The main reason why cucumber leaves turn yellow is improper care of the vegetable. Also, the cause may be an invasion of pests, diseases or lack of nutrients.
To help the plant and save the harvest, you need to correct the situation in time.
Main causes of the problem
The cause of yellowing leaves on cucumbers is usually one of the following unfavorable factors:
- improper watering regime, both frequent and infrequent soil moisture is harmful;
- deficiency of nutritional components, especially nitrogen;
- decrease in air temperature;
- hot weather or water getting on the leaves during watering on a hot day;
- fungal or viral disease;
- damage to roots during transplantation or by insect pests.
Why do not all cucumber leaves turn yellow, but only some? If the lower leaves turn yellow, the following problems should be ruled out:
- poor access of light to the base of the plant;
- excessive or insufficient watering;
- use for cold water irrigation;
- cold climate;
- lack of microelements;
- diseases caused by fungi, viruses or bacteria.
If the tips of the leaves turn yellow, this may be due to the following unfavorable factors:
- infection with a fungal disease (powdery mildew is common);
- dry summer, without sufficient watering;
- if the leaves turn yellow at the edges, you need to compensate for the lack of potassium.
When leaves turn yellow, the situation most often signals a problem, so action needs to be taken.
Fighting the problem
Why the leaves of cucumbers in open ground may turn yellow is associated with both natural adverse events and errors in care.
Vegetable cultivation should be carried out in an area with favorable conditions. In insufficient light, the leaves at the base begin to turn yellow. When cucumber stems become overgrown, light may not reach the green inner part of the plant. In this case, the problem does not pose any danger to the crop. You can simply tear off the bad leaves so that they do not take away excess strength from the vegetable.
If a place was chosen for planting cucumbers where its rays enter from sunrise to sunset, a burn may occur. Not only the leaves turn yellow, but also the ovaries. Therefore, you need to choose a place where there is shadow on the site during one half of the day.
Agricultural experts give advice: “Plant cucumbers where the sun illuminates the place only until lunchtime.”
A common reason why cucumber leaves turn yellow is unfavorable summer. When the summer is hot and watering is infrequent, the roots of the plant begin to approach the upper layers of the soil. As a result, not only the root, but also the leafy part becomes yellowish. If, on the contrary, the summer is rainy or excess water reaches each root, they begin to rot and the leaves turn yellow.
Sometimes the leaves of cucumbers in open ground begin to suffer from ascochyta blight. The disease spreads during the period of fruit formation. Yellow-brown spots appear on the plant, the leaves dry out and curl along the edges.
If the leaves begin to turn yellow immediately after planting, the appearance of pests must be excluded. The most common unwanted guests in a cucumber garden are aphids or spider mites. Insects feed on the juice of juicy greens. The veins turn yellow and the ends dry out.
Insecticides (Photosporin, Iskra) will help with a massive pest invasion. If the scale is not too large, you can try natural-based compositions (infusion of celandine, solution of wood ash and laundry soap).
Fungal diseases such as fusarium and pythiosis can be recognized by small yellow-brown spots on the leaves. As the disease spreads, the entire leaf area will turn dark yellow. Protective compositions for spraying should be used especially when there are sharp fluctuations in air temperature, for example, after intense heat it rains.
Cucumbers are very susceptible to putrefactive diseases. White rot affects the shoots and young fruits of the plant. The problem can be recognized by a white coating, which damages the stem and stops the supply of useful components, the leaves turn yellow and dry out.
What to feed if the leaves of cucumbers turn yellow is determined by external signs. A deficiency of nutrients in the soil can be recognized by the following signs. The fact that there is not enough magnesium or potassium is indicated by yellowed leaves along the edges, while they dry out and curl up.
Yellowish leaves with green veins appear when there is a deficiency of manganese and iron. If only the upper leaves have turned yellow, but the lower ones remain green, then you should feed the plant with components rich in copper.
Another reason why foliage turns yellow is aging. At the end of the growing season, when flowers and ovaries stop appearing, the leaves and tops begin to coarse, turn yellow and dry out. Usually by this time the main harvest of cucumbers has already been harvested. If you want to extend the fruiting period, you should use special fertilizers.
Preventive actions
To prevent cucumber leaves from turning yellow, preventive measures should be taken.
- The cucumber bed should not be planted in the same place every year, and it should also not be planted in the same place where pumpkins or zucchini were previously collected.
