- 1). Check for wilting and/or yellow leaves on your zucchini plant. This is a sign that your plants are afflicted by vine borers, the larvae of a clear-winged moth that looks similar to a wasp. Borers in the stem cause yellow leaves. Borers on the underside of leaves cause wilting. Remove the larvae from the plant, and spray the plant with a pesticide using ingredients like pyrethrum and malathion, which specifically target borers. If possible, repot your zucchini, as borers will hide in the soil after hatching and live on to afflict future plants.
- 2). Inspect the ends of your zucchini for softness or rot. If this is present in your plant, the zucchini is suffering from blossom-end rot. Fortunately, this does not mean you need to compost all your zucchinis; simply cut off the affected portion. Blossom-end rot is caused by calcium deficiency in your soil. To treat your plant, mulch when possible, and water regularly. If necessary, spray the plants with a calcium chloride solution.
- 3). Check the plant's leaves for tell-tale signs of serious disease; in zucchini, disease can be seen in rotting stems, fungus or a mottled pattern on the leaves.
If you see any of these signs, your plant may have a serious disease, such as Phytophthora blight, which causes rot and stem lesions; Plectosporium blight, which causes diamond-shaped lesions; and squash mosaic virus (SqMV) and zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), both of which cause mottled, mosaic patterns on leaves. These diseases are caused by improper watering (phytophthora), fungus (plectosporium) and bugs (SqMV and ZYMV). Replant dying zucchini plants with any of these symptoms in fresh soil to isolate the disease and remove any bugs or aphids that may be infesting the plant.
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