Anthracnose: How to Identify and Treat Squash Fungus
Growing a garden can be a lot of fun but it also comes with many challenges. Though dealing with rabbits, skunks, mites, and aphids can be a real headache, today we are going to talk about another garden invader; Anthracnose. Let’s talk about how to identify and treat this squash fungus.
Check out our video about How to Treat Anthracnose on YouTube!
What is Anthracnose?
Anthracnose is a fungal disease that can infect the leaves and fruit of certain plants.
Cucurbit Anthracnose in particular, affects plants in the gourd family including melons, squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers.
It spreads very easily via airborne fungal spores, especially when the weather is wet and humid, and if not taken care of promptly it can spread quickly and decimate your garden.
How to Identify Squash Fungus
The fungus will commonly appear as brown spots on the leaves of your squash plants. They may begin near the veins of the leaves, and can also appear on the leaf edges and the stem.
The affected leaves may appear discolored and fragile as well. You can see how yellow the affected leaves are.
If anthracnose is not treated quickly, it can also infect the fruit of the plant.
How to Treat Squash Fungus
The first thing to do when you identify a fungus problem is remove the affected leaves. You don’t want the fungus spores to spread any further so you need to remove the source.
VERY IMPORTANT:
DON’T PUT THE DISEASED LEAVES IN YOUR COMPOST PILE OR WORM BIN. FUNGUS WILL THRIVE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT AND END UP RIGHT BACK IN YOUR GARDEN.
THROW THE DISEASED LEAVES IN THE TRASH!
Now, you need to treat your plants with some sort of fungicide. There are several organic and inorganic fungicides on the market.
I’m not going to tell you whether to use organic or inorganic products, but I urge you to make sure whatever you use is safe and non-toxic to pollinators. Protect the Bees!
Since I’m growing organically, I’m going to stick with a natural fungicide; neem oil extract.
What is Neem Oil?
Neem oil is extracted from seeds of the Neem tree South Asia. Azadirachtin is the active component in neem oil which acts as a natural pesticide and fungicide.
Neem Oil is generally non-toxic and safe for pets and pollinators.
Neem oil comes in several useful forms including pellets, powders, and sprays. I’m using a foliar spray with about 1% neem oil concentration. You can find this at your local garden center.
How to Apply Neem Oil
Wait until the evening when it cools down to spray your plants.
If it’s too hot, or your plants are in direct sunlight, your leaves can burn if you spray them.
Once it cools down, spray your squash plants with a nice even mist. This will allow the neem oil to soak into the plants overnight and inhibit the fungus. Don’t over-spray them because this can damage the leaves.
Also, make sure to spray your other cucurbits if you have them. My cucumbers look fine, but I sprayed them anyway because they are susceptible to the anthracnose too.
Clean Your Gardening Tools
Because anthracnose spreads so easily, it’s important to disinfect your gardening tools and equipment. This can be accomplished with a mixture of 1 part bleach to 4 parts water. This will ensure the fungal spores are killed.
Conclusion
Anthracnose can devastate your garden if not treated promptly. Hopefully, the above article will help you learn how to identify and treat squash fungus before it becomes too serious of a problem.
If you have a different way to treat plant fungus or other diseases I’d love to hear about it, so feel free to comment below.
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Happy Gardening!
Cody, Thistle Downs Farm
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