When growing cucumbers, a fungus developing and ruining your crop is one of the worst things that can happen. One example of such a fungus is powdery mildew, which starts slowly but can spread quickly and voraciously until you can’t control it. How do you treat powdery mildew on cucumbers?
You can treat powdery mildew on cucumbers by spraying the leaves with a mixture of organic chemicals that kills the fungus and protects the cucumbers from re-infestation. These organic mixtures include foliar oil, milk and water, and baking soda and water.
This article will explore what powdery mildew is and how it develops. I will also discuss the methods you can use to treat the disease if it has already begun to affect your cucumber crop. Lastly, it will explore how to plant and tend your cucumbers to prevent powdery mildew from returning.
How To Treat Powdery Mildew on Cucumbers
Dealing with a powdery mildew infestation is essential to ensure that the invasive parasitic fungi don’t destroy your precious plants. Three main concoctions will rescue a plant infected with the mildew, depending on the duration and extent of the infestation. Alternatively, you may go the fungicide route.
Use Foliar Oil To Eradicate the Fungus
If you are dealing with a cucumber crop covered in powdery mildew and has been for a while, the best way to treat your plants is with foliar oil.
Foliar oil, also known as neem oil, is typically used to help balance plant nutrient deficiencies. It is excellent for getting rid of powdery mildew because you can find it at just about any gardening store. It is also entirely natural and will not harm your cucumber plants while killing off the fungus.
To use the foliar oil, all you need to do is:
- Remove the leaves that have been affected the worst.
- Place the affected leaves into a separate bag so the mildew can’t spread further.
- Water the roots and stems of the cucumber very well.
- Spray the oil onto the plants and let them dry.
It’s best not to apply neem oil during peak sunlight. The leaves can become sunburned or scalded by the sun if they are covered in oil and exposed for too long.
Instead, wait to spray on the oil until the part of the day when the temperature has dropped below 80°F (27°C). It’s best to wait for some cloud cover or partial shade to protect the cucumber plants from the sun.
Use Milk and Water To Treat Mildew
There are a couple of homemade treatments you can make to get rid of and prevent powdery mildew, and one of them is a mixture of milk and water.
This concoction best treats mildew that has just started appearing on your cucumber leaves. You can also use it as a preventive method if you don’t want powdery mildew to come back.
To use this combination, simply:
- Dilute 1 part milk in 10 parts water and mix it.
- Spray the mixture onto your cucumber plants early in the day, focusing on the infected leaves and those closest to them.
It is important to spray your milk and water treatment onto the cucumbers at the beginning of the day because it needs to dry before nighttime arrives. Once the sun has set for the day, the mixture will have a more challenging time drying properly on the leaves, which can cause more fungus to grow.
If you use this method, you must measure the milk-to-water ratio precisely. While milk does a great job of removing and discouraging powdery mildew from growing on your cucumber plants, its nutrients can attract other pests to your crop.
To avoid this, ensure the milk is not too rich or diluted, and only apply it to your cucumbers weekly or biweekly.
Use Baking Soda and Water To Prevent Powdery Mildew
The final remedy to remove powdery mildew from your cucumber plants is a mixture of baking soda and water.
The best way to use this method is as follows:
- Add one tablespoon of baking soda to a gallon (3.7L) of water.
- Spray the baking soda/water mixture onto your cucumber leaves early in the day.
This treatment works because of how alkaline baking soda is. Powdery mildew grows and spreads in plants with a very neutral pH balance, and the baking soda increases the pH enough to make the leaves of the cucumbers impossible for fungus spores to grow on.
While the baking soda will change the pH balance of your soil a bit, it will not be enough to affect the plants in other negative ways. If you are worried about this possibility, add a small amount of natural soap to the concoction before spraying it on the leaves. You can alternate this mixture with the milk and water combination, using one every other week.
Like the milk and water mixture, you should spray your baking soda treatment onto the cucumber leaves early in the day. Doing this will help the leaves avoid being wet once the sun goes down and keep them from inviting more fungus to grow.
Learn more about using baking soda as a pesticide for plants in my article here: Can Baking Soda Be Used as a Pesticide for Plants?
