potted courgette plant advice

[tag84]

Hi, I am a novice to growing vegetables. I started growing courgette in a pot in a glasshouse we have which gets lots of sunlight. I have watered it daily where soil looks like it needs it but I noticed some of the leaves are very blotchy with brown marks and now others which are healthy looking have turned floppy and limb. The pot is elevated off the ground and in a glass house so I didn't think it could have been eaten by bugs already. The courgettes are starting to grow along with the flowers. But do the leaves indicate this plant is a gonner? Image attached. I haven't fed with tomato feed. They have been in the pot with the compost plant food since I got them, approx five weeks ago.

Thanks in advance.
Tag84

[veggiechicken]

Hi Tag and welcome to the Grapevine
Do you water your plant from above and get the leaves wet?
I'm asking because it looks like the leaves have been scorched in the sun.
If you trim off the damaged leaves and water the compost, not the plant, it should recover.
You'll need to start feeding them now that the courgettes are forming. Well done on getting them this far - they're much bigger than mine

[teakdesk]

Are there any furry bits of the top or bottom of the leaves where they have gone brown/grey?

From what I can see of the photos I'd suspect botrytis first.

If it is then try more ventilation in the greenhouse; cut off the infected leaves and destroy them (botrytis is a fungus that will transmit to other leaves or plants) and wash your hands afterwards.

Don't let any old leaves rot in the greenhouse as they are good places for botrytis to start.


But don't worry, the plant will thrive if a bit of TLC given now (I'd be tempted to move it outside on warm days and maybe eventually leave it outside).

[tag84]

Thank you both for your replies on my question.

I have tried to be careful when watering so that I'm watering the soil but i have hit the leaves a little but not majorly I don't think.

On the second suggestion, I can't see any furry bits, but the glasshouse is EXTREMELY stuffy. I have the door open in it now to let air in. One hot day I had closed the door and I came back to two of the healthy leaves at the top of the plant turned to droopy messes.

Whichever it is, it sounds like I should cut off the lead. On cutting off the leaves, so I just cut off the leaves or the stalk attached to that leaf as well?

I have noticed the main stalk of the plant (coming up from the soil) (sorry I am well intended but have no ideas of terms for the areas of the plant!) is a much darker shade of green than the rest of the plant - you can kind of see it in the picture. Would that be a suggestion of botrytis. I have cherry tomatoes and a red pepper growing in another box about a metre away, so I will be careful when removing.

I think I might just move it outside as well once I get a table for it, although I'm in Ireland so it runs the risk of drowning for rain!

Thanks again,
tag84.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Its hard to see but what size is your pot?

Growing in containers I would not use anything smaller than 20ltrs and prefer larger.

[SarrissUK]

Some courgette plants change the colour of their leaves as they mature, and the two large bottom leaves in the pic shows some grey areas around the veins of the leaves. I've had courgettes where that is completely normal, and actually how the plant should look. It's when the leaf goes furry and sludgy that you should be worried. They're very hungry and thirsty plants, so feed and water well

[lottie dolly]

I would second what VC says,if it were mine,i would cut the stem off aprox 1 inch from the main stem,

[tag84]

Thank you all for the advice on this - its really appreciated. I have cut off the leaves and the stem (down to 1 inch) of the leaves that looked really brown and removed them from the area. I am keeping the door of the glasshouse open so that there is plenty of ventilation. So hopefully my four little courgettes are safe now!

@ Potstubsdustbins, the container is 60cm L x 20cm W x 14cm D but I've only filled and used about 40cm L of the container (the rest is empty), so I think that's about 10 litres.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I honestly don't think that is large enough for a courgette certainly 51/2 inchs deep is not enough.

If you have another larger container pot it on you will need the extra size when the sun finally shows its face.

[tag84]

Oh really? OK, I'll get myself a bigger container. how deep would you recommend? Also, when transferring, I don't want to damage the roots as I've no idea how large they are now. Should I be trying to transfer across the whole lot in one piece, ie plant and as much of the composting soil in the current container as possible?

Thanks again.

[Potstubsdustbins]

My courgette containers are approximately 18 inches across and 15 inches deep.

Yes try and pot on as a whole taking as much compost with the plant as you can.

[tag84]

Thank you again potstubsdustbins, I did a successful (I hope) transfer across to a 20L container taking most of the compost with the plant and I have started feeding it with tomato feed so fingers crossed the plant should be in the right environment now.

Thanks to all for the advice and help.

[SusieG]

Hi tag84, nice to 'meet' you..!

Glad you're getting your courgette problem resolved - I bet they'll thrive now you've potted them on.

I'm trying something different this year - I've just started my Square Foot Gardening beds and I've planted 2 x courgette plants out - I made a bit of a boo-boo tho' - should've given them more growing room..!! So what I'm trying ( suggestion of Bigmally) is staking them up and tying in the growing stems so that they all grow 'upwards'!!
They're looking ok at the moment, with flowers starting now!