Howdy all,

I'm growing two varieties of zucchini this year and they are finally
starting to take off. I've got one fruit coming on the 'heirloom'
variety we planted from seed, and it is putting out a lot of female
flowers now so I think it will be ok. It looks clean. The other one from
a commercial seed packet seems to have a pest problem.

I'm not sure what I'm looking at. At the base of the plant there is
brown spongy slimy stuff where the leaves and runners branch off the
main plant. Some of the stalks look a little chewed up, but it doesn't
look like borers have hit it yet. Or maybe they have and I just don't
recognize it. My back yard is crawling with bugs of all sorts, it's very
rich in 6 legged life, so I'm not sure which ones I should be looking
for. Or maybe this is not a bug problem?

I looked at several websites that talked about growing zucchini but
haven't seen reference to anything that looks like what I've got. It
almost seems like the plant is rotting. I'd like to save it if I can.

What should I do?



Dawn