VEGETABLE CROPS HOTLINE BULLETIN

Providing the commercial vegetable grower with timely information about disease, insect and weed pests, fertility practices, post-harvest problems, pesticide label changes, meetings and much more.

Downy mildew has been observed on cucumber at the Purdue University cucurbit sentinel plots located at the Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center in La Porte County in northern Indiana. Cucurbit growers in northern Indiana should consider applying specialized fungicides to their crops.  See below for more information on these products.  It is possible that the strain of the downy mildew fungus that has been observed on cucumber in northern Indiana may affect other types of cucurbit such as muskmelon, pumpkin and watermelon. The MELCAST system does not forecast disease conditions for downy mildew. Therefore, growers with production close to the outbreak described should be on about a 7-day fungicide application schedule.
 
Products that have proven efficacious on downy mildew include:  Curzate, Gavel, Presidio, Previcur Flex, Ranman and Tanos.  Gavel is a combination of technical ingredients and therefore offers protection for more than just downy mildew.  Tanos is also a combination of technical ingredients and has activity on more than just downy mildew (Tanos must be tank mixed with another product with a different mode of action).  However, Tanos has proven somewhat less effective than the other products on this list.

Please see BP-134-W or BP-135-W or the Midwest Vegetable Production
Guide for Commercial Growers 2012 (ID-56) for additional information.