Courgettes in pots

[rofey72]

Hi lynda

The 2 in pots are in a 12 inch post so they should be ok !! Of the 4 remaining in the gowbags two of the plants seem to be struggling . The bottom leaves seem to be dead and as they seem to touch the planting surface may be have been too wet ?? Dont know really but the rest of each plant seem to be ok apart from a couple of yellow blemishes recently appearing . Some sort of deficiency according to previous posts. But im still hoping they will do ok . Mine are no where near the stage of Alices ( see above ) but i only planted on May 1st. Hopefully for a crop end August into September if the books and seed packets are correct. Thanks for you advice

[gcroft]

pots

technically you can grow plants in any size pot as long as it gets sufficient water and food but if a big plant is in a small pot then keepinging it fed and watered sufficiently is hard to achieve. You only have to look at the hydroponics people to see that full size tomato plants can be raised and harvested from a couple of inch cubes of rock wool per plant. so 10 inch will be find if your prepared to feed and water it alot and not miss out out on essential waterings whilst at work etc (unless you have an irrigation system going)

I always find courgettes do very well grown on top of a compost heap as they are hungry buggers as are pumpkins and squashes

[KittyB]

When should courgettes be harvested? I have fruits on my plant, and the flowers have died on some of them, but the courgettes are only a couple of inches long.

[leona]

if the flowers look anything but fresh take them off. i lost quite a few fruits last year coz the flowers died and rotted and took the fruit with them. very quickly too. try a couple maybe, id normally take them off at about 4-5in

[KittyB]

Thanks, will try them out. They're only tiny courgettes, as I say. And I have some flowers on stalks instead of at the end of the fruit - is that happening because I'm not removing the 'ripe' fruit?

[Alice]

Hello KittyB, the flowers on stalks without fruit are male flowers. You don't have to worry about them, just enjoy the colour. As Leona says, once the flowers on the ends of the fruits go past remove them if they do not fall off themselves as they can rot the end of the fruit. As to what size you should eat them - that's up to you. You can buy baby ones in the shops for a kings ransom, so if you want them young and tender go ahead. Or for a bigger crop leave until about 5 inches and nice and fat.Once the flowers have gone past they git big rapidly so you'll be enjoying them any day now. Keep harvesting to keep the fruit coming. Enjoy.

[KittyB]

Thanks for all the advice. I've just been and cut 2 tiny courgettes so we'll try them out tomorrow. The rest I think I'll leave until they're a bit bigger.

[JennieAtkinson]

Well done Alice. That looks great! Am only at the four leaf stage.

[leona]

thats just the male flowers, take them off but make sure you dont throw them away! you can stuff them

[Alice]

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My courgettes in pots (Gold Rush) have been looking great and I have been delighted with them. However over the last week the fruit did not look as if it had grown any. The length was fine but they just did not fatten up and the sides did not become parallel at the tips. (they tapered into points) The plants look healthy and there are plenty of new courgettes on the way. To give the new courgettes a chance I cut the older ones. The texture was fine but they were flavourless. What can be the problem.
Have I been impatient and should have left them a while?
Under watered, overwatered,?
underfed, overfed,?
too cold early in the season, too hot in June,?
Gold Rush is fast but flavourless?
Or What?
Any advice gratefully received. I was so looking forward to them.

[leona]

i grew a plant last year and it didnt get enough sun. the plant grew fine but the corguettes were small and very dry so i didnt end up eating them
ive got 3 diff varieties this year and ate my first one raw today. i dont actually think they taste of that much either way. i recon if you grill them with a bit of oil,salt and garlic they taste yum!

[SueA]

Before I went on holiday my courgette plants in pots were tiny but they've grown enormous over the week & even have some tiny courgettes on the 'Orelia' yellow ones. I think the yellow ones do have slightly less flavour than the green but I like to grow them for the variety in colour. They also seem to take a bit longer to cook than the green. Ataching a photo of my 'babies'.

[brewer]

courgettes and aubergines

Hi! Alice you seem to have a grasp of the subject???I have been given two plants, one of each, and am unsure how to proceed. They came with small black flys (2mm) around them and I am worried about them contaminating my grape vine. How do I kill the flies .I am growing them in a grow bag which is not very deep so there are two mounds of plants in it, in my conservatory. My courgettes plant is 800mm high so the fruits are going to be dangeling like toms not spread across the surface. Aubergines flowers are 800mm above ground am I doing something wrong.

[Alice]

Hello Brewer, as for the black fly you have to get rid of them or they will be on your vine. If they were only on one leaf I would say cut it off and get rid of it but if more wide spread I would use an insecticide spray.
You have them both in a grow bag in your conservatory. I would think they would look nicer and do just as well in 12 inch pots.
Don't worry about your courgettes being up in the air. That is how they grow. They don't trail on the ground. The plant is perfectlly capable of supporting itself and the fruits support themselves.
You say your plants are 800mm high. No use on this metric stuff but that seems excessive .I would pinch out aubergine at about 12 inches (30 cm) so maybe you should pinch the centre out of the Aub back to that height and tie it to a cane and see how it goes. I've no idea why your courgette is 800mm high. Is it flowering and producing fruit?
I do hope they will do well for you. Let us know how you get on.

[Lesley Jay]

Alice I grew Gold Rush last year as well as Defender which is a green courgette. I found that the Gold Rush were slow to grow to a good size which I thought was great because the Defender courgettes grow so quickly that we are always over run with them. I gave them chance to grow to a reasonable size but my husband didnot like the flavour of them. So this year it is just Defender that I am growing.