Mottled fruit, skinny leaves are symptoms of disease
See the difference between one normal zucchini, top, and two squash picked from a plant with mosaic virus. Kathy Morrison
This is the latest installment in our weekly Food in My Back Yard series, focused on edible gardening.
It showed up seemingly overnight. One of three healthy zucchini plants on a hill was suddenly looking weird. The newer leaves were skinny, curled versions of their lusher colleagues.
And the newest green squash growing on the plant had a mottled, somewhat bumpy appearance.
Uh, oh, it looks like a case of mosaic virus.
Sure enough, after I checked sources on the UC IPM (integrated pest management) website, the symptoms confirmed the virus. The only possible action: Pull that plant now before the virus spreads to the others on the hill (a gamble, to be sure) and to the two hills of zucchini in the next raised bed over.
Mosaic viruses are fairly common problems for cucurbit plants: Squash, pumpkins, melons, watermelons and cucumbers can all suffer from them. In the case of squash mosaic virus, it is spread by cucumber beetles feeding on the plants or by infected seed. Other strains can be spread by aphids. The various viruses are not, apparently, limited to the plant they're named for; the UC IPM site has a photo of a summer squash infected with watermelon mosaic virus.
My plant had early symptoms of whichever strain this was; a severe case would limit fruit production and stunt the plant, eventually killing it.
In a community garden like mine, viruses can spread fast and far. One year it seemed everyone growing summer squash was getting mottled, mishapen and weirdly colored squash. It's particularly strange-looking on yellow squash, which develops blotchy green abstract art on the skin.
The squash still is edible, fortunately, but there is no cure for the virus.
With gloved hands, I carefully removed my plant, gently pulling out as much of the long root that I could, then bagged the plant and tossed it in the trash, not the green waste.
And believe me, I'm on close watch for symptoms in my other plants. I'm not ready to be done with zucchini just yet this summer.
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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
WINTER:
Jan. 13: Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Jan. 6: Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Dec. 30: Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
Dec. 23: Is edible gardening possible indoors?
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
WINTER
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden checklist for week of Jan. 18
Make the most of these rain-free breaks. Your garden needs you!
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* Plant bare-root roses and fruit trees.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees, except cherry and apricot trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Give them an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t fertilize your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Doing that while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
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