Marianne's Response

Garden infestation.

Garden is 3 weeks in. Squash has a fungus and egg plant leaves being eating by something. Used Daconil insecticide on egg plant leaves and Daconil fungicide on squash leaves. 4 days getting worse. How can I save my garden? See photos.

Posted by Philip Rasch on May 23, 2020

Marianne's Response

It looks like Anthracnose a fungal infection caused by fungi that thrive in wet weather has attacked the plants. The tiny holes in the leaves could be from flea beetles but they could also be the result of the fungal infection. The disease is spread by handling the plants so try not to touch or work around them. If you have some larger plants you could try removing the worst of the infected parts and seeing if the plant can outgrow the problem. Your only real hope is the arrival of dry weather. Fungicides work best if you use them immediately, at the first signs of infection. Anthracnose can also be carried in infected seeds so use certified disease-free seed and look for resistant varieties when you chose crops. If you continue to see the plants decline over the next week or so then I would throw in the trowel, uproot all infected plants, turn the soil over and replant before the season gets too late. Planting later in the season when the weather is more dry helps to prevent this fungus among us. So sorry about this disappointment but don't' give up. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti