Courgettes rotting

[Marb67]

Well, yet another failure bar 1 large fruit. Why are these rotting? It can't be blossom end rot as they are fed Tommorite and not over or under watered 😞

[ameno]

It's fruit abortion which causes this in courgettes, which is usually a result of inadequate pollination or water stress. It's almost never blossom end rot; blossom end rot is actually very rare in cucurbits.

[Peanut]

I had the same with one of my atena polka plants (yellow fruit), I am pretty sure it was down to lack of water.

Roll on next year!

[Marb67]

Ok, I'll water them a bit more and feed more often to get some more fruit. Thanks.

[ameno]

I'd recommend hand pollinating if you aren't already, also.

[Marb67]

It gets worse. Every one is now rotting at the end

[ameno]

Yeah, those very clearly haven't been pollinated.

When they've been properly pollinated they should be growing a quite noticeable amount each day. Growth ceasing shortly after the flower fades is a sure sign that they were never going to grow in the first place, as they haven't been pollinated properly.

[Nicos]

I wasn’t aware of that ameno - thanks for the tip, we’ve had ones do exactly that previously and I put it down to being too wet ( overwatered)
I guess this sort of thing will be happening more and more with the steady decline of insects available to pollinate

[Marb67]

And yet I see many bees and hoverflies in my garden. Oh well, thanks for the tip. I wasn't aware of that.

[ameno]

I guess this sort of thing will be happening more and more with the steady decline of insects available to pollinate

Nah, British bees are just really bad at pollinating squash and courgette flowers. I think it's a size thing. In their native range, there's a special bee which specialises in squashes.
My squash flowers are always visited by loads of honey bees, and they always take all the pollen within a couple of hours, but most of the time they fail to actually pollinate the female flowers.

They're really easy to hand pollinate, though. Just take a male flower which has opened that day and still has pollen on (you may need to get out there early), pick it, tear the petals off, then rub the pollen onto the stigma of the female flower.

[Nicos]

Thanks- will definitely give that a go next year!

[Penellype]

You can get parthenocarpic varieties of courgette that don't need pollinating. I grow Sure Thing, which produces green courgettes, Goldmine is a parthenocarpic yellow variety. You still get the odd fruit that doesn't develop, but they are noticeably more reliable than ordinary courgettes, especially in poor conditions.

[Nicos]

Thanks- worth knowing.Is the seed readily available Penellype ?

[Penellype]

Thanks- worth knowing.Is the seed readily available Penellype ?

I get Sure Thing from T&M. Goldmine seems to be available from Suttons.

[Nicos]

Brill…Will make a note of that- thanks.