Squash problem? And unknown plants...

1) I think this is a squash type of plant on a vine. It has a good sized flower, about 3 inches across.

2) The leaves have are spotted and look eaten. What might be causing this? I don't see anything on the bottom of the leaves.

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There are 4 of these growing in a small 6" top diameter clay pot. They have a lemony smell or citric smell, but that might be because there are some tangerine seeds nearby. The smell seems to go with it, so I might have planted some tangerine seeds but I can't seem to find what a 4" to 5" high tangerine plant appears as. The picture below shows the plants in question. They look like they might be too big for that pot already...

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much for any comments and/or help.

-- Jim Carlock Post replies to newsgroup.

Reply to
Jim Carlock
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First off, the seedlings are baby tomatoes! Congratulations, dad!! As to the squash - the leaves are prety badly mauled, leading me to believe there has been mechanical damage to them - wind, dogs, agreesive weeding practices - looks like more than just an insect, although slugs and snails can do such damage. Most insects which cause such damage will be more or less nocturnal, so try checking just before nightfall. The light colored spotting looks like the beginning of fungal problems, perhaps rust, perhaps downey mildew - hard to tell with just a photo. Where are you that squash is still growing in December?

pam - gardengal

Reply to
Pam - gardengal

Thanks Pam.

I'm in Tampabay, FL. The temps are hitting about 50 Celcius at night. I'm thinking what I labeled as squash might be a watermelon or pumpkin.

Tomato plants? Woohoo! They look pretty darn good! I think you are right. That pot is way too small. They look pretty cozy and happy right now in that clay pot.

Time to start looking up rust and downy mildew and maybe find a cure. Thanks!

-- Jim Carlock Post replies to newsgroup.

"Pam - gardengal" wrote: First off, the seedlings are baby tomatoes! Congratulations, dad!! As to the squash - the leaves are prety badly mauled, leading me to believe there has been mechanical damage to them - wind, dogs, agreesive weeding practices - looks like more than just an insect, although slugs and snails can do such damage. Most insects which cause such damage will be more or less nocturnal, so try checking just before nightfall. The light colored spotting looks like the beginning of fungal problems, perhaps rust, perhaps downey mildew - hard to tell with just a photo. Where are you that squash is still growing in December?

pam - gardengal

Reply to
Jim Carlock

Yep, squash...the enormous size of the flower in relation to the leaves is pretty distinctive. (Pumpkins are just a name given to certain types of squash.) That's a male flower in the picture.

It looks to me that something damaged the leaves (probably when they were smaller). I'd suspect cucumber beetles, but it could have been weather, animals, or slugs. Cucumber beetles and slugs are most active at night and hide during the day. The beetles will usually hunker down in the leaf buds, flowers, in the ground just under the vines and can go unnoticed for quite a while before the population builds.

The spots look like a fungal disease, possibly downy mildew. (Check the bottoms of the leaves; with downy mildew there will be a grayish moldy spot corresponding to the yellowish spots on the top.) Descriptions of various diseases of Cucurbits here:

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Tomato plants, and yes, they'd like to be transplanted or potted up or thinned at least.

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Pat Kiewicz

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Jim Marrs

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