Courgette plants - can I cut back?

[Ricardo]

Sorry everybody - I've been picking your brain very hard today, but this is the last question, I promise.
I still have some courgettes growing (slowly now), but the plants have grown very large and rambling, as they normally do. Can I cut back shoots at the lower end of the plant now they are unlikely to fruit from thos spots anymore. I'm thinking this will concentrate energy into the remaining fruit. Variety is Yellow (Parador) which has been fairly successful.

[Arthur Pounder]

My last and most boisterous courgette has plenty of trimmings to remove all the old mildewy leaves. It's still throwing up fruits with alarming regularity.



It looks a bit horror film-ish, but it adored the allotment and made the ones at home look positively weak.

[Florence Fennel]

Yes Ricardo, get trimming!

[taff]

I do like them when they look like that though, like huge pom poms

[Snadger]

Each time I harvest the courgettes I think " This will surely be the last of them for this year?"

Couple of days later I go round them all, gather another carrier bag of courgettes and think "Wrong again!"

[Two_Sheds]

Mine had been cut right back because of powdery mildew. I'd only left 2 plants in the ground, and today they've both thrown out another 3 fruits each

[Lotsaveg]

Mine all went in the compost bin last week after the mice decided to have a feast