courgettes flowering early

[samseed]

Hi All,
My courgettes are thriving and although in 3 inch pots still (leaves bout 3-4 inches across) they`re setting fruit and flower buds are forming-is this normal-do i let them fruit so young?i`ve had them in the greenhouse from morning till night and back indoors at night for bout 2 weeks now and they look healthy!
Any ideas on the early fruit set and flowering wold be appreciated though-thanks in advance!

[Two_Sheds]

They're flowering early because you planted early

I've not sown mine yet and I'm a bit further south than you. 3" pots are small, they plants may be feeling stressed and so are flowering: can you get them into slightly bigger pots? They can't go outside until after the frosts (probably late May for you?)

[Flummery]

Sowed mine yesterday. Mine don't go out till June! You will need to give them more room and keep them light and warm till you can let them out. You are unlikely to get set fruits I suspect. You need male and female flowers and the females generally come some while after the males. Then you need insects (or paintbrushes.) Altogether, I find it easier to sow a bit later. Good luck with them though. You never know!

[King Carrot]

I always sow an early batch of Parthenon courgette F1 as they're self fertile, - I'm putting them out in the ground under a coldframe in the next couple of days and all going to plan as per usual, we should be eating courgettes from them in around 4 weeks.

Remember tis very mild here so don't try this at home unless you're in a mild area too

[Florence Fennel]

I'm in Yorkshire too Samseed and I'm not sowing mine until May at least. Hope you can pot them on and keep them going this early. Good Luck.

[jacob]

Wow

I sow a few early ones to grab an early greenhouse crop, but they've not flowered yet.

I don't sow the outdoor ones until start of May for a June planting out. I'm not sure that the risk of frost ever passes here...