Showing posts with label stressed squash plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stressed squash plants. Show all posts

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Stressed Squash Plants

Squah plant with leaves that are wilting.

This time of year, your squash plants should be growing quickly. They also require a lot of water to meet their needs, and keep them growing.  I noticed one of my squash plants is getting slightly stressed in the heat of the day because it is not getting quite enough water. A good way to know if it is a water problem, or a bug problem, is to water it the plant, and then see if the leaves perk up after a good soaking. The leaves were a little wilty, so I turned the hose on really low and placed it at the plant and watered for a good 15 minutes, then afterwards took a look at the leaves, and they had perked right up. So I checked the dipper for that plant, and found it slightly clogged. I will keep checking daily to make sure it is getting enough water and if it still needs more water, I might add another drippier for that plant. If you have wilty plants, and you water and it doesn't help, you might have squash bugs or even a bacterial wilt attacking your plant. Getting the wilt late in the season, you still might get a good harvest, but if you don't have many squash set on- then your harvest might be greatly reduced. There will be a separate article about dealing with squash bugs.


After a good soaking- the wilt is gone.
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