Dont read this unless you're planning to reply.

[Gevalia]

Hello everyone. I have been worrying about my zucchinis in container. they, especially the one placed in the sunniest position in my garden are having so many flowers at young age ( just a month), males and females. but i never saw any of them bloom open, so i never had the chance to hand pollinate them.


What's probably the issue?

* is it because the container size isnt enough? Im using about 5 gallons, and note that the greens are very very lush, and at the same time the flowers are very abundant ( but no blooms).

*the ones placed in a location getting about 6 hours of direct sunlight are also abundant in flowers but not as much as the one placed in the sunniest position ( up to 14 hours of direct sunlight)

*i water twice each day, once in the morning and at the afternoon, since its very hot in here and i water them when the soil seems dry or not too moist.

* i fertilize them with 7-21-21 NPK once to twice a week and CAlcium nitrate ( 15 nitrogen 30 calcium) each week.

* i used potting mix.

*I live in the Philippines, a tropical country with lots of sunshine ( sometimes lots of rains) and I'm probably the only person here who grows zucchini.


Please give me some advise. Lets make this forum helpful to somebody like me, a beginner


thank you,''

gevalia

[DavidT]

Gevalia, I think the problems is the feeding. These are only young plants, which don`t need intensive feeding. You are forcing them a little too much. Watering is the important thing for now.

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by DavidT

Gevalia, I think the problems is the feeding. These are only young plants, which don`t need intensive feeding. You are forcing them a little too much. Watering is the important thing for now.

ill take a note of that and thank you for the advise

actually i was just concerned that they may not be getting the nutrients they need in those containers

[airconednightmare]

5 gl containers should be good, if you are using nutrient rich soil + additional feed over feeding could be the problem.

also, correct me if i'm wrong, but is it not autumn in your part of the world...deacreacing hours of light+drops in temp can cause early flowering

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by airconednightmare

5 gl containers should be good, if you are using nutrient rich soil + additional feed over feeding could be the problem.

also, correct me if i'm wrong, but is it not autumn in your part of the world...deacreacing hours of light+drops in temp can cause early flowering

i wish we have autumn, but we only have 2 season, summer and rainy season. its the time of the year when its sunny today, then rainy tomorrow (started last week). i started my zucchins in summer.


can i force open a ripe female flower then poliinate it with a force opened ripe male flower?

[Melinda]

I read your thread and decided to comply with your cheerful demand.


Ooh! The Philippines must be wonderful for gardening! Do you have a lush tropical garden?

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Gevalia, you are giving your plants too much nitrogen so stop feeding them as the nitrogen gives good leaf growth but stops the plant flowering and setting fruit. To hand pollinate the flowers let them turn yellow then cut off a male flower with the stem attached and carefully remove all the petals. Then I would very carefully remove a petal from the female flower and holding the stem of the male flower wipe the top of the stamen where the pollen is over the stigma in the female flower. You need to do this early in the day as the heat can ferment the pollen so that it is no longer viable.

Now that The Philippines is starting on the rainy season maybe you should try to make a cover for the zucchini plants to protect them from the rain because I know that you get really, really heavy rain!

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by Melinda

I read your thread and decided to comply with your cheerful demand.


Ooh! The Philippines must be wonderful for gardening! Do you have a lush tropical garden?

i only do container gardening on our rooftop but happy with my vegetables ( notsure about zucchini though)

@lesley:

can i do that even if the flowers dont bloom open but are ripe?

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by Gevalia

@lesley:

can i do that even if the flowers dont bloom open but are ripe?

Hi Gevalia, this is something that I have never tried but if the flowers are ripe and not green, then give it a go! You have got absolutely nothing to loose but hopefully you will gain some lovely zucchini's! I believe that things will improve once you stop feeding the plants and the excess nitrogen has gone out of the plants system.

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by Lesley Jay

Hi Gevalia, this is something that I have never tried but if the flowers are ripe and not green, then give it a go! You have got absolutely nothing to loose but hopefully you will gain some lovely zucchini's! I believe that things will improve once you stop feeding the plants and the excess nitrogen has gone out of the plants system.

Good news! (at least for me)


its always hard for me to pollinate flowers, for i go home 2pm weekdays..so when a flower blooms on a weekday ( which is like 70% of the time), i have to rely on my lazy brother to do it for me. i have lost countless bitter melon flowers, aubergine flowers but i dont really mind because i understand that a potted vegetable can only support few fruits.


But these courgettes are really the most difficult to pollinate. for one, they never really bloomed ( thats my biggest issue) and maybe they do but not on a weekend when i can hand pollinate them.


but what a pleasant surprise! today ( weekend) , amongst countless male flowers and dozen of female flowers ( of various sizes) were a medium sized female flower with an open flower, and 2 male flowers ( not yet open but are already ripe). i was so delighted i immediately transferred the huge pot inside our house to protect it from our harsh weather ( windy, rainy then sunny). it was drizzling so i made sure that the inside of the female flower was dry using a cotton bud, and then i carefully opened a male flower ( one of the 2) and hand pollinated the female. i resserved the other male flower for tomorrow ( if another female will bloom) and just in case the male flowers arent that ready yet at least i have another male flower left).



Im excited ..i will post the pics sooon..




PS>...


my 2 zucchini varieties ( the one from England, all green is the one that is very very huge and is having tooo much flowers....right now im thinking if I need to remove some of the female flowers to give more energy on the remaining ones....i also noticed that some of the female flowers get to grow to a good size even if they arent pollinated yet..is it ok to consume them if in case they really dont bloom open? the lenght is about 5.5 inches and i heard that courgettes are better when smaller, so im thinking maybe i dont need all of them to be pollinated before i consume them..is that ok?


im just hoping to at least get a decent sized courgette and then another one to save for seeds.


thank you,
gevalia

[airconednightmare]

IIRC zucchinis/courgettes normally like to flower in the 'dry heat of summer' rather than a trpical rainy season....the bees won't be out+the flowers are likley to rot?

you could always try planting more in a month or 2 so they are ready next summer

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by airconednightmare

IIRC zucchinis/courgettes normally like to flower in the 'dry heat of summer' rather than a trpical rainy season....the bees won't be out+the flowers are likley to rot?

you could always try planting more in a month or 2 so they are ready next summer

i really do hope i started zucchinis earlier this year...btw, i still have 2 seeds from the 4 that Shetty sent me. i can still plant them after the rainy season, that will be by October ( it will be sunny but not as sunny as it is in summer). temperature would still be warm)....but i have this thinking that zucchinis really like the very very hot summers of our country..imagine when it was summer my zucchinis flowered and became huge in less than a month!)


by the way, im so happy with all of the advises im getting here

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Gevalia, that is good news about the flower opening - fingers crossed that you get a zucchini!! I wouldn't remove any female flowers, just enjoy eating the zucchini's. If you want to grow one large to save the seeds you must do this at the end of the growing season because allowing the zucchini's to grow big actually stops the plant producing female flowers and new zucchini's. Even after the rainy season it is still very hot in The Philippines so you should be able to grow your veggies all year round!

[Gevalia]

thank you Lesley jay!


today i hand pollinated 2 more zucchinis. they were actually bigger than th eones that had an open flower but im having the same old issue with them, the floers wont open and im sure they shouldve opened at this time because if i give them more time the flowers will just fall without opening at all.


the flowers were already ripe so i just forced to open them and did the pollination.

[stupo74]

Just thought i would do what it said on the tin
"Thanks" for letting me read
cheers stupo

[Nicki85]

How do I know if I am able to write a response if I am not allowed to read your post in the first place?
That's just silly


But anyhow I have nothing useful to add apart from this. Apologies for reading your post.
(I guess if I hadn't of read it then I wouldn't of needed to comment, on the otherhand I may have been able to provide some useful advice if it was a topic I was knowledgeable about!)

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Nicki, Gevalia lives in The Philippines and wanted to grow courgettes / zucchini's as they are not readily available there and home gardeners don't seem to grow them. First was the problem of getting hold of seeds and one of our members sent some out there. Next is the pollination problem..............

Here is one of the first threads so that you will know what has happened:-

how to successfully introduce new vegetables in your country?

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by Nicki85

How do I know if I am able to write a response if I am not allowed to read your post in the first place?
That's just silly


But anyhow I have nothing useful to add apart from this. Apologies for reading your post.
(I guess if I hadn't of read it then I wouldn't of needed to comment, on the otherhand I may have been able to provide some useful advice if it was a topic I was knowledgeable about!)

oh im so sorry that you felt that way, i didnt mean to start a misunderstanding here.my only purpose for having that kind of thread title is to catch readers' attention, and it worked didnt it?

i am not a native english speaker,pls pardon me, so maybe i am not expressing my thought well enough. but when i said " dont read this thread unless youre PLANNING to reply " i was trying to say that one must have the INTENTION to reply, at least the intention,before reading but that doesnt mean that one is obligated to reply just because he read the thread...as per stats, not everyone who read the thread replied, so i hope they understood what i meant....


i dont mean to sound sarcastic with my explanation, but im not very good in words. let me use this icon instead that might connect us better

[Gevalia]

Originally Posted by Lesley Jay

Hi Nicki, Gevalia lives in The Philippines and wanted to grow courgettes / zucchini's as they are not readily available there and home gardeners don't seem to grow them. First was the problem of getting hold of seeds and one of our members sent some out there. Next is the pollination problem..............

Here is one of the first threads so that you will know what has happened:-

how to successfully introduce new vegetables in your country?

thank you soo much lesley jay! youre a very nice person, i see that in your every post


btw, my courgette isnt doing good now....the one i pollinated still wrinkled after few days, maybe bacause i used a male flower which was forced open. or maybe because the sun isnt shining that much lately ( its already rainy season here) or maybe both....i think i must get an open male and female flower before doing hand pollination and i must do it when the flowers are dry ( they were moist when i did it)...i still have the plants and they are still bearing soo much fruits i was like "if only they all grow bigger!"


i will try growing courgettes later this year after rainy season, im not giving up on them

thank you everyone!

[Nicki85]

Lol, fair enough

Hope your courgettes produce some more fruit for you! Mine are still growing.... At least it should be warm all year round so you can try again later.