Two Feet in the Dirt

Earlier this year, I talked a bit about cucumber beetles. You’ll find these little black-and-yellow striped or spotted bugs on plants in the cucurbit family like cucumbers and squash. While damage from the beetles to the leaves and fruit of these plants is in itself not that problematic, as the summer progresses these insects’ bites can transmit a season-ending disease for some cucurbits. If you’re a gardener, bacterial wilt is likely something you have seen before or may even be experiencing in your garden right now. This disease is transmitted from plant to plant when cucumber beetles bite and the bacteria can even overwinter in the beetles’ guts. Besides cucumber plants, bacterial wilt also commonly affects muskmelon (often called cantaloupe) plants and can affect summer and winter squash plants as well. Interestingly, watermelon plants, while also in the cucurbit family, are immune to this disease.

Simply put, infected plants will quickly start looking as if they haven’t received enough water, with the leaves becoming soft and droopy. The plant’s stem will soon start to droop as well and the plant will gradually die. Once bacterial wilt has arrived in the garden it is hard to eradicate and the best bet is to remove affected plants and continue smashing any cucumber beetles. Some years (including this year) are worse for bacterial wilt than others, but even in bad years I almost always have a few plants that tenaciously make it through without getting infected at all.