Kitchen Garden Forum

Having not grown courgettes before, I have now planted them out in raised beds, they don't look too great, the centre stem of the plant has fresh growth on it but the bigger outer leaves are looking yellow and wilted, they are in a raised bed with a lot of very well rotted compost and soil. Is this normal, I am watering them well......?

Transplant shock probably.
Provided there is fresh and active growth, then don't worry.

compo mine are the same
not planted out yet tho

I have made a new raised bed exactly the same as you, planted two courgettes out last week (left the rest inside and potted them on just in case), and they are are in the same state you describe. I kept them under cloches for the first 6 days, and have given them a foliar feed to try and help them along, but they are in considerably worse shape than their snug siblings!

Hi All,

Had exactly the same. I have a huge plant, with 7 courgettes in a big pot in the green house which was exactly the same as the two tatty, flacid yellowing affairs that I planted in the raised bed.

I've taken off the yellow leaves cos they looked a bit mildewy/fungussy. There's strong growth and a few small fruits at the centre so I'm not too concerned yet.

Last year I sowed later so when I planted out they were smaller and had no fruit. I wonder whether a combination of fruiting/flowering, manky weather (until now) and being planted out is proving a bit stressful. Must be male if they can't multitask!

Loz

I know I am in the North at 600' but I think you are all too impatient - mine are still cuddled up in my plastic roofed shed that acts like a giant cold frame.

Mine have suffered too!

Maybe it's my memory failing but I don't remember them doing this last year. They seem to picking up a bit though, there's some nice green growth and a hint of fruit on some of them.

Just got to keep the slugs away now....

Sometimes the first seed leaves fall off so maybe this is what's happening. Mine have always done this and i've always had a good crop from them.

I wouldn't worry about it, so long as there's new groweth it's groovy baby

As well as in shock, they're probably hungry. They'll pick up when they get some food out of their new bed.

I've got Butternuts and Turks Turbans (and very greedily of me in the same bed, Celeriacs...)
The bed is just brimming full of 2-3yr old fym, and it's quite a narrow raised bed, so I tend to give it a bit of a drink probably more often than the other raised beds.....
And it was Trousers said to me the other day that he thought the leaves were going yellow. Well - red rag to a bull, obviously ! but he WAS right, and I'm a little bit anxious now if truth be known....
There's very much greener growth coming from the centre of each plant now though, so I'm thinking things MIGHT be on the 'up turn'.