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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
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Saturday - August 22, 2009

From: Oakdale, CT
Region: Northeast
Topic: Diseases and Disorders
Title: Growth on underside of squash plant leaves
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I have a mold in my garden that is oval in shape and has spikes growing out of it, the color is yellow. This mold (yup it's not a bug I checked) is all over the underside of my squash plants. Any help or direction would be great.

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty Plants found several good sites describing diseases and pests of the squash plant and its relatives.  Here are a couple of them:  Common Squash Problems and Assorted Foliar Diseases of Cucurbits.  Alternaria leaf spot and Mosaic are the closest matches I could find, but there is nothing I could find that exactly matched your description. It might help us a little to know how large these areas are in diameter and how thick they are. If the Alternaria leaf spot or the Mosaic is not what you are seeing (and I'm doubtful that it is), please send us photos of these yellow spiky growths on your squash leaves and we will do our best to identify them?  Visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page for instructions on submitting photographs.

 
 

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