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Ohio

Was out of town for a couple days and now 4 plants are wilting. Last week 1 plant wilted during day, but recovered overnight. Now they look pretty bad. Maybe bacterial wilt? Or fusarioum? Had total failure last year but thought that was caused by something else, now I’m wondering if it’s in soil. How do I prevent and or identify?

7/24/2025 3:22:02 PM

Syracuse, NY

I would sayyyyyy, with NO actual creditable, theoretical input about it because I have not had to take it as a true warning sign, and I mean that as simply 'I try not to worry about it', butt I do not have truly competition-geared plants nor fruits just YET, that a month from now I might also be pondering your same question. I'd like to say that leaves wilt from time to time and it is inevitable. There seems to be a 'five-finger rule' for me in that if you see a leaf wilted, it looks like an outstretched hand under a piece of fabric, where the fabric drops off at the fingertips. If a fist is made, that is where I would assume that it is 'all over' for that plant, butt I'd not 'pull the plant' in case it did recover by some chance beyond my understanding. The stomata on the undersides are controlling CO2 intake, moisture requirements, etc. You can type in wilting leaves into the Site Search window for faster previous responses and maybe someone presently will save you from my musings, lol. If the leaves recover reliably, or even if not, see to it anyway that your soil is constantly moist, as if weeds could get going if their seeds landed there, patch-wide. I never feel that we, myself included, water thoroughly-enough. JUST my nickel's worth.
eric g

7/25/2025 12:44:35 AM

Bethlehem CT

Sorry to hear about your tough season. The wilt could be from a bunch of different things, typically when they wilt bad during the day and recover at night it is not goood!!! it could be from bacterial wilt or it could also be yellow vine disease both are bacterial disease spread by feeding insects. If it's one of those two diseases, it would mean you need to do a bit of a better job keeping insects like cucumber beetles and squash bugs off your plants. If its one of the other vascular wilt type diseases like fusarium, (Many diseases do stay in the soil overwinter) AG's actually show fairly strong resistance to fusarium, but there are plenty of other fungal diseases that could get into the plants vascular system and cause wilting too. That would mean you have to step up your fungicide game and perhaps consider rotating your patch onto fresh soil that hasn't grown any cucurbit species for several years. Better timing of
fungicidal type sprays and drenches is crucial to helping control disease. Many Biological fungicides can be very helpful in making your plant resist and prevent disease. Check out Ron Wallaces WOW site. He has many good biological products that will help.

7/25/2025 8:28:47 AM

Bethlehem CT

Lsstly perhaps the most important thing is to seek the counsel of a successful local grower who can mentor you. The advice they give you will be invaluable. They will likely recognize the problems you are facing and help you come up with a plan to mitigate those problems in the future. The failure rate in this hobby is very high, so don't feel to bad about your struggles. The best growers on this site have all dealt with major setbacks and failures. The fact that they have had success is because they don't quit.

7/25/2025 8:33:48 AM

Grittyville, WA

Pics? Yeah you gotta pinpoint the problem before figuring out a solution.

7/25/2025 11:10:17 AM