Courgettes and cucumbers, marketmore 76?

[tlck9]

Can someone help. I read that I need to remove flowers from the cucumber is they have male and are not all female? how do I know if I have all female

Also my courgettes are south facing and coming up with flowers, is it too early? and when should I move them to the polytunnel

[Paulottie]

Marketmore are ridge cucumbers (prickly skinned type normally grown outside but fine in a polytunnel at this time of year.)...you don't need to remove male flowers.

Frame cucumbers..(longer smooth skin greenhouse type)..eg telegraph Imp...you do remove them to stop bitterness...the females have a tiny cuke behind the flower whereas the males don't. There are some very expensive varieties that don't produce many if any male flowers saving what is a bit of a palaver.

You should be able to get your courgette into the polytunnel where you are ..introduce it daytime only for a week then plant it.

[Mac]

Hi, my courgettes are producing lots of flowers too, but they are just dying and falling off. They are in quite small pots and on an east facing window. I started them pretty early.....Should I pot them on and move them into the unheated greenhouse do you think? And is there anything I'm not doing which is causing the flowers to just die?

[jemma_charlie]

Mine did that last year but it was only male flowers the females didnt start until a couple of weeks later.

[Mac]

ahhhh, that would explain it. Thanks....just need to wiat for the girls then....

[Mac]

Another dim question....should I be feeding them anything just now? I've potted them into bigger pots, but haven't added anything to the compost. Anything I should be doing?

[tamsin]

The compost you potted them up in to should contain food for at least a few weeks so they won't need feeding on top.

They need to be kept warm until after the last frost so a few weeks before that you can start putting them out in the day and bringing them in at night to harden them off.

The female flowers have a baby courgette behind - if they fall off it's because they weren't polinated, male flowers falling off is normal.