Flower to Fruit - Courgettes, How Long?

[newbielou]

Hi I apologise if this has already been covered, I did a quick search but couldn't find it, I went out this morning to check my veg patch and both my courgette plants now have flowers , My question is do I have to help it along to produce fruit, if so how, feeding it, wiggle a paintbrush around, any other ideas? and also how long does it take from flower until i first get to harvest fruit?

Sorry for the long winded, rambling question, and thank you for your help.

[zazen999]

If your courgette has flowers, and there are fruit behind them, then they just have to grow. If they haven't got fruit behind then they are the males [which often happens with courgettes].

You don't have to do anything. I sometimes nip out the first few fruits of a courgette to encourage it to produce more, and the first few often rot away before being big enough to eat. I end up with about 10 baby courgettes, about 2 inches long, which form my first home grown courgette stir fry of the year with them.

Once they get going, they can produce from flower to fruit in a few days.....sometimes if it is hot enough you will have a new courgette forming from one day to the next [at optimum conditions]...and being ready a day after you first see it.

It just takes a while for them to get going....

[newbielou]

Thank you so much for your help, i just went out for a closer look and my outdoor plant has a tiny 1.5 cm courgette behind it, the others just look like stem but I may be mistaken. I think i'll plant my greenhouse courgette out today, if I manage to get the bed edged. Thanks again, fingers crossed for bbq'd courgettes before long.

[taskey]

i opened the greehouse this morning and my courgettes had huge open flowers on - i put them outside and now all the flowers have closed and 1 fell off in my hand when i looked at it.

Is this normal? i would have thought the flowers would stay open in the sun (although it is a bit windy here)

Tracy

[vikkib]

Mine seem to open and close very quickly too.

Not sure if it's normal; I'm sure a more experienced viner will be along soon!

Has to be said I am starting to get some proper fruits on mine though - and they are only in builder's buckets as the veg bed has been somewhat delayed!

[taskey]

mine are in pots, but not quite buckets as my veg patch too has been delayed

Tracy

[vikkib]

mine are in pots, but not quite buckets as my veg patch too has been delayed

Tracy

Mine are in these!

Wickes *–*Gardens & Landscaping*–*Bins & Butts*–*Tubs, Bins & Composters*–*Plastic Bucket

A lot cheaper than the equivalent size 'proper' pots!