Rachel's Journal

I'm no expert, Rachel, but I have grown courgettes a few times. And I have NEVER removed any spent flowers. Didn't know I was supposed to. It does sound like maybe too much water. Cut down on it a bit and see if it improves any way.Mine are doing great again this year.

could be not polinated. pick male flowers, strip off petals, use large anther with pollen on to pollinate female. one male flower will polinate several female (similar to human!!.) do not remove any other flowers especially female. these courgettes can be picked very young with flower still attached and cooked in entirety. Pick often when small to continue production. Hope this helps.

sorry me again, its almost impossible to overwater courgettes unless drainage is bad. they require copious amounts to swell fruit.

Thanks, Rita. Didn't get round to the hand pollinating last time you mentioned it. Will give it a try now. I think maybe watering in the evening and from above may be a problem too so will try to stop this.

I'm not an expert either but I think its watering from above.

had the same problem last year. It was my first time to grow them, so it was trial and error. I think i was over watering them. I grew them in growbags and I think the bottom of the bag was retaining water while the top peat was dry. When I cut down on watering the quality improved.

Am trying all solutions. Manually pollinated where ever there is a healthy female flower, stopped watering from above and in the evening. Also trying pinching out withered female flowers before they cause rot. Thanks for all the suggestions.