My Twilight Zone Garden

[A. Lyric]

Would someone please, please tell me what on earth is on this squash? And anything about it that might be helpful?
Like what might've caused it, what to do about it (I cut it off and let it drop in a sandwich bag and put in my trash), but
it's downright scary looking and I thought about shooting it!

 

[oneeye]

View attachment 99538
Would someone please, please tell me what on earth is on this squash? And anything about it that might be helpful?
Like what might've caused it, what to do about it (I cut it off and let it drop in a sandwich bag and put in my trash), but
it's downright scary looking and I thought about shooting it!

I would let it finish and not disturb it .

 

[A. Lyric]

I would let it finish and not disturb it .

Why?! It's too late. I've disposed of it, but I'd still like to know why you would let it finish without disturbing?

 

[Tetters]

Yep, I would also like to know @one eye? It does look a bit like a bomb about to go off, do you think the spores would be more likely to travel around the other plants if disturbed? We think it is botrytis, although it has a similar pattern to a coat my mum used to have.
Lyrical, shooting it could have been a good option

 

[A. Lyric]

We think it is botrytis, although it has a similar pattern to a coat my mum used to have.
Lyrical, shooting it could have been a good option

What is botrytis? Nevermind! (Sometimes I forget my friend Google.) It was a pretty shocking sight! It looked like a particularly ugly "skirt", no offense to your mom's coat. It appeared overnight. 24 hrs at the most. I was ever so careful to slip the bag up over it and
cut the stem without actually letting the bag touch it lest those spores or whatever they were go flying about...also, the only reason I
didn't shoot it. Well, that and not owning a gun.

 

[A. Lyric]

botrytis

I Googled botrytis and it doesn't look the same to me based on the pictures Google offered. The spores on my little squash fruit were longish, very uniform, with teeny tiny white tips on every spore. Perfectly formed, weird, and bizarre! If I keep seeing strange crap like this in my garden, I may have to get a gun!

 

[Tetters]

Have a look at this link then https://apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagnose/plant/vegetable/summersquash/fruitfuzzy.html
Those on the link haven't got such a posh fur on.
Have you had a lot of rain where you are? Moulds and Fungus can be quite fascinating. Talking about mould and fungus takes me back a few years actually. My son in Tasmania referred to his two youngest sons as Fungus and Rancid - I suppose that was because they were both still in nappies at the time!

 

[A. Lyric]

Have you had a lot of rain where you are?

Thanks for the link! I want to check it out. We've had quite a few significant rain events, and a lot of "drizzles", where it lightly rains for short periods, stops, then starts again. It's been a very humid, exceedingly hot summer. It's almost 6 pm now and 96 f...which compared
to the last couple weeks is almost a cold front.

 

[Meadowlark]

...It's almost 6 pm now and 96 f...which compared
to the last couple weeks is almost a cold front.

That would be a cool front here...at 6:34 its 104 deg F. and no rain since May.

 

[oneeye]

How can anyone learn about anything if one destroys it in the early stages of life? The best way to get experience is by allowing the experience to teach you from the beginning to the end. Mother Nature is very kind when teaching her students about different universal conditions or laws. I can learn from anything that teaches me if I'm patient and interested.

 

[Tetters]

How can anyone learn about anything if one destroys it in the early stages of life? The best way to get experience is by allowing the experience to teach you from the beginning to the end. Mother Nature is very kind when teaching her students about different universal conditions or laws. I can learn from anything that teaches me if I'm patient and interested.

I totally agree with that conception oneeye, the trouble is when you might be depending on a crop for your store cupboard, you tend to try and protect the rest of the plants to your best ability for fear of losing all of it. Moulds of any kind can travel very quickly.
This year we needed to remove some of our potato crop early on, and have saved a fair few spuds as a result.

 

[pepper]

With the possibility of triggering fear of technology I'll jump in anyway and say it's choanephora rot. If anyone is interested they can research it themselves.

 

[A. Lyric]

How can anyone learn about anything if one destroys it in the early stages of life? The best way to get experience is by allowing the experience to teach you from the beginning to the end. Mother Nature is very kind when teaching her students about different universal conditions or laws. I can learn from anything that teaches me if I'm patient and interested.

I stand in awe of Mother Nature and the many of the gifts she gives and am sad that so many work against her and not with her. But I don't always understand Mother Nature. In spite of what it may teach, I cannot find the kindness in a hurricane. As for my strange little squash maybe it was Mother Nature that instantly told me...that doesn't belong here? I'd love to know what it was, what caused it, the how and why of it, and what, if anything, I may not have done right or could do better. But I don't think leaving it alone from start to finish would have brought any good answers. Maybe to a soil scientist, but not to me.

While I respectfully disagree, I do love that you came back and explained your POV. Thank you.

 

[zigs]

With the possibility of triggering fear of technology I'll jump in anyway

I don't think that anyone who has got as far as using a computer and joining an online forum has got a fear of technology. But people do have an aversion to copy and paste answers to a question from anything, Wikipedia, Dr Hessayon's Garden expert series or anything else. It's a forum. People discuss things.

If I wanted to know what Cactus I had for instance, I could use an app, google image search or whatever and I wouldn't need to get anyone else involved.

People ask questions here because they want to talk about things.

 

[A. Lyric]

I don't think that anyone who has got as far as using a computer and joining an online forum has got a fear of technology. But people do have an aversion to copy and paste answers to a question from anything, Wikipedia, Dr Hessayon's Garden expert series or anything else. It's a forum. People discuss things.

If I wanted to know what Cactus I had for instance, I could use an app, google image search or whatever and I wouldn't need to get anyone else involved.

People ask questions here because they want to talk about things.

Google image search results in your image being "identified" in countless contradictory ways and my experience with apps has
not been positive.

I visit this form with the hope of getting better at gardening via those with years of experience and the
heart to share it and help.

I'm not "afraid" of technology, . What give me pause is that our spiritual growth is no way in keeping
with the staggering intellectual advances which have grown so exponentially.