Dangerous bacteria have ruined the cucumber harvest in Poland

Growers of these popular green vegetables will not count this year's season as a success. Bacteria and diseases developing in the hot and humid summer days have destroyed a large part of the crop across the country. Farmers stress that the weather conditions this summer are responsible for the development of the diseases attacking cucumbers.

cucumbers on a table
Beeld: ©A.Murawska

What is happening?

It is very warm and the high temperature persists, then fungal diseases do not develop. These are great conditions for diseases such as powdery mildew to develop. In addition to powdery mildew (lac. Oomycetes Peronosporaceae), seedlings are also attacked by bacterial angular spot of cucumber (lac. Pseudomonas syringae), the development of which is favoured by high temperatures and high humidity.

Usually, the cucumber season lasted a whole month, and due to the diseases digesting the plants, the harvest in many regions of the country ended after just one week. The limited cucumber harvest in Poland may be compensated by record imports from abroad.

In the first 4 months of 2024, 38 000 t of these vegetables were imported into Poland. The largest number of cucumbers were imported from Spain (13 850 t), Greece (7 690 t) and Germany (4 980 t).

Source: Interia Biznes