Possible Powdery Mildew on cuke plants?

[ScorpionKing]

Hello all,

I'm new to this forum.. I am trying container gardening on my balcony for the first time this year. So far it's going pretty good. I have a black cherry tomato, a scotch bonnet pepper, a sugar baby watermelon, and a straight eight cucumber.

I do have a question about the cucumber plant. Its growing very well, but some of the leaves have been getting white spots on them. After research I concluded it may be powdery mildew, which prompted me to remove the leaves that were badly affected. However, today I came home to see some of the leaves crumbled up on its edges and a few with holes in them. Is this related? I have pics below. Hopefully you all can help (I'm sure you can!)



this is an overall look of the plant.

 

[headfullofbees]

I'm not sure your problem is powdery mildew, although you can mist the leaves with 9 water to 1 milk solution and that will stop progression if it is.
My advice would be to remove leaves from the bottom 6" and to put another 3" of growing medium on, to stimulate more root growth.
Most importantly, however, I'd sink an empty 4" pot into the growing medium, at the edge of your container, and water ONLY through this, as it looks to me like your big danger is rot of the surface roots. That's why so many water cucurbits from underneath, via a saucer, onto which the plant container stands.

Welcome.

 

[ScorpionKing]

Thanks for this advice! I actually found the culprit... aphids! The underside of the lower leaves (the ones crinkling up) are full of them. My mom (who grew up on a farm in NC) said to spray an vinegar on the leaves in the morning and bury a banana peel in the soil.

The real mystery of it all is how they made it onto a balcony on the 4th floor....

 

[DirtMechanic]

I once read a post on here that referred to "clouds" of weed seeds blowing in the air to the garden soil. Know I think like that about a lot of garden problems. Clouds of insects, clouds of fungi spores etc. It helped me understand how to increase my defenses.

So I see 5 or 6 roots in that pot?