The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: northfifeduckling on June 20, 2010, 11:33:37 am
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I have 2 fruit on my first courgette in the greenhouse in a large pot. the fruit seem to have stopped growing and the first is getting all soft. What have I done wrong, too much , too little water, nutrients??
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It's just that they haven't been pollinated. Most of our early courgettes do that, until some male flowers appear plus some bees, or you get out your little paintbrush and do the pollinating. Equally frustrating is when only male flowers appear. If you know you have only female flowers, cut the tiny courgettes and eat them before they can go soggy. You will soon have dozens.......
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huh! mine arent even flowering yet!!
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If you know you have only female flowers..........
Seriously, that's fascinating! How do you tell the sex of a courgette flower then? ??? Also, does it mean you can't have one plant on its own, or can it pollinate itself?
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The female flowers have a little bump behind them ;D
I am the proud owner/grower of three teeny weeny baby cucumbers. Does the same principle apply? I always thought that they wouldn't even start to swell if they hadn't been pollinated?
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I cut 2 today about 5",
MALE AND FEMALE FLOWERS ON ONE PLANT USUALLY.
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Yes, the male flower of a courgette has just a short thin stalk, but the female flower has a mini courgette behind the flower - in other words, the female flower turns into the courgette, the male flower just does the pollinating. Squashes and pumpkins are the same and none will produce fruit without pollination. Each plant produces both male and female flowers but you are more likely to get good fertilisation with several plants as there is more chance of there being both male and female fowers out at the same time with several to choose from. As well as using a paintbrush to aid pollination, you can pick a male flower, remove its petals and rub the pollen directly into the female flower.
Cucumbers are different in that there are modern all female varieties which don't require pollination and in fact the fruit of these becomes bitter if pollinated. Occasionally these do produce male flowers which have to be removed before they open (mine did that this year). Old fashioned and outdoor cucumbers have male and female flowers which I think are left to pollinate themselves but I have never grown them so I don't know for sure. The female cucumber flower has the tiniest ever cucumber behind it, which quickly grows.
Yep - you can't get away from sex, even in the veggie garden :o
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I read in my Hessayon Expert veg book (great book) that greenhouse cucumbers you should remove the male flower as fertilised cucumbers are bitter, but with outdoor cucumbers you leave it on.
Now, how do I remember if my plant is an indoor or outdoor one ??? ;D :D
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Yep - you can't get away from sex, even in the veggie garden :o
... teaching "plants" to kids at work today, asked if they knew that plants reproduce sexually? One boy piped up "Its that like when the roots touch?!"
ah, bless!!
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never had an issue with that - my courgettes always did what they were supposed to!, until last year - no maturing fruit at all, must have been only male flowers...Got the paintbrush out and ready for tomorrow! It's like with birds, there are so much more of the males and I wonder what they are good for - you only need 1 for 10 girls! ;D ;D
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If you already have "fruit" ie the courgette then it has already been fertilised surely? I always find that the first one or two get to about 3 or 4 inches then go soggy like yours. Then I panic thinking I won't get any courgettes, then I get deluged with them! Keep calm, don't panic - they are on their way! :yum:
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;D this didn't happen last year but hopefully will now!
Do you know if it is mainly the male flowers then which the Italians pick to stuff and eat? I certainly get lots of those but only one or 2 female with knobbly bit on each plant so far, paintbrush did the job this morning i hope :&>
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When I have had stuffed courgette flower they have always come with a courgette attached! So I guess it's the female ones.
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I might be a stupid question but is it rot? too much water getting on the end of the courgette where it touches the soil?
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no, FWS, the plant is in a pot and the fruit are not touching anything...they look like wilting rather, going yellow and soft :&>
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ok if they are withering are getting another minerals/water do they need to have a feed?
Linz
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According to Hessayon -
Withering of young fruit (stop growing when they are only a few inches long and withering spreads back from the tip) has many possible causes, such as draughts, heavy pruning, using fresh farmyard manure. Most likely reason is faulty root action due to poor drainage, over watering, poor soil preparation. Remove damaged fruit and spray with a foliar feed, withhold water and ventilate the greenhouse, but keep floor damp as usual.
