Courgettes going downhill

[Alison]

I'd agree VC, I don't do SFG but looking at my plants there is no way that they'd fit in that space and they're still growing. I tend to allow about double that width which will give them four times the space if you know what I mean. Mine were doing great but I couldn't get to the plot for 9 days and I know have about half a dozen marrows which means the plants won't produce anything for a bit

[Marb67]

I am growing things I like - courgettes. Have done ok with them in the past so no idea why so bad. Anyway, have cut off the leaves and hope for best. Feed well with comfrey should make up for limited space but the square foot rule allows 1 plant per sqare.

[Martin H]

Marb, I don't do sfg but the guides I have seen suggest either 2 or 4 squares per courgette plant.

The more space they spread out in, the more sunlight they capture. Sunlight is needed for the plant to turn feed into plant material. No amount of feeding makes up for shortage of light, it just encourages weak growth and disease.

Basically I think you tend to grow stuff too close together and everything suffers from lack of light and air. This season will be worse than many because we have had some long periods of dull weather.

[Alison]

I am growing things I like - courgettes. Have done ok with them in the past so no idea why so bad. Anyway, have cut off the leaves and hope for best. Feed well with comfrey should make up for limited space but the square foot rule allows 1 plant per sqare.

Surely cutting leaves off will reduce the plants chance to feed itself?!? I've also googled and all the hits I got suggested more than one square for each plant so I'd agree with the comments above re spacing / light / feed. I find that you can push savings but if you make them too tight you get less from more plants.

[Penellype]

An idea of how terrible this year has been for courgettes:

July 2015:


August 2016 - same variety of courgette, same position:



Early August 2015:



August 2016 - same variety in a similar sized pot:



August 2016 - some more of my courgette plants, covered in mildew:



These are in the cold frame (without its top) where courgettes normally do well as the glass sides keep the wind off.

[Marb67]

I have had them do well in containers in the past so will continue that next year. I have to cut off the leaves because what on earth do shriveled, greying leaves add to the growth of a plant ? On the contrary, they will draw energy away from it.

[Alison]

Ah, misunderstood, thought you were cutting off green leaves in a desperate attempt to keep it small enough for a square foot. Somebody else was saying they did that the other day and I think it's counter productive. If it's only dead leaves then it makes more sense.

Interesting you've found them good in pots, I've done that in the past but found it hard to keep up with watering and feeding in a constrained volume of compost in the pot and found the produce only a third to half of that I get in open ground.

[Jimmy]

I always grow the gold ones. They are less mushy than the green. Sometimes get mildew.
But I usually sow a succession of plants so as one set expires the others are coming on line.
Jimmy

[Jonnyt]

I've had lots of Courgettes grown in 35L bags. The trick is the variety, I use Parthenon as that way you aren't relying on mother nature's insects to pollinate. Must have had 20 plus per plant since May. They are fantastically reliable unlike other varieties.

The original plants have now run out of steam and do have Mildew so will be pulled up in the next week. The replacements are just flowering now. It's always been very hit and mostly miss with varieties like defender etc for me.

[ESBkevin]

I have 3 courgette plants, in the open with plenty of space (3 ft between and 4 ft to the runner beans one side and nothing the other) Planted through cardboard/rotted wood chip mulch and watered into sunken plastic bottles + fed tomato feed weekly.
The end two are producing too many and the middle one looks brown and has only produced one small fruit. The centre growth on the middle plant is looking greener again now but they are all of the same seed/type so I'm a bit stumped. I'm not worried because I have plenty but am intreaged to know what it might be.

[Marb67]

Why oh why oh why am I still continuing to get healthy looking courgettes, off the ground, dry as a bone, no slug or pest damage and with flower fallen off and YET the ends go soggy and mushy 😡

[Bren In Pots]

Marb I've been looking on google because I've had the same problem I came up with blossom end rot and ways to fix it is to add calcium from something like egg shells and to not let the plants stand in too wet ground. Hope this helps.

[Marb67]

Thanks. The ground is dry so no way it can be rot.

[vixylix]

Courgettes don't work for me either Marb! I had seven plants last year and had about 15 fruit. This year I have four plants and have had three courgettes!

[Lumpy]

Nor me Marb - 3 plants all got eaten as soon as they went outside. I am not going to bother with them next year as my space is so limited.