Help! My courgettes are dropping off!

[RobintheBobin]

I'm growing Tromboncino and there are plenty of teeny courgettes but they keep dropping off!! I keep them water, feed them with Tomatorite although I tried liquid seaweed last week and the dratted things keep going mushy and dropping off.

I remember this happened to my normal courgettes last year but I love my funny, wiggly courgettes and I'd love more than one to make it to my plate.

Any advice gratefully received

[Pootle]

Are you getting male flowers too? It sounds like the females aren't being pollinated and giving up waiting!

If you are getting plenty of male flowers perhaps the bees in your area are on strike and you can give a hand by pollinating the female flowers yourself and then your courgettes should mature nicely. Are you feeding with every watering? If so, I would hold back a bit and try just once a week - might also encourage the fruit as the plant will try harder to reproduce rather than grow more!

Good luck - we're in the midst of a courgette glut and I'm running out of recipe ideas!

[shirlthegirl43]

I am still waiting for a glut of courgettes too. We had one, then nowt, then another grew but the slugs got it. Fed up waiting to try the chocolate courgette cake recipe - might have to go and buy some

[RobintheBobin]

Come to think of it there are a great deal of lady plants but no so many chaps....I'll get out them with my paint brush and give your suggestion a go!

[Pootle]

At the risk of the backlash - that's men all over, never around when you need them

If you're reading this OH - of course I don't mean you

[gojiberry]

My glut has well and truely arrived. Managed to use up all the courgettes on Sat, then went round lottie on Sunday and came back with a Tesco carrier bag full. It was so full the handle would not take the weight. So looking for more suggestions. A choc cake for defo, plus some for a soup but that will only use about a third at most. Could not find a recipe for courgette bread.


Ian

[gojiberry]

Sorry RB hijacked your thread. If you are watering then it has to be lack of pollination. Personally I don't water of feed my courgettes at all, except when first planted out. It may be you are giving to much TLC and they don't feel the need to reproduce.

Ian

[rustylady]

RB and Pootle, please enter your approximate location on your user profile. Just a county will do, but it helps so much when answering queries as your location will then show up on your posts. Hope the courgettes will sort themselves out - are you growing in pots or open ground?

[RobintheBobin]

Rusty Lady - will add my location ASAP - the courgettes are in pots and the ground; I noticed that the ones in pots have no flowers on whatsoever and they are dropping more but the ones in the ground are trying to flower but only one or two at the most. My pink bananas next to them are thriving with loads of flowers...great but annoying.

[fwuffydragon]

I tend to try and pick them when they're about 10cm long, as otherwise they get out of control!

My favourite things to do with courgettes:

I find that if you turn them into long thin strips (with a potato peeler or similar) and do the same with carrot, and steam them for a couple of minutes, they make a great alternative to pasta.

Or, just chop them up and grill them with a spray of olive oil on top and a bit of black pepper.

Or steam them and then grate cheese over them and put under the grill to brown.

[smallblueplanet]

I'm growing Tromboncino and there are plenty of teeny courgettes but they keep dropping off!! I keep them water, feed them with Tomatorite although I tried liquid seaweed last week and the dratted things keep going mushy and dropping off.

If they are being pollinated and they're going mushy and dropping off, maybe they're getting too much water?

We've just eaten our first Tromba d'Albenga (tromboncino) tonight in a veggie spag bolognese. It was about 5" and very tasty. We've got them climbing up a metal obelisk.

Courgette/Pumpkin, Tromba D’Albenga - Old Italian climbing/trailing squash, also known as Trompeti, Tromboncino or Zucchetta Rampicante, is traditionally grown on frames. Harvest anytime from pale green 10cm long courgettes in summer to mature full sized pumpkins up to 1m50cm in length with sweet dense orange flesh. Stores 6-12 months.

Looking forward to trying them when bigger too.

[RobintheBobin]

1m50cm???????