it. If not treated it can spread and kill your plant