- It is imperative to follow the watering rules. Watering should only be done in the morning or evening hours. It is especially often necessary to water the plant during the formation of flowers and fruits, every two days or even more often if the weather is hot and without rain.
- If cold weather is predicted, you should cover the plants with film.
- Complex fertilizers should be applied regularly. Gardeners recommend: “Feed the plant three times during the entire development period. More frequent application of fertilizer is necessary during cold weather and the season of widespread disease spread.”
- It is recommended to treat seeds, seedlings, and young shoots against diseases and pests.You need to tear off diseased leaves in time and use a remedy to destroy emerging enemies.
If you can’t water the plant in a timely manner, mulching can come to the rescue. Straw, peat, and sawdust are suitable as mulch. The layer will slow down the evaporation of moisture from the soil, keep you warm in cold weather, prevent weeds from appearing and reduce the risk of pests.
Rescue actions
The choice of what to water the cucumbers to prevent the leaves from turning yellow can be decided on the purchased preparations. What to do if cucumbers have yellow foliage? Treatment should be started as soon as yellowing appears. Folk remedies will also help. To prevent the problem or quickly get rid of it, several recipes will help you with how to process cucumbers so that the leaves do not turn yellow.
- A milk mixture with soap can prevent yellowing of leaves. Add a liter of milk, soap shavings and a few drops of iodine to a bucket of water. Treatment is carried out every 12 days. Many people use a similar composition: “The first time you can apply the composition is when the first leaves appear on young sprouts. As soon as you spray the plant, the problem will begin to disappear.”
- It is recommended to treat the plant for yellow leaves with an infusion of onion peels. In addition, the composition will enrich the soil with nutrients and repel many pests. Pour hot water over the onion peel and place on the fire until it boils. After which the liquid is left to infuse for 12 hours. The resulting solution is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4. The composition can be sprayed on the leaves and watered at the roots.
- A solution of potassium permanganate is used at the first signs of yellowing of cucumber leaves.Positive reviews about this solution can be found everywhere: “I treat not only adult plants with potassium permanganate, but also seeds before planting. For sowing, I select only large and dense seeds.”
- To make the leaves green again, you can use a herbal infusion. The ideal option is nettle, which will enrich the soil with iron, potassium, and magnesium. The crushed grass stems are poured with water and left to ferment for several days. Soap shavings are added to the prepared solution and the beds with vegetables are watered.
- What else can you spray the beds with? To prevent fungal diseases, it is useful to spray the plant with a soda solution. Add 30 g of soda to a large bucket of water. It is advisable to water at the beginning of summer.
- You can add water to the ash and let it sit for a week. Before watering, the concentrate must be diluted with water. You can mix it with other components or simply sprinkle it on the top layer of soil, only after that it needs to be watered.
The cause of yellowing leaves in cucumbers is often a lack of microelements. Throughout the growing season, it is recommended to apply at least three additional feedings. When the leaves on cucumbers turn yellow, it is useful to feed them by spraying the above-ground part of the plant.
How to feed cucumbers to avoid problems with growing vegetables and get a rich harvest? The first fertilizing should be applied when the leaves begin to unfurl. The second fertilizing is applied as soon as the third leaf appears. You can use organic or mineral fertilizer.
Vegetable growers prefer to fertilize with mullein at all stages of vegetable development. The manure is poured with water (1:5) and left to infuse for 5-6 days. During this time, the nitrogen will rot and become absolutely harmless to the cucumber.To increase efficiency, wood ash can be added to the solution.
It is useful to make fertilizing from bird droppings. Useful as dry droppings, or prepare an infusion. Bird droppings, filled with water, are infused for about 1.5 weeks. This solution is especially useful during the rapid formation of ovaries. Before watering, the solution is diluted again with water.
If the leaves turn yellow, a recipe based on dry or live yeast is suitable. The yeast solution strengthens the root system, activates the activity of beneficial bacteria in the soil, and increases productivity. Once a week it is useful to spray the plants or water them with a watering can with the prepared solution. The leaves will stop turning yellow, and the cucumbers will be smooth and juicy.
You can spray cucumbers with purchased preparations. The instructions will help you choose which one is best suited. Ovary, Pollen, Zdraven, Good Strength help to get rid of yellowness. These drugs increase plant resistance to diseases, repel pests, and saturate the soil with nutrients.
