Content
- Healthy zucchini - No chance for snails, aphids and diseases
- Common pests on zucchini plants
- snails
- lice
- Damage caused by diseases
- mildew
- Zucchini yellow mosaic virus
- prevention
- Tips & Tricks
Healthy zucchini - No chance for snails, aphids and diseases
Young zucchini plants are a treat for snails. Annoying aphids damage leaves and flowers. The large leaves are also susceptible to mildew and other diseases. In contrast, there are ways to prevent and effective ways to combat it.
Common pests on zucchini plants
snails
Lured by fresh shoots, voracious snails almost fall over the young zucchini plants. Before that, you can protect your seedlings right after planting:
If the snails have made it to the zucchini, only the collection and destruction helps.
lice
If you find ruffled or deformed leaves and shoot tips on your zucchini plants, they are attacked by aphids. Often it is small green or black animals that gather on the undersides of leaves and shoots and do not spare flowers and fruits. They are also recognizable by the sticky, black surface that they leave behind.
Since the aphid infestation can lead to the death of entire plant parts, you should act quickly:
Damage caused by diseases
mildew
The large leaves of the zucchini provide an ideal breeding ground for the powdery mildew and downy mildew. Both are fungal diseases that can lead to the death of the plant.
Powdery mildew is noticeable on white spots on the leaf tops. Downy mildew causes white to brown spots on the undersides and brown or yellow spots on the tops of the leaves. The treatment is carried out by:
Some new varieties are said to be resistant to powdery mildew, such as "Anissa F1", "Diamant F1 Hybrid", "Soleil", "Mastil F1" and "Leila F1".
Zucchini yellow mosaic virus
Mosaic yellow discolorations on the leaves indicate the zucchini yellow mosaic virus being transmitted by aphids. The consequences are stunted leaves, weak shoots, deformed fruits. The virus leads to the death of the plant. So that it does not come to that:
prevention
A healthy, strong zucchini plant is best prepared for disease. Preventive measures therefore include adequate nutrient supply, the addition of compost to the soil and regular watering.
Tips & Tricks
Collect the slippery slugs by hand? For many gardeners a scary idea. The remedy is provided by a special snail tongs from the garden trade. It facilitates the collection, including of snail eggs, hygienic and plant friendly.