Choanephora cucurbitarum anyone?

[DirtMechanic]

Its really really wet in the garden and this dead flower feeding fungus has popped up. I have hauled out 5 buckets of debris, weeded and sprayed for fungus with copper soap and humagro promax. I added liquid silicone to help wax things up a bit so hopefully the spores cannot get quite the same bite as they can on a weathered clean leaf. Still its raining almost daily in the late afternoon so more spraying will be needed. Even then, the fact that it seems resistant is troubling. A lot of literature says there is no fungicide. It has a modus operandi of setting on the dying flower of a fruit, which if not manually removed, will lead to it engulfing and rotting the fruit itself. It has a peculiar white silver whisker fur of some 1 cm usually when it is young and the spores are in tiny black beads that sit atop the hairs. Later it darkens as I matures and things get mushy, but at that young stage it is quite identifiable and unique. I have not really noticed this one before, but I did clean the soil fiercely over the winter and no doubt made room for new visitors. Any ideas on how to spray for it? @zigs what say ye? The link is a pdf about it.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAIegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw24Q5U1qp-Gs8XZ4RzQPX5f

 

[alp]

Didn't even know this has got a name and don't think I will remember the name after reading this. But it's good to know. Does it cause affliction on a big scale in your plot, @DirtMechanic ?

I did have the occasional attacks, but nothing to warrant chemical or other application.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Didn't even know this has got a name and don't think I will remember the name after reading this. But it's good to know. Does it cause affliction on a big scale in your plot, @DirtMechanic ?

I did have the occasional attacks, but nothing to warrant chemical or other application.

It seems to be the slow witted lumbering cousin of so many faster pathogenic fungi that I agree with and understand your experience. Still, to not be able to kill something is a loss of control, and in the biological world the mutations and resistant pathogens are at the edge of the jungle one must admit.

 

[zigs]

Surprised its occurring when the soil is wet, usually happens with a lack of water preventing calcium uptake in the fruits.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Surprised its occurring when the soil is wet, usually happens with a lack of water preventing calcium uptake in the fruits.

This fuzzy fellow hides out and has symptoms of and is evidently mistaken for several other fungi and problems like low calcium. Maybe I was overlooking him all these years.

 

[Marck]

Instead of spraying, just apply a fresh layer wood-ship mulch beneath your Squash (Cucurbita) plants when the fruit begins to develop. Mulch is a great way to interrupt the disease cycle of many soil-borne pathogens.