still no female flowers on courgettes

[Normans Mum]

Have waited and waited and STILL no female flowers on my courgettes. Masses of male ones though.....
Anyone else having this problem ?

[rustylady]

Are you feeding them? Too much fertiliser encourages the plants to grow lots of leaves and not fruit.

[Normans Mum]

No RL only put a small amount of chicken pellet manure in when I planted as had chard in there before (which bolted ) and have watered as normal. Very disappointing. I can't remember what type they are unfortunately... not a round type (ditondo) which I have also planted and which HAVE fruited.

[lottie dolly]

Blame the weather,its seems the same with various squashes,the males are really showing of,have had a very slow trickle of courgettes,but butternut have yet to start,i recone it's because the season is out of sink,my yellow patty pan have small ones aprox2in accross,give them time,i wonder if it would benefit the plant,to remove the males initialy,if it will give the females a better chance,come out experts please,

[Dorothy rouse]

I kinda of want to say ' typical' ! But don't want to offend anyone ( especially male grapes) so I'm not saying it!

Joking people!


DottyR

[Normans Mum]

Don't think that'll work LD... did initially remove all the male flowers thinking that this would give them a better chance. Hasn't made any difference at all. I have patty pans and marrows that have fruited without any problems. It might be where we are in the country and due to the weather as well, I guess.

[kathyd]

My green courgette is mostly male this year, but the yellow ones are doing really well so far - what are you growing Norman's Mum?

[lottie dolly]

Don't think that'll work LD... did initially remove all the male flowers thinking that this would give them a better chance. Hasn't made any difference at all. I have patty pans and marrows that have fruited without any problems. It might be where we are in the country and due to the weather as well, I guess.

thanks for that,will leave alone still,it has to be climate related,

[SlugLobber]

I'd love to say it's climate related in my case, but FIL's plants (dumped in his compost patch, about 30 ft away from my little plot) are going for it, male and female alike (oo er!). Mine have been abysmal, this year, but the ground is still rock solid, so I'm putting it down to my plot not being ideal, yet - it's clay soil, so still needs a lot of improvement.

[solway cropper]

At the risk of sounding like a smug ba**ard I have to say it's been my best year ever for courgettes/squashes. I only grow round courgettes now as they seem more reliable than the long ones for my growing conditions. Been picking fruit averaging 300-400g each for well over a month now but powdery mildew is making the plants look very sad indeed.

[peterofware]

I had about 2 courgettes this year rest male flowers why?

Hi,
I had the4 same problem, does nobody have any suggestions as to wwhy this is happening please?

[wizzbang]

I have had quite a lot of courgettes. The yellow are more prolific than the green but the green are much bigger. Some growing to the size of small marrows if I don't spot them in time. They are really tasty too. I have freezers full of them. Fortunately I love soup and courgette and lentil soup is one of my favourites. Cant wait for winter to eat them all up!!
Lynne x

[Bill HH]

It must be really frustrating to be only getting male flowers! It would seem you have an excess of testosterone in that particular area of soil. Try growing pansys on the patch overwinter and see if this corrects the problem.