Courgettes too early ?

[Maf]

Wondering if I planted my courgettes too early. They have flowers !

The lady flowers are still tiny (see the baby yellow courgette in the second pic)

Will the plants keep producing new male flowers until the ladies are ready to be pollinated ?

[Winged one]

I have a baby courgette almost ready for eating, and the plant is still in a stumpy 4" pot in the minigreenhouse with yellowing leaves...I'm not much good on the whole males/female aspect of it (haven't grown courgettes in years since it was my dad doing them and I never needed to pay attention) - but the first actual fruit is growing to an eating size if that helps. And it's definitely the fruit not a spindly stalk of just flower.

[markwcel]

i thought you just planted them and let them do their thing...whats with the male/female thing??

[Alison C]

Oooo. Id like to know about this aswell as my courgettes are flowering and they are all male flowers, infact a few have dropped off.

[Alison]

You always get the male flowers first and they won't do anything although are very nice flash fried. When the female ones start you can tell cos they have a lump behind the flower. If your plants are outside then they will pollonate naturally but if inside you will need to do the paintbrush trick.

[zazen999]

I usually take the first few off and eat them small in whatever I'm cooking. Otherwise you spend all your time trying to urge them on and they don't do anything. This then puts the energy into the later ones which usually do grow to full size.

[Cutecumber]

I have always struggled to get a good courgette crop - against the norm, I know. Although I can grow strong plants in good ground, the fruit often fail to set. We have a mature garden full of insects, so I can't explain it. I hand-pollinate when possible but it's a fiddle.

My solution, for the last 3 years, has been to grow a parthenocopic type called Parthenon. It is self-fertile and every female flower produces a fruit which grows into a courgette. When the plant loses vigour or gets mildew the occasional one withers, but otherwise it has proven to be excellent and crops over several months.

[Alison C]

Great advice and tips thankyou!

[rustylady]

I would take off all flowers that appear until the plants are in their final positions (either in the ground, in growbags, or in large pots).