Pruning Courgettes, Marrows and Cucumbers

[Ringo Grumio Nibbler]

Any advice on how to nip buds and which ones to prune off as these plants begin to establish themselves?

[SarzWix]

I've moved your thread onto Vegging Out, where other members are able to see it and respond

[Alison]

I'm not sure I really know what you mean by pruning in relation to those plants - they shouldn't really need any attention at the moment apart from being kept frost free. I never cut anything off a courgette plant apart from actual courgettes or diseased leaves (and that tends to be later in the season than this) and I usually let marrows do as much as they want also. The only reason I cut them back is later in the season to stop them trying to produce more fruit which won't get big enough to be of any use and so that they put all their efforts into the ones they have. Likewise with cucumbers, just let them scramble over an arch in the polytunnel last year, tying in occaisionally and never pruning / pinching etc. If you have certain types of cucmber then you'll need to pinch out the male flowers but check your type first as it's not all of them and you don't want to get it wrong. Does that make any sense or was your question something entirely different?

[Jelliebabe]

Yes - Dont! They can all pretty much be left to their own devices!

[Flummery]

I've never nipped or pruned any member of this family. All the bits and bobs are needed for fruiting.

[pipscariad]

What they said ^^^^^

There you go, you instantly have one less gardening job to think about!

[Maccabee]

Last year i gave a friend a courgette plant i didn't have the space for. Summer came and she kept asking me why she was getting no courgettes when i was getting 1 every day or so. Soon found out she'd been taking all the flowers off lol. Leave them and let them get on with it