A courgette disaster

[Helen Nilsson]

I planted 2 courgette plants of the variety defender F1. They were in semi shade under a horse chestnut tree and in a fertile soil. I laid black sheeting on the soil to prevent weed growth but it allowed water to the roots. Both plants came up, but one was attacked by slugs (I think), the other produced 2 courgette before also being attacked by slugs. They then recovered only to start drooping and looking very miserable. One plant has in fact died now and the other, despite there being flowers on it, is also looking sad. What can be wrong?

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Helen, it might still be a slug problem, i have lost a couple of large courgette plants where slugs have eaten round the main stem causing the plants to collapse.
Sounds as if yours could be the same problem, the slugs are probably lurking under the black sheeting.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

[Deb P]

Last year I lost several whole courgette plants to snails, the blighters chewed the main stalk right through!
This year I used plastic bottles to protect the main stems and left them on, seemed to do the trick!

[Johnboy]

Hi Deb,
Does this mean you get bottled Courgettes?
More seriously though what a good idea! I must confess to the use of Slug Pellets but certainly your idea is something that I will adopt for Courgettes in the future. Of course that bottle also gives protection from the weather when the plants are at their most tender stage. Thinking as I am typing it is a really super idea. What gets me is that is has been staring us all in the face all the years we have argued about the use of pellets and it takes one genius to sort it all out in a flash.
I'm full of admiration Deb!
JB.

[Helen Nilsson]

what a good idea, I will try that next year!
I tried slug pellets, but they did not seem to help, so this method is worth a shot
Thanks!

[Carole B.]

If they were under the shade of a vigorous tree then it's possible they got hungry and/or dry no matter how well you fed the bed to start with.

[Helen Nilsson]

they only really started drooping when the rains came in August, tehy had been fine all through the drought, as they were watered regularly - I have thought about the tree element - does anyone have any experience of whether courgettes prefer full sun or shade?

[Primrose]

Used to have bad slug problems with young courgette seedlings until I resorted to cutting the bottoms off 5 litre square mineral water bottles and using them as freebie individual cloches, which I anchor tightly over the soil by pushing a stick through the open bottle neck. This protects the seedlings from snails & slugs, enables me to plant the seedlings out sooner than I would otherwise do and helps them flower earlier. I also use these cloches for protecting my young tomatoes when I can plant them out almost a month earlier than I would normally do, simply pushing the bottle over the top of the thin green plastic coated canes I use to support them.

Last year I ran short of these "freebie cloches" and went foraging down my local plastic recycling bin. Found several beauties in a nearly empty bin, but in stretching over to retrieve them I fell in headfirst ! Had to wait helplessly until the next visitor came along and helped me climb out. Since I was dressed in my scruffy gardening clothes and dirty wellies, I think he thought I was the local "bag lady" who actually lived in it!!

[oldherbaceous]

My dear Primrose, next time i'm in Buckinghamshire i'll keep my eyes open for you climbing out of skips.
What a lovely story.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous .

Theres no fool like an old fool.

[Weed]

I'd have paid to see that