Cucumber Diseases

The most important diseases affecting greenhouse cucumbers across Australia were root rot, stem rot and wilt. In many cases, plants wilted and died soon after transplanting and these symptoms continued to affect the crop, particularly when plants were carrying a heavy fruit load.

There are many different fungal pathogens that can cause cucumber seedlings to wilt and die, known as ‘damping-off’. Environmental conditions and crop hygiene play an important role in the incidence and severity of ‘damping-off’ losses.

In cucumbers, Pythium, Phytophthora, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and a few less common fungi are associated with these losses. They may occur individually or as a combination.

The more serious losses found during this research project occurred when a combination of Fusarium oxysporum and various Pythium species continued to cause plants to wilt and die throughout the life of the crop.

Many growers suffering losses from this disease terminate crops early as their yields diminish.