Help, courgette flowers shrivelling

[Mushy Pea]

Can anyone help please  ???

We had two healthy looking flowers on our courgettes but one has dropped off and the other has shrivelled.  We thought that the flowers remained on the end of the courgette hence people could have them as tempura, thus giving a double crop, one the flowers and two the fruit.

What have we done to them??

[Mushy Pea]

[OllieC]

Were these the first couple of flowers by any chance? They normally chuck out a few boys flowers first... and you know about pollination for the girlies, don't you?

[Mushy Pea]

Hi OllieC,

It could be as you say the boys. They are the first flowers on the plants. As for the girlies do we leave it to the bees or use a rabbits paw (blusher brush   :D ) to tickle them?

[trinity]

 I would like to know to if they need a good tickle :o
as it is the first time i have grew them

[betula]

I have never tickled mine but it sounds like fun ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

They get pollinated quite happily if you'vde got them outdoors.

[tim]

You mean you actually have Courgettes on your plants, Mushy?

Ours have only just gone in!

[Mushy Pea]

Thanks for all the replies.  We may not tickle them in that case :-\ 

Tim - we put ours in a fortnight ago in the hot weather.  We have lots of things in, too excited to wait.  We may pay for it later though.  NO VEGGIES.   No courgettes yet only shrivelled flowers.  They look really healthy though.  We thought perhaps we had put them in too early and it was now too cold.

It could still be that the shrivelled ones are boys.......

[shirlton]

Ours aren't even in the ground yet. Lost so much tender stuff last year that we decided to hang back this year. The parsnips still beat me tho and had to sow again

[tim]

So they were the 'boy' flowers, Mushy?

And, since there was nothing for them to do,  they went off.

[Tee Gee]

The shrivelling could also mean they have aborted due to cool night time temperatures.

You might want to look at this slide show on hand pollination. http://tinyurl.com/6xw85l


Admittedly the subject is Pumpkins but it is the same principle with all the curcubrits, the only difference is the shape of the embryo fruit behind the flower. 

In the case of cucumbers & courgettes the enbryo is elongated.

But as a general rule most of them are generally pollinated with insects

[Kea]

I'm with Tee Gee I think it's still potentially too cold and that would cause the flowers to abort. Also agree with the comment that male flowers appear first not sure if they flower for a shorter period but they certainly won't develop a fruit.

[Mushy Pea]

I think I might put some fleece on them to keep them a little warmer, just in case it is the cold.  Checked last night and we have another flower coming on another plant.  The leaves still look healthy though.

Thanks for the info.

[cockadoodledoo]

I thought the male flowers only lasted for a few days anyway, and if there are no female flowers on their way then they have probably just come out a bit early and are no use to fruit anyway so wouldnt worry about it........mine have some male buds, not opening yet and tiny startings of the female ones (I can only tell as they are yellow)........did do them a bit early.  Not protected but have sown backups just incase of frost........

[Suzanne]

The female flowers develop with what looks like a mini fruit at their base so easy to tell about from the male flowers. I have to say if there is no sign of female flowers and I have a few male ones I harvest these for stuffed courgette flowers - after all they aren't doing anything if there are no female ones around - may as well put them to good use.

My courgettes are still in pots in the cold frame along with the toms and the pumpkins. Last frost date in our area last year last couple of days in May, previous year 3 June.  :o So not taking any chances just yet.

[colleenemp]

Mine are three leaves big on a window sill.....but half my squash are out.

[Mushy Pea]

Just a quick update on our "corgies". We had our first crop of four on Saturday.

We have three plants in our Bean frame bed.

[springbok]

This is my first attempt at planting them.  When will they be ready to pick?

[Robert_Brenchley]

When they're the size you want. They grow fast.

[manicscousers]

don't let them go too far, you will end up with marrows  ;D