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Rotting courgette
pdrobi
Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
For the last couple of years I have planted courgette in the greenhouse and each year the plant has grown really well. The problem is that as the courgette starts to grow I get lovely yellow flowers on the end of them. When the courgettes are about 2 inch long the flowers die and the end of the courgette starts to rot and go black. I just don’t seem to be able to get them to grow to a decent size for harvest before they are ruined. What am I doing wrong?
Should I be removing the flowers before they die? Is that what is causing the end rot? Any help much appreciated.
0
Posts
What you describe is usually caused by the female flowers not being pollinated - possibly there aren't enough bees etc accessing your greenhouse.
If you google youll find descriptions and videos of how to do the pollination yourself.
Good luck.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'm growing courgettes for the first time. I had to pull off the first courgette that was growing the other day for exactly the same reason. I'm hoping it's not going to occur to all of the following courgettes that grow!
Aye like Dove said above - that sounds typical of the plant not being pollinated - all female flowers start off with potential courgettes on them.
So whether they swell and grow, or die and rot depends on whether they are pollinated by a male flower. Bees are preferable but a paintbrush will do if you need to do it manually.
This is very interesting. I will probably try manually cross polinatating if my problem persists. I have also read elsewhere that if the flower at the end of the courgette gets damp it can rot, which then works it way upto the end of the courgette its attached to. Some people recommend removing this female flower once the courgette has started growing to prevent damp rot?
Yes, that can occasionally be a problem when the fruit has started to develop, but the flower/fruit rotting at two inches indicates that it's not been pollinated.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Had the same problem last year, ended up with no veg from them. Pretty sure its lack of pollination.
I have aphids and ants on my courgette plants. Am I ok to spray them with bug spray?
I wouldn't spray anything that I intended to eat ..... not ever.!!!
Wash the aphids off with a jet of water from the hose pipe, and ensure that the soil around the plants is kept damp ... that will keep the ants away.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.