Prevent & combat powdery mildew on cucumbers

Outdoor cucumbers or greenhouse cucumbers: this is how you can easily identify and eliminate downy and powdery mildew with home remedies and without chemicals.

Unfortunately, cucumber plants, regardless of whether they are salad or pickling cucumbers, are among the most popular mildew hosts. Both powdery mildew and downy mildew can kill our beloved cucumber. So that you can still enjoy a long and productive cucumber harvest, we have summarized the most important tips for prevention and biological control for you.

Protect cucumber plants against powdery mildew

Greenhouse cucumbers are usually only attacked by powdery mildew, since the fungus also thrives in dry and warm weather. The outbreak of the disease, which can be recognized by white flour-like spots, can usually be prevented with a few tips. This means that the plants must not be too close together so that the air can circulate better. Furthermore, the greenhouse should be ventilated regularly. In any case, care must always be taken to ensure that the humidity is as low as possible. In contrast to the greenhouse cucumber, the outdoor cucumber is attacked almost exclusively by downy mildew. Especially wet years sometimes cause considerable damage to cucumbers, caused by downy mildew. You can recognize the pathogen by initially yellowish spots that are sharply delimited by the leaf veins. As the disease progresses, the leaves die off quickly and after a while there is no living part left of the plant. As a preventative measure, an airy and sunny location should therefore be chosen, as this means that the plant dries off quickly and the dangerous fungal spores of downy mildew cannot germinate. Whether greenhouse cucumbers or outdoor cucumbers: When buying young plants, look for resistant plants or seeds. Examples of resistant varieties are: Amber, Bella, Charlotte, Hayat and Schubert.

Mildew: what really helps?

Once the plants are infested, quick action is required. Downy mildew in particular quickly kills all the leaves on a plant. Control is only promising if the fungal disease is identified early. Sprays against fungal diseases help best here. But it doesn't have to be the chemical club right away! The preparation is a very effective remedy fungisan Rose and Vegetable Mushroom Free. The biological spray that is not harmful to bees works on both downy and powdery mildew. In order to combat it successfully, you don't even need to know which of the two pathogens it really is. If you want to know more about powdery mildew, we recommend our mildew Main Products. There you will also find out which home remedies really help against powdery mildew.

The following products have proven themselves in our garden:

• NEUDORFF Fungisan rose and vegetable fungus-free: reliably combats powdery mildew; Beneficial and not harmful to bees
• NEUDORFF Compo Ortiva special fungus-free: Environmentally friendly spray against many fungal diseases that is not harmful to bees
• Cucumber “Claudine”: F1 hybrid with natural resistance to powdery mildew

Some advice on how to avoid powdery mildew on cucumbers and more Tips for the best cucumbers from your own garden you'll find here.