Female courgette flowers not maturing

[PurpleyPineapple]

Hi all,

I'm a courgette growing newbie and am struggling. I'm growing two Gold Rush courgette plants in large pots. (I have no choice as I have a patio garden). They are both in brand new organic compost, in a spot that gets about 7 hours of direct morning Sun per day. The leaves are about 8 inches across and the plant seems to be doing well.

They have been producing both male and female flowers for the last 3 weeks. The male flowers are maturing and opening but the female flowers are just staying the same size and staying green. I've been checking each day and keeping the plants well watered to avoid stress and powdery mildew but the female flowers simply will not mature. They haven't dropped off either so I don't think it's blossom drop, but male flowers that have grown after the females have overtaken the females, matured, flowered and wilted in the time that the females have been just sitting there staying the same size.

The female flower itself is about 1 cm big and the fruit behind it is about an inch big. So nowhere near big enough for me to peel open and hand pollinate. I'm not sure what to do. I've googled and found lots of articles about either a total lack of female flowers or blossom drop, but nothing like this where the female flowers have appeared but just seem to have stopped growing, frozen at the same size for weeks on end without either maturing and opening or dropping off. Any ideas? Any advice would be appreciated. It's already mid July and I haven't had a single courgette off them yet. Sad times.

[Snoop Puss]

When courgette plants first start flowering, it's quite common to get a flush of male flowers opening before the females. Maybe you just have to wait a bit longer. The female flowers will eventually open. You just have to keep the faith.

Other questions.
You say they are in large pots. How large are they? And are you giving the plants any feed at the moment? Compost usually contains some nourishment, but it's only good for a couple of months or so and then you have to start feeding plants. This is especially true of courgette plants, as they are quite large.

[PurpleyPineapple]

Thanks Snoop Puss.

I will keep holding out hope. The pots are 50cm across round pots, which are about as deep as they are wide with lots of drainage holes. The compost has some perlite and vermiculute mixed into it. I've been giving them a feed of dilluted worm tea and seaweed tonic every other week for the last month. I also gave them a handful of fish, blood and bonemeal in the compost when I planted them into their big pots. They have nice green leaves and otherwise look healthy and happy.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

[Penellype]

Welcome to the vine PurpleyPineapple.

I agree with Snoop Puss, you just have to be patient with courgettes. Mine are much the same at the moment, with male flowers opening daily and the little females just sitting there waiting. They will come when they are ready.

[carly]

I am glad you posted this. I had 2 heads that never opened and fell off then a female grew and opened but there was no male to cross pollinate? So that closed and fell off and now I have 6-7 small heads so hoping they all grow at same rate and get there this time.

[PurpleyPineapple]

Thanks Penellype.

It's encouraging to know I'm not alone. It's so frustrating to see the male flowers blooming each day and the females stuck in stasis. Knowing my luck by the time the females go to bloom, I'll have no male flowers left haha!

I'm just being impatient. All of the home gardeners I follow on social media seem to be getting fruit from theirs already and mine are being lazy. I will keep the faith and hope that they come good eventually. Maybe I'll treat myself to a couple of stuffed flowers in the meantime!

[Andy.Veg]

i'm a newbie to courgettes this year too.

went through exactly the same process.

and now ... i have courgettes. too many actually.

spend more time worrying what you're going to do with all the courgettes.

[Penellype]

i'm a newbie to courgettes this year too.

went through exactly the same process.

and now ... i have courgettes. too many actually.

spend more time worrying what you're going to do with all the courgettes.

They make an excellent base for blended soups, which freeze well (unlike sliced courgettes which completely lose their texture). I use onion, courgette and chicken stock as a basic recipe and add any combination you fancy of tomato, herbs, peppers, carrots, leeks, kohlrabi, florence fennel, spinach, runner bean... or just plain courgette.

Just soften the onion, add the chopped veg and stock, season to taste and cook until everything is soft (usually about 10 minutes). Whizz up in a blender and that's it.

My favourite combinations are courgette and carrot, courgette and tomato and courgette, tomato and peppers.

[Andy.Veg]

some good suggestions there AMPenellype. thanks.

i heard courgette cake is supposed to be very good too.