blossom end rot on courgettes??

[Bluemchen]

Can courgettes get blossom end rot? I've had to remove two (the first two!!) courgettes as they were rotting at the flower end. They only got to about 2-3" long. The plant looks healthy otherwise. Any ideas what it is and what to do about it?

[lottie dolly]

hi,its most likely to them not being pollinated,just leave them to it,the plant will soon have some male flowers,thats the ones on a log thin stem,the insect will do the pollinating,nothing at all to worry about,just the way mother nature works.

[Bluemchen]

Thanks Lottie Dolly, but surely if they hadn't been pollinated they wouldn't have grown any fruit at all? Do I have my biology all wrong??

[realfood]

I always remove the old shrivelled-up flowers once the courgette has been pollinated, to prevent blossom end rot, especially in wet and damp weather.
I am assuming that yours had been pollinated.

[KellsSimon]

There was a thread covering this back in june from some folks who it sounded like they were having a similar experience.
I think it was something to do with polination and male female flowers,
find the link here...
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...wers_8999.html
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_17840.html

Hope this helps
Mine have only just started flowering this week, so i've still got all this to come.

[sewer rat]

This is quite a common problem with courgettes - the flower gets wet or damp and this starts to rot into the fruit. I walk my courgettes every morning and any dodgy looking flowers get knocked off to prevent this happening.

[Kristen]

"surely if they hadn't been pollinated they wouldn't have grown any fruit at all"

I think Courgettes are the same as Cucumbers and Melons in this regard. The female flowers form with the little fruit just behind the flower (whereas the male flowers just have a thin stalk behind the flower). The fruit starts swelling but if it doesn't get fertilised it just turns yellow and drops off.

And Cucumber fruits do this too if there is already too much fruit on the plant and it can't sustain any more.

The rubbish weather won't have helped, but I reckon they will get underway shortly.

[Flummery]

Wet and cold weather will encourage even pollinated fruits to rot if they have a wet flower still clinging on. Unless you are being posh and stuffing the flowers it's worthwhile removing them as Rat said.

[Two_Sheds]

We've not had rain for weeks (well, hardly any) and my courgettes are still rotting on the plant, although we did have weeks & weeks of rain back in June.

" Poor early-summer weather, with a prolonged cold spell, and few insects results in poor pollination. This means courgettes fail to develop, and they quickly rot on the plant. However, this is only a temporary problem, and once the weather starts to improve, so then will the crop.

Pollinate the early batch of flowers by hand, rather than relying on insects. Pick an open male flower (which doesn't have a swelling at the base) and strip off the petals to expose the stamens and pollen. Then just rub them thoroughly against the stigma of a female flower (which has a swelling or an immature fruit at its base). " Courgette rot | Problem solving | How to | BBC Gardeners' World

[trebellangeminired]

Thanks for the tips people. I was unsure what to do with the dodgy looking flowers. So far the courgettes have been ok apart from some minor nibbling by some unidentified pest.

[PurpleBecca]

HI I was interested to see this - I have this problem for the second year on the trot! Both in my Poly tunnel and in the garden, they get too about 3 or four inched then start to rot, they are deffinately pollinated (or they would't have got this far - right?)

I guess we will be eating very small courgettes again this year, as it seems to be weather related?

The problem is you just can't help HOPING that the next one will get a BIT bigger, can you?

[Jimmy]

I always remove the old shrivelled-up flowers once the courgette has been pollinated, to prevent blossom end rot, especially in wet and damp weather.
I am assuming that yours had been pollinated.

I agree, I regularly test the flowers to see if they will rub off. The courgette won't let you rub it off until it's finished with it.
Jimmy