Other Powdery Mildew Fungicides
According to the University of Minnesota Extension, the most commonly used fungicides to treat powdery mildew include low-impact fungicides are sulfur and potassium bicarbonate.
I recommend you use Grower’s Ally Fungicide Spray from Amazon.com. The earth-friendly spray uses concentrated citric acid to remove mildew from your plants and comes in a ready-to-spray bottle.
How To Prevent Powdery Mildew From Forming on Cucumbers
Although powdery mildew is frustrating to deal with and can be detrimental to your cucumber crop, there are, fortunately, many preventive measures to keep it from growing and spreading.
Order Cucumber Cultivars That Are Mildew-Resistant
The first and easiest step you can take to keep powdery mildew off your cucumber plants is to order cucumber cultivars that are resistant to fungus.
There are dozens of cucumber plant varieties, many of which have been bred with specific properties so mildew can’t grow on them. If you buy seeds for these kinds of cucumbers, you have a much smaller chance of them becoming infected with powdery mildew.
A few of these types of cucumbers include the following:
- Turbo Cucumbers
- Cherokee Cucumbers
- Marketmore Cucumbers
Look specifically on the seed packets to see if there is a mention of powdery mildew resistance. If there is, you should be good to go with that breed of cucumber.
Plant Cucumber Seeds Wide Apart
Powdery mildew has the best chance of growing and spreading quickly when your plants grow close together. The best way to avoid this is to plant your cucumber seeds with plenty of space between them.
Planting your cucumbers approximately 6 inches (15cm) apart will help encourage airflow between the plants as they mature and expand. If little to no air can move throughout the plants, they are much more likely to harbor moisture, which is the perfect breeding ground for powdery mildew.
Once the seedlings have begun to sprout and you can see the general area where the vines will grow, you may need to separate and thin out the plants to ensure that they stay apart as they develop. Having your cucumbers spaced too far apart is always better than having them close together.
Plant Cucumber Seeds in Complete Sunlight
Cucumber plants need at least eight hours of sunlight daily to keep powdery mildew from growing. The heat from the sun helps evaporate any water leftover on the plants’ leaves and kills off any fungus that may be attempting to grow.
The simplest way to ensure your cucumber plants are getting enough sun is to plant them in an area with little to no shade covering them. The only exception to this rule is if you live in a hot climate.
If you expose your cucumber plants to intense sunlight for too long, they can become sunburned and eventually wither and die. In this instance, you will want to plant them in an area that gets shade during the day’s hottest hours.
Apply Fertilizer Sparingly to Your Cucumber Plants
Powdery mildew thrives on plants with a neutral pH balance, primarily from the soil they are growing in. Although giving your growing seedlings enough nutrients is essential, too much fertilizer in the soil can encourage powdery mildew to infect the cucumber leaves.
Additionally, the point of adding fertilizer to your soil is to encourage lots of foliage to grow. If your plants are already susceptible to the mildew and they start to develop a lot of new leaves, those leaves can quickly become infected with the fungus.
Only apply fertilizer to your cucumber plants based on the pH balance of the soil. If the soil is in a healthy acidity range, you do not need to add extra fertilizer, particularly a brand with too much nitrogen.
Mulch Your Cucumber Plants
If you are concerned about your cucumbers not taking in enough nutrients, spread mulch made from a natural substance like compost or manure around the plants.
Adding mulch to the mix has a few benefits. It can help to keep the temperature of the soil at a comfortable level when the climate is very hot or cold. It can help to keep weeds from sprouting near your cucumber plants and stealing valuable nutrients and water from them.
And perhaps most importantly, it can help keep the cucumber plants’ foliage and vines from directly touching the soil.
Preventing the leaves and vines from touching the ground is essential, especially after you water the plants. The soil will likely be somewhat waterlogged, and if you expose the cucumbers to the water for too long, it can create a breeding ground for powdery mildew to grow.
Water Your Cucumber Plants at the Base
If your main goal is to keep your cucumber plants’ leaves from becoming too wet, it is best to water them at their base instead of from overhead.
The best way to accomplish this is by using a soaker hose or drip irrigation system to water the plants as opposed to a regular hose or watering can. If you pour water directly onto the leaves, they need time to dry before the sun sets, or the leaves will remain wet overnight, and powdery mildew will have a much easier time developing.
Using one of the former two methods, give water to your cucumbers at their base so it soaks into the ground. If you water them more thoroughly and less regularly, the roots will be able to take in much more of the water and secure themselves in the earth.
When you have strong and sturdy roots that have plenty of water and nutrients, your cucumbers will be less likely to be stressed, which can make them more attractive to fungi like powdery mildew.
If you would like to learn more about the unique growth patterns of the cucumber plant, check out my article on the topic: Why Do Your Cucumber Plants Have Tendrils?
Prune the Dead Leaves Off Your Cucumber Plants
The older leaves on your cucumber plants starting to die are the most vulnerable to powdery mildew attacks. To prevent them from endangering the rest of the plants, prune off the dead or dying leaves and remove them from the area altogether.
After you prune any plant that you may have exposed to powdery mildew, you must clean your pruning shears or scissors with a mild disinfectant. Doing so will keep any potential fungi or diseases from developing and spreading to the other plants in your garden.
Rotate Where You Grow Your Crops
The last measure to prevent powdery mildew from growing on your cucumbers is to rotate where you grow them each season. If you plant them in the same space in the garden every time, a buildup of fungi and diseases can occur and affect the plants year after year.
By moving them to a new area in the garden, you are providing them with fresh, new soil that does not have any lingering pests, mold, or bacteria to affect them negatively.
What Is Powdery Mildew?
Powdery mildew is a fungus that infests many different types of vegetables and fruits by spreading throughout the plants quickly. The fungi absorb the nutrients of the host plant through their epidermal walls using a specialized feeding tube called the haustoria.
Deprived of nutrients, plants will quickly wither and die. If the plants can survive the mildew, the final yield can still be significantly affected, and the few fruits that can grow will ripen prematurely and be stunted and small.
Powdery mildew does not only have one culprit but encompasses several strains of parasitic fungi in the Erysiphales family. No matter what strain it is, this fungus shows up initially on cucumbers as a few pale yellow or white spots on the leaves of the plants, usually in the mid to late summer when temperatures are highest.
The mildew will typically attack the plant’s new leaves first since the tissues are softer and easier to penetrate. It can form on the tops and bottoms of the leaves and, if not taken care of quickly, will turn into a fine, thread-like mold that spreads as large powdery patches along your entire crop.
What Causes Powdery Mildew To Appear?
Several potential factors can lead to powdery mildew forming on your cucumber plants. Still, the common denominator in every scenario is that too much moisture is present on the cucumber leaves.
Just like many other fungi, powdery mildew thrives in humid conditions. Its ideal temperatures are around 68-81°F (20-27°C). During the summer, when the air is moist and the temperature is hot during the day and cools down at night, the fungus can start to form on wet cucumber leaves.
Another reason powdery mildew may appear is if your cucumber plants are growing too close together. If your crop has matured into a dense patch of vines and there is not much air circulation in-between the plants, fungi can start to develop.
The worst part about this is because there are so many plants so close together, the mildew will be able to spread much faster and broader.
How Does Powdery Mildew Spread?
Powdery mildew reproduces both sexually and asexually utilizing spores called conidia. These spores grow in chains upwards from the plant’s surface until the wind breaks them off. The wind disperses these spores as far as hundreds of miles away.
These invasive plant destroyers can also spread by splashing rain or water droplets. The disease cycle is pretty aggressive and can develop in as little as 72 hours. However, you will only notice the visible effects a week after infection.
This invasive organism has even adapted a means to survive harsh winters only to reemerge in the summer months. They achieve this by forming protective dome structures called chasmothecia, where they overwinter only to strike again when the weather clears.
If you would like to explore your options for increasing your cucumber yield, check out my article: 10 Farming Secrets to Increase Your Cucumber Yield
Final Thoughts
Although it is straightforward for powdery mildew to appear on your cucumber plants, it is also elementary to treat and prevent it from returning. As long as you keep the leaves devoid of moisture and don’t plant them too close together, your cucumber plants should be healthy.
And if they do develop powdery mildew, a mixture of milk and water, baking soda and water, or foliar oil will do the trick!
