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Bacterial Wilt

Bacterial Wilt

Erwinia tracheiphila

Bacterialalso: Cucurbit bacterial wilt

A bacterial disease of cucumbers, melons, and squash that clogs the plant water-conducting tissue and wilts it to death, spread by cucumber beetles. There is no cure once a plant is infected, so the whole battle is keeping the beetles that carry it off the plants. It can wipe out cucumbers and muskmelons especially fast.

🔎 How to spot it

Look for individual leaves, then whole vines, that wilt and collapse, at first recovering overnight but soon wilting permanently and dying, while the rest of the plant may still look green. A simple field test: cut a wilted stem, touch the cut ends together, and slowly draw them apart; sticky, white, stringy ooze stretching between them points to bacterial wilt.

🥀 Damage it causes

The bacteria multiply in and plug the water-conducting tissue, so infected plants wilt and die, often just as they start to produce. Cucumbers and muskmelons are hit hardest and can be killed outright; squash and pumpkins are more tolerant. A few infected plants early can cost most of the crop.

🔬 What causes it

Bacterial wilt is caused by the bacterium Erwinia tracheiphila, which overwinters inside striped and spotted cucumber beetles. The beetles introduce it as they feed, dropping infected frass into the fresh wounds, and the bacteria then spread through the plant water-conducting tissue. Symptoms appear one to three weeks after the beetles feed, so the damage trails the insects.

🛡️ Prevent it

Since the disease rides on cucumber beetles, controlling them is the only real prevention: cover young plants with floating row cover until flowering, then remove it for pollination, and scout and manage beetles aggressively early in the season when plants are small and most attractive. Choose tolerant cucurbits, such as most squash, and resistant cucumber varieties where available.

🧯 If it is already here

There is no cure once a plant is infected, so remove and destroy wilting plants promptly, by burning where allowed or burying, and never compost them, so they do not feed more beetles. Sprays do not help an infected plant. All the leverage is in keeping beetles off healthy plants from the start.

💡 Good to know

The stringy white ooze from a cut stem is the classic confirmation of bacterial wilt and separates it from Fusarium or simple drought wilt. Because the pathogen lives in the beetles rather than the soil, the disease follows the insects, which is why early, thorough cucumber beetle control is the entire game.

🌱 Plants it affects

121 plants in the library can be affected by this problem

Acorn SquashAdirondack Blue PotatoAji Amarillo Pepper🥔All Blue PotatoAmbrosia CornAmish Paste TomatoAnaheim PepperAnnual VincaArmenian CucumberAtlantic Giant PumpkinBanana PepperBeauregard Sweet Potato🍅Beefmaster TomatoBetter Boy Tomato🍅Big Beef TomatoBig Boy TomatoBitter MelonBlack Beauty EggplantBlack Beauty ZucchiniBlack Cherry Tomato🍉Black Diamond WatermelonBlack Krim Tomato🥒Boston Pickling Cucumber🍅Box Car Willie TomatoBrandywine TomatoButtercup SquashButternut SquashCantaloupeCarolina Reaper PepperCasaba MelonCayenne PepperCelebrity TomatoCharleston Gray WatermelonCherokee Purple TomatoCinderella PumpkinCostata Romanesco ZucchiniCrenshaw MelonCrimson Sweet WatermelonCubanelle PepperDelicata Squash🥒Diva CucumberEarly Girl Tomato🥒English CucumberFairy Tale EggplantFanal AstilbeFingerling PotatoFresno PepperGalia MelonGerman Butterball Potato🍅German Queen TomatoGhost PepperGolden Bantam CornGreen Bell PepperGreen Zebra TomatoHabanero PepperHoneydew MelonHubbard SquashHungarian Wax PepperIndigo Rose TomatoItalian EggplantJack-O-Lantern PumpkinJalapeño PepperJapanese Eggplant🍉Jubilee WatermelonJuliet Grape TomatoKabocha SquashKellogg's Breakfast TomatoKennebec PotatoKirby Cucumber🍅La Roma IV TomatoLemon Boy TomatoLemon CucumberMarketmore Cucumber🍉Mini Love Watermelon🍉Moon and Stars Watermelon🍅Mortgage Lifter TomatoMr. Stripey TomatoNorland PotatoOrange Bell Pepper🍉Orangeglo WatermelonPadrón PepperPattypan SquashPersian CucumberPickling CucumberPimento PepperPineapple TomatoPoblano PepperPurple Bell Pepper🥔Purple Majesty PotatoPurple TomatilloRed Bell PepperRed Pontiac PotatoRoma Tomato🍆Rosa Bianca EggplantRusset Potato🍅Rutgers TomatoSan Marzano TomatoScotch Bonnet PepperSerrano PepperShishito Pepper

For educational and informational purposes only. Disease management advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a problem positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.