Maintain steady growth by careful watering.
I had withered cucumbers to start with a few weeks ago (also part of the cucurbit family) which was because they were in a pot with no drainage. I drilled holes in the bottom and let loads of water out, and today ate my first cucumber, very sweet and juicy. ;D
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As has been said in other posts, I find the first ones rot back. I think this is down to the the lack of foraging insects early on in the season. Bees etc need to find the plants first then they make regular visits, also the male/female flowers are out of balance. In a week or two, you will need a wheel barrow to collect them. Turn your back for five minutes and you'll have two foot marrows!
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Really stupid question, but this is my first year with courgettes and squash.
When are they ready for picking? Is it when the flowers die off? Or, do they keep growing after this and you just wait till they reach the size you want?
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Every year I say that I will pick my courgettes when they are the size of my middle finger. Every year I pick them when they are the size of my arm. ;D
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No wish to appear offensive Kerry But surely those on display in the supermarket or at a Farmers Market should I think be about right. If you leave them longer to grow they will become Vegatable Marrows Which in my opinion is great veg: stuffed :D :farmer:
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At what ever stage as long as they are longer than you longest finger.
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No wish to appear offensive Kerry But surely those on display in the supermarket or at a Farmers Market should I think be about right. If you leave them longer to grow they will become Vegatable Marrows Which in my opinion is great veg: stuffed :D :farmer:
The ones in my local shops are huge, while mine are still fairly small so I thought I'd ask as, until now everyone has been very friendly and helpful. Sorry if my being a newbie with no experience annoys you.
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Did you read, did you understand.The first sentence in my reply?This is what happens.Thin skinned people who take um bridge when advice freely given doesn't agree with the expected answer.If they are larger than I think 6/7" They are becoming baby marrows :farmer:
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Kerry, you'll get used to Wizard eventually ;D ;D, he's quite nice really, just don't take anything personally ::) :chook: :&>
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Thanks NFD I am sure I offered in the first 6 words in the post that seems to upset her ? Ah well I cannot please all the people all the time but I tell you what I can please my self and bugger off and do other things.Like get organized for the steam rally and pretend I'm extra thin skinned and the blood is leaking out George is thinking this is it worth the hassle?
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This is just one of those things with email and on-line banter. You don't see the other person and what we write can be interpreted wrongly sometimes. TAS are a really nice bunch as a whole although sometimes the blood does boil when we discuss things close to our heart ;D
I wish I had any courgettes! I was away so see mum for a couple of weeks and OH did not pollinate in the greenhouse. I'll have to make space to plant them out now and let the insects do the job... :&>
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they have all now been planted outdoors and I still have the same problem, despite the paintbrush!! I have either only male flowers, then only female on al 6 plants at the same time! then the females go off - what is it with the timing, do they hate me??? :o :&>
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Maybe they suspect what you intend to do with them when they grow big :o
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I have a couple of courgette plants which have half a dozen 4 inch courgettes on now. When I first planted them out they only bore male flowers I started pulling them off as they was ready to open. I lost the first 2 female. They also went yellow. I was told to let a couple of male flowers open & then remove the day after. I did this & have a good supply of courgette on the plants now. If any more male show I remove them as soon as I can see they are male
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<< If any more male show I remove them as soon as I can see they are male>>
Why ??? They need the male flowers to pollinate the female ones, not like cucumbers where you need to pick off the male flowers.
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They obviously don't need them as they are doing real well
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And that was an observation. Not a dig in any way 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
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Male flowers.
If your courgettes are stressed, either from being planted to close together, or from poor quality soil you will get a predominance of male flowers.
We lost our first sowing of courgettes to the cold snap but the second sowings are going daft.
We always leave a few later in the season to grow into marrows.
Oh! And you can eat the flowers. Lovely dipped in batter and deep fried, and there are recipes out there for stuffing the flowers.
:)
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I love the flowers battered. I was in Italy the first time I had them. They was collected from the hedgerow where they looked like they grew wild.
Where I stayed they would stuff them with chopped prawns & then batter them. :yum: :yum: :yum: :yum: They were amazing.