Courgette query and confirmation...

[doozer]

Evenin' all,

Have just been inspecting my courgettes in their pots and taking on board other replies on the forum I was looking to remove my yellow/mildewed leaves. There's the odd obviously rotten leaf but most of the leaves have 'white patches/spots' on which I'm guessing is mildew?

Should ALL these mildew leaves come off? I have courgettes and flowers and all seem ok...but don't want to loose my crop if I can help it. If I took off all the leaves that aren't perfectly green...I wouldn't be left with much. Any advice?

Meanwhile..in the same pots I have climbing french beans. Just treated myself to my first one whilst doing 'my rounds' (my rounds being...i stand on the spot an can reach everything by turning around!). Wow...whatta bean!

cheers all.

[Demeter]

Is it that the leaf colour is going white/silver, or is it something white ON the leaves? Courgette leaves do naturally seem to go a bit white / silvery, possibly something to do with the ageing process? If that's all it is, leave them on!

(My completely unsubstantiated theory is that it's to do with how much sun they get i.e. more sun means leaves go silvery - to reflect the bright light, and because they don't need so much chlorophyll in them - courgette leaves do get enormous! I'm thinking of an analogy with narrow-leaved herbs like rosemary and lavender, they are pretty silvery in the med but pretty green in the UK.)

PS hope you didn't eat that bean raw - there was a thread on here recently where Two Sheds enlightened us all about how they are a bit poisonous until cooked!

[scarey55]

Courgette leaves do normally have white blotches on them so I shouldn't worry too much. Do the leaves look "sad"? if not, I would leave them for a while. If I remember, I will take a pic of mine tomorrow so that you know what they normally look like (says she, acting like she knows what she is talking about )

[Alice]

Doozer, you're not going to eat the leaves so unless they are rotten I would leave them alone. My courgette and cucumber leaves always get a bit silvery and dry, but it doesn't affect the crop. As long as the plants are fruiting well don't worry.

[doozer]

Marvellous all - thank you for your replies. Leaves look fine...just white blotches on them so I'll leave them alone.

Meanwhile...I ate that bean 3 seconds after harvesting..........

[BarleySugar]

I know raw beans are supposed to be poisonous, and I'm sure they are to some degree, but I ate loads of raw ones from when I was young, and as far as I know I'm OK (twitch, twitch ). It is more of a problem I think if the seeds are virtually fully formed, which as French and runners should be picked before that stage, you will probably survive. The well know cases were kidney beans cooked in slow cookers, where the temperature did not get high enough to destroy the toxins.
Interestingly, I was reading up on herbs today, and there was a warning about the toxicity of sage, you shouldn't drink more than 3 cups of sage tea a day due to the poison in it. Many things we eat are toxic if taken in excess.

[scarey55]

I regularly pick French beans and eat them there and then, no probs so far - the beans aren't formed so perhaps that's why.

[gojiberry]

I always eat loads of broad beans raw while on the plot, with no side effects. Always thought it was only the red kidney beans that were toxic.

Ian