Topic: Yellow courgettes

[Paulines7]

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my courgettes please?  They are supposed to be yellow but are mottled with green and look as though they are covered in blisters or bubbles.  I haven't worked out how to get a photo on here yet unfortunately. :'(

[wardy]

What variety are they?  They maybe are meant to look that way  :)

[Paulines7]

They are Thompson and Morgan Jemmer F1 Hybrid.  I have 2 bushes of this variety and during the first few weeks of fruiting, the crops were perfect.  Suddenly they started producing these deformed and dual coloured courgettes.  About 30 feet away, I have my main crops of courgettes and they consist of the green globe type as well as some light green long courgettes.  These are not showing signs of disease.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Any chance of a pic?

[wardy]

I've ordered Jemmer for 2006 so I'm interested in the answer to this one  :)

[Paulines7]

I have a really good picture of the courgettes but don't know how to get it onto this forum.  Can anyone help me please?  I am not very au fait with computers. 

[undercarriage plan]

Hey Pauline, think if you go to main site and scroll down to computer bit, there's advice on there, if still no help, PM me and I'll attempt (and I mean attempt....!) to help! Best of luck. Lottie  ;D

[john_miller]

What does the foliage look like? The greening of the fruit may be a genetic reversion but I can't imagine what would cause all the symptoms except a viral infection.

[Paulines7]

I still cannot get the picture of the courgettes on this forum but this may be because I am a "Newbie".  I have sent an attachment with a photo of these courgettes to Undercarriage plan and hope that she will be able to put it on for me. 

Regarding the foliage, some of the leaves are also mottled yellow and green.  They also have mildew but then all my courgette plants seem to suffer from that especially when they are coming to the end of the season.  What is strange though is that the courgettes have reverted to being yellow again and there is no sign of any bubbling on these new ones.  It's all a mystery to me.  I still have some seeds left so will try them again next year in a different situation.

[Paulines7]

Unfortunately, the e-mail I sent to "Undercarriage plan" with the photo attachment, has been returned.  I will just have to give up on this one.

[john_miller]

The yellow mottling of the foliage is typical and due to the gene that is turning the fruit yellow-a 'precocious' gene. If the other symptoms have disappeared then the cause could have been phenological- did you have a period of cool nights or very hot days just prior to these symptoms appearing?

[Jill]

P's poorly courgettes to give a better idea of the problem:

[Paulines7]

Thank you Jill for putting the photo on the forum for me. 

Thanks also to John for his suggestions about the cold or hot spells.  The weather could well have caused the problem.  We have  had some exceptionally hot weather at times this year and when we came back from our holidays at the end of June, I moved the sprinkler away from these courgettes as I needed it elsewhere for my lettuces.  They didn't get watered after that except when it rained.  Maybe it was water saturation followed by dry, hot days that caused the abnormalities.  We haven't had any cold nights in this part of the world until this past week, in fact nights have been very muggy.  It has changed now though and we have had frosts for the past two nights!  I live on the edge of Salisbury Plain, England. 

[Mrs Ava]

Wierd!  Almost looks like some sort of mutation!  I have never seen anything like that on courgettes before!  Anyone?