I think the zucchini is dying.

[fluffy_goddess]

I convinced my Mom to put a zucchini plant in the garden this year, and it's been... interesting.  It took a while to get going (the first half dozen zucchini got about 3-4 inches long and as thick around as my finger, then fell off and died), but it's produced three or four good-sized zucchini, and one that we picked because it was getting bigger

Comments

[calicougar]

I get squash borers a lot. The plants get "wilted leaves" because the maggots are burrowing away at the stalk near the root, cutting off nutrients from the rest of the plant. Look for exit holes on the stem near the base of the plant, with piles of slushy orange maggot poo.

Unfortunately not a whole lot to be done about squash borers. Hoop canopies keep the adult beetles from finding the plants and laying their eggs in the first place, but once the eggs are hatched...

[labradors]

Look up Squash Vine Borer. It's a red moth-looking bug that lays eggs on the plant, and they hatch and the larvae burrow inside the hollow stem. If you see some yellow sawdust looking stuff around the base, that'll be them. While this happens the leaves tend to wilt during the heat of the day, then bounce back at night, but eventually the stress on the plant (and stem being eaten away from the inside) kills it. They have been the bane of my zukes and pumpkins for the past few years now. :( If you see frass or squash vine borer larvae, make sure you destroy the plant, don't compost it, since the bugs overwinter in the dirt.

[ilexcassine]

Also, yellow vine which is a disease carried by squash beetles can do this, as can other bacterial diseases (though I don't know if yellow vine is common that far north). My plants managed to survived the nibbling of the beetles (a first, I had planted yellow crooknecks because I heard they were somewhat resistant to the beetles and I think that is true) but were killed by the disease they carried.

[miischelle]

I lose mine every year to squash beetles.

[matrixx]

Me too. I usually plant a whole bunch, spend a week thinking, "Oh god, what have I done??" and then they start dropping one by one while I pray just to have SOME squash or zucchini by September.

[balboaroc]

Same here...its either the beetles or the borers that get mine. I can head off the beetles a little by looking for the eggs and crushing them daily (as well as any beetle I see) but eventually the borers get my plants.

[girl_next_dork]

Oh no. I think I am experiencing exactly what you are. It would seem to be squash borers.

And just think, i recently saw one and thought, "Oh, what a cool bug!" and toddled off on my way.