white courgeete leaves

[tracy]

help pls all my courgette leaves have this white furry look about them..do i just take them off and burn or are all the plants doomed to the compost bin ?
cheers tracy

[Flummery]

In my experience they all go like this eventually - If they are still flowering and fruiting I'd keep going with them. It's a sort of powdery or downy mildew but it isn't toxic to people!

[pdblake]

It's perfectly normal. Courgettes are pretty prone to mildew. It never does them any harm and you'll soon be sick of seeing the things just like every one else

[tracy]

but do i remove the infected leaves x

[Flummery]

No I don't. The plant needs leaves to make its own food.

[tracy]

but do i need to pick the leaves off or just leave them ?

[Incy]

Just leave the leaves they will be fine.

[miffy]

If it makes you feel better chuck mine are like it too.

[Alice]

You're not going to eat the leaves Tracy so I wouldn't worry about them Just leave them alone. In my experience Courgettes alaways end up with mildew and really raggy leaves for other reasons but they still make plenty of courgettes. If you're worried you wont have enough plant another couple of seeds now to give you a crop when the first lot runs out. I'll see your post when you're asking what to do with all the courgettes.

[tracy]

so far i have only had a couple i take by all the comments i will soon be overrun with them i have 6 plants for me and my hubby is that too much ?

[dominic10]

Don't worry - these can be frozen. When they all come in just make sure that you don't let any grow into marrows otherwise the plants stop producing flowers/more courgettes. Small courgettes can be chopped and added to salads also ratatouille, curries, soup and yes you probably will get fed up with them so share them with neighbours and friends....I did remove some of the more powdery leaves last year without any damage to the courgette production but this was more to hoe some of the weeds lurking beneath the plants. Enjoy