Courgettes Flowering

[CADS]

Hi

This is my 1st time growing courgettes so I was very excited this morning to find my first female flower had opened. However, half way through the day the flower seemed to go all floppy and closed up. Does this normally happen? None of the male flowers have open yet.

Thanks
CADS

[joey]

Its my first time too, but the flowers have not opened yet.

[BarleySugar]

The flowers don't last long, but unless yours is a special variety that doesn't need pollination, I'm afraid without the male there will be no courgette. I got some from TM this year that are supposed to not need pollinating, it will be interesting to see how they do.

[CADS]

I'm not sure what type I got. Bought them from the garden centre and they were just labelled as courgettes. There are both male and female flower buds, though.

Good luck, joey. Hope our 1st time with courgettes is a success.

[rustylady]

Takes a little while for the plants to get into production. Early in the season you tend to get either male or female flowers, and obviously they're not much good on their own. This is another reason to grow more than one plant. Don't worry, they'll probably get going soon.

[BarleySugar]

It won't be long before they get their act together, and both open at the same time! If there doesn't seem to be many bees around, you can hand pollinate using a paint brush, or picking the male flower and brushing the pollen across onto the female. Make sure the pollen on the male looks fluffy before you pick the flower though, otherwise it won't be 'ripe'. At least with a brush, if you don't get any pollen to transfer, there's another chance later The only problem is, if you are out at work, you might miss the best time.
With last year being so wet, I didn't get very good pollination, which is why I decide to try the new variety. I can't remember it's name atm.

[CADS]

Yipeee.

Hand pollinated my first female flower this morning. Still don't have male and female flowers opening on the same plant and they are all in a walk in greenhouse so decided to help things along.

So excited. Woke up to two male and one female open flowers this morning. Lost all my courgettes plants last year because the wind blew the greenhouse around the garden.

My husband thinks I have finally lost the plot.

[BarleySugar]

Fingers crossed for a baby then, it's like IVF for veg! (Only just thought of that one ) Sad news about on of my plants, the wind picked up so suddenly last night, that it snapped off one of mine at ground level. I put the rest back in the greenhouse as they are in pots. The leaves are a bit battered on them, but hopefully just a minor setback. They aren't anywhere near flowering yet. although you can see the buds in the leaf axils.

[womble]

One of mine got a bit big inside and I think got moved around too much, the stem has really badly split, I mean really badly, its open right from under the soil to at least two inches up! I planted it out anyway and it seems to be surviving, but I think I might need to sow another seed.

[momol]

The courgette that don't need pollination is a pathernocarpic type (if I am spelling it correctly).

Womble, 2 of my courgette plants from this year also has splitted stem (from the ground up words) and last year too but they seems to be doing fine .

[norazina]

Yipeee.

Hand pollinated my first female flower this morning. Still don't have male and female flowers opening on the same plant and they are all in a walk in greenhouse so decided to help things along.

So excited. Woke up to two male and one female open flowers this morning. Lost all my courgettes plants last year because the wind blew the greenhouse around the garden.

My husband thinks I have finally lost the plot.

Hi CADS,

I remember reading on the Vine recently about storing male pollen on the brush in the plastic bag, may be worth a try?

[goldmother]

I've never had to pollinate courgettes - usually I just leave them too it and end up with more courgettes than we could possibly eat. I've even started making cakes and muffins with them to try to avoid them ending on the compost heap.

Is it a common problem or is it variety specific? I'd be devastated to end up with no courgettes!!

[CADS]

Thanks norazina. I was just going to come on here and ask how I could prolong male flowers to give female flowers a chance to open. We have only had 2 courgettes from 4 plants so far and only seem to be getting lots of open male flowers. I have 3 open this morning and no sign of the female counterparts opening for at least 4 days.

I am going to give your method a try but how long can I keep the pollen for ?

My son is loving courgettes this year and has eaten the 2 we have had so far, does share with the rest of us.

CADS

[gojiberry]

Try not to be to impatient with your courgettes. It is still early in the season to expect courgettes to be in full swing. I thought I'd sown mine early , but as yet I have not even had a flower open. Hi Cads are yours in the open or under cover, what sort are they.

Ian

[CADS]

Hi gojiberry

Not sure what type they are. Brought them from the garden centre and they were just labelled as courgette. They are in a walk in plastic greenhouse so not much insect pollination going on.

CADS