Grow Your Own Magazine

My courgette plants are huge. A couple have fallen over and I thought that I would stake them, they seem to be sending out tendrils to climb though. I don't want to encourage more height!!! They are over 2' high so far.
Any ideas?

__________________
Tx

tendrils? Courgettes don't usually have these, do they? Have you got a cucumber?

Nope they are certainly courgettes!
They are producing courguettes and smell nothing like the cucumber plants.....

__________________
Tx

hmm, interesting . . maybe you have some sort of climbing variety- both my normal and 'gold rush' courgettes just sprawl out from the middle. Perhaps give one some stakes & string and see if it feels inclined to climb? Or some sort of horizontal frame might make it head sideways rather than up?

Mine sprawl too.

Mine start from a central stalk and then split into lots of upright branches, some with leaves on and the others with courgettes/flowers on. Everything comes from the centre though. A horizontal frame sounds like a good plan though, perhaps a stake 18" high at each corner of the bed (3'x9') and horizontal pieces all around to support?
I did rather think that my courgettes were "normal" but clearly not!!!

__________________
Tx

What variety are they?

There are a few - but only a few - crawling/ climbing courgettes. One that is readily available is Black Forest.

Bush types can extend significantly along the ground but everything forms off the main stalk.

am I doing right nipping the flowers off the courgettes and the male flowers too?

Charles

When are you doing the nipping? Once they are ready to harvest or before?

__________________
Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

Doing now as they are small courgettes, not yet big enough to to pick but they are growing and will soon be ready I hope

Courgettes have a lot of top growth on a relatively spindly little stalk, and they do suffer from wind rock.

You need to stuff the gap between the top growth and the ground, with something like straw. This will stop the plant wobbling around and snapping.

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Thank you - that sounds like a really useful tip!

__________________
Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

Now, see, that would be tricky as the courgettes are growing between the ground and the top growth!!!

__________________
Tx