With ample rain this is a banner year for spring crops. My broccoli is beautiful, the lettuce is lovely, and my spinach… is turning brown and white on the edges. What is happening? My goal is to discover why my spinach leaves are changing color and drying.

Is It a Nutrition Issue?

The first thing to consider when leaves are turning colors when they shouldn’t be is whether the nutrients in the soil are correct.That was one of the first things I thought about because this is a newly constructed bed with fresh soil. Maybe I didn’t choose good compost or topsoil. But I don’t think that’s the problem. If the other vegetables didn’t look healthy, the first thing I would do is use a simple test kit to see what the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels look like. Because the lettuce and broccoli are both growing vigorously, a soil deficiency is most likely not causing the drying leaves.

Leafy Greens: Time to Get Sowing

Insect Problems When Spinach is Turning Brown

Most greens do not have severe problems with insects. Granted, flea beetles tend to prefer spinach and Swiss chard, but at this early time in the season, they’re typically present, yet. Plus, they are easy to spot. If it looks like somebody shot the leaves with tiny pellets, and you see minuscule jumping insects, you have flea beetles.

On occasion, aphids and slugs also eat spinach, but once again, they are more readily visible. Look for aphids along the stems and underneath the leaves. If you see them, squish them with your fingers, and or wash them off with water. Slugs can be more difficult since they typically venture out at night. If there is a concern, sprinkle diatomaceous earth on and around the plants.

Leaf miners are probably the more problematic pest. But they prefer younger plants where the female punctures the leaf to lay eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae tunnel through the leaf structure. This is how it weakens, and potentially kills, the plant. Parasitic wasps are a valuable tool in battling leaf miners. And for organic growers, products with azadirachtin are also useful.

Diseases Candidates

Surprisingly, spinach can suffer from a fair number of diseases. Cucumber mosaic virus, also called spinach blight, begins as yellow spots on the veins of the leaves that spreads to other parts of the plant. It is generally transmitted by aphids and thrips. If you have this, just pull the plants before it spreads to other crops. There is no treatment.

White rust is a fungal disease that starts as yellowing, then covers the entire plant. It looks similar to downy mildew, but has white blisters underneath the leaves. Downy mildew typically looks more purple on the undersides. It’s also more prone to younger plants.

Best Guess on Why My Spinach is Turning White

In reality, some sort of fungal infection is the most likely culprit for the bulk of spinach problems. These are present in the some of the seeds, but others are soilborne and flourish in the right conditions. The rain that we’ve had this year definitely fits that description.

I’m still not exactly sure what is affecting the spinach, although I lean towards a fungus. I do not see the telltale signs of a downy or powdery mildew, but there are no signs of insects. If the weather warms up as predicted – once we are past the potential snowstorm in the next few days because that’s how we like to welcome in summer in Montana – the spinach won’t last long. My original thought was to plant Swiss chard after removing this for the season, but I think I will go with a completely different type of vegetable. I will also be sure not to plant spinach in this bed next year just to be safe.

Spinach really is one of the easiest crops to grow at home. But even so sometimes it can have problems. Hopefully this is a short-lived situation, and I don’t have to worry about it spreading to anything else.