Courgette Help

[Sarico]

i thought i was mad with 12 plants. just because there are too many varieties, and i know the ladies love them if all else fails

Last year i had 12 plants and stopped counting when i over 200 courgettes, i use the flowers, let some grow to massive marrows and baby ones as well.


i would love to see a photo of your courgette patch when in full flower etc, one of my favourite plants so beautiful, love the leaves etc

I will have probably about 12 as well for courgette production. The rest like I said I harvest them as leafy veg.

[Kristen]

Should i be moving them into a slightly larger pot rather than say a 10 litre pot where they can really strive ? will this also help to slow the growth ?

In general it is better to "pot-on" into a slightly larger pot (say 1.5" to 2" more diameter - more on bigger pot sizes, less on small ones [if that makes sense!!]) repeatedly, rather than putting them in a significantly larger pot.

Clearly more "faff" having to do it repeatedly, but as they are put in each next-size-up pots the roots will fill the little bit of extra potting compost, and the end product will be a dense mass of roots which will support the plant well through its life.

If you stick it in a large pot the roots will race to the perimeter and then circle round, with much less root growth in the middle. (There is also a much higher risk of over watering in an overly large pot, lots of potting compost, relative to the [initially] small root size of the plant. It takes the plant a long time to drink all that water, and if you water again before it has done that the plant will have more water than it can cope with and drown / rot / die

This won't slow down its growth I'm afraid (probably the opposite ...)

Coll temperature will slow it down, as would NOT potting it on. However, restricting the roots will stress the plant, and that is not good (longer term). Similar cold will stress the plant (I'm meaning "cold" as distinct from the "cooler" temperature when you put it out to acclimatise it to, eventually, being outside)

[cilla]

Here's a thread we prepared earlier http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ear_80323.html

This was last year. Are we doing one this year or do we continue on the tread? I see there a tomato one which has started for this year.