Anything I should know about Courgettes?

[GMB27]

Hi guys, im trying courgettes for the first time this year. Iv ehad them in a while now and they look nice and healthy, some have began to flower, but apart from seeming to attract ants, can anybody tell me if theres anything I need to know about bringing them on for a good harvest this year?

[vegetable-gardener]

Courgettes are pretty easy. I just tend to leave them to themselves and they are pretty hardy. If you get courgettes that don't form properly or are rotting just cut these off and others will form. They can get powdery mildew but that does depend on the weather - if its really wet they don't like it and could get it.

[GMB27]

Ah ive noticed a sort of white powdery mottling effect on some of the leaves. It isnt too much and isnt too severe so I'll ease off the watering then. Thanks for pointing that out. apart from that they seem pretty easy veg to grow then! bonus. Cheers!

[mark3]

Something to know about courgettes?... theres always sneaky ones that you dont see until theyre great big...nuisances!

[The Valegrower]

I think I may have a glut on my hands soon! One thing is for sure is that they seem to appear from everywhere all of a sudden

[airconednightmare]

yep you wait for ages then before you know whats happened you have them growing out your ears.

cutting off the fruit just makes the plant produce more but leaving them to fully develop kills the plant (it thinks, i've produced seed, my job is done, good bye)

[GMB27]

Ok so how big should allow them to grow before i harvest them? Also do i just snip them off or is there a particular way to do it?

[GMB27]

I forgot the mention, i have a dreaded mildewy thing on some of the leaves, somebody mentioned this might happen :-(

[Nicola_D]

One thing I noticed about courgettes is that you can get lots of flowers but the fruit doesn't grow and just drops off. This is because the flowers didn't get pollunated when they were open. You get male and female flowers on courgettes. The male ones just have thin stems behind the flower the female ones have a tiny courgette behind the flower. If the female flower gets pollinated (some of the pollen from a male flower gets deposited in the female flower) then the courgette will grow. Pollination usually happens by bees and flying insects who visit the flowers and transfer the pollen, but I was having no luck last year and had to pollinate myself by picking the male flowers when they were open and putting them inside the female flowers and moving them around to transfer the pollen. Good luck

[GMB27]

Great idea Nicola, similar to aggitating tomato plants to get the same effect. Does anybody know about the mildew problem? Should I be concerned? In fact, i'll start a new thread incase anybody else wants the answer too. Thanks all!