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Some of my courgettes are going rotten at the flower end. Are they too wet? These are in pots this year  and look healthy enough, I have picked a couple of nice ones this week.

???

Sounds like they are not being pollinated. Do you have both male and female flowers open at the same time? Try hand pollinating with a soft paint brush or a Q-tip.

I have the same problem with a courgette rugosa friulana. It has at least 15 small fruit on it but not a single male flower for pollination. I'm removing these fruit at the rate of four or more each day - such a waste  :(.

Tricia

Any other Cucurbita of the right species would do it... it's a pepo IIRC ....

chrisc

Unfortunately, I'm only growing Parthenon and Cavili apart from the Rugosa Friulana - and they neither need nor seem to produce male flowers  ::).

Tricia

Quote from: tricia on July 06, 2010, 17:11:50
Unfortunately, I'm only growing Parthenon and Cavili apart from the Rugosa Friulana - and they neither need nor seem to produce male flowers  ::).

Tricia

Ahh...... I don't know if Rugosa is self-fertile either..... it'sd not a problem I've ever faced I'm afraid, I grow ton's of squash and courgettes, there's alwas male flowers around.....
chrisc

Quote from: tricia on July 06, 2010, 17:06:32
Sounds like they are not being pollinated. Do you have both male and female flowers open at the same time? Try hand pollinating with a soft paint brush or a Q-tip.

I have the same problem with a courgette rugosa friulana. It has at least 15 small fruit on it but not a single male flower for pollination. I'm removing these fruit at the rate of four or more each day - such a waste  :(.

Tricia

Oh. I see....thats strange, they are small fruit, about 4 to 5 inches long and just rotting at the end. Is this still down to non pollination? Its got a lot of male flowers.

I assume you are watering and feeding the pots well? The only other thing I can think of is that due to either rain or watering the wet flowers are rotting and causing the fruit to rot as well. Try removing the finished flowers to see if that helps. They are very hungry plants and will need frequent feeding and watering too.

Tricia

when you say you are watering them ,I have a pop bottle dug in to root depth  so that when I water.. the plant never gets wet and I water directly to the roots 

If the courgettes start to rot off at the end, I cut them off and use the good part of the fruit! They are still fine at the stalk end.

And I've planted my courgettes into little mounds this year as last year I had problems with the plants rotting off at the base. The water runs away from the plants down into the roots. The ones that are in the ground are in mounds with dips around them, rather like a moat! So the water gets caught in the moat rather than just running off!

Star, this is not uncommon in early summer,even with sufficient male flowers if the bees are not about  because its damp or overcast the squash can still go unpollinated so trying to do it by hand may help, however this problem is usually only at the start of the season and once summer is underway proper it seems to resolve itself.

If in fact the youngsquash have rotted after pollination,and they can.. it is usually due to damp.Tricia is right about that,after female flowers have opened for pollination about 6 hours tops you can safely remove that flower the next day, removing it can help prevent the fruit rotting. If it is damp when the spent flower breaks down it will  rot, this can continue down to the young fruit and cause them to rot too.If it warm and dry  the flower will dehydrate without being damp and the young fruit will be OK.

Trying ti keep the young squash of damp ground can help.

Rugosa (rough) fruila is the Italian name for what is usually called a summer crookneck summer squash, it is not self fertile.

You can get a few male flowers on parthenocarpic squash by the way, the plants just don't need them.

Once the summer gets underway both the above problems usually go away.

XX Jeannine