Phytophthora crown rot on cucurbits and peppers requires an aggressive approach | MSU Extension Vegetables

This plant pathogen lives in the soil and survives Michigan winters. It does not move via air currents but spreads via splash of contaminated soil, surface water such as culverts, rivers, creeks and streams contaminated by run-off from infested fields, and the dumping of diseased culls onto production fields. Phytophthora is especially unique because it can develop a swimming spore when the soil becomes saturated. The swimming spores move across a field in a pattern consistent with draining water and kills plants in its path.

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Cucumber downy mildew update | MSU Extension Vegetables

Downy mildew on cucumber or any other cucurbit has not been confirmed yet in 2019 in Michigan or in adjacent states of the Great Lakes region. Our molecular analysis of the spore traps has recently confirmed cucumber downy mildew spores in the air via our molecular testing a couple of times, but this has not happened frequently or to the level that might be expected if downy mildew was well established in our production areas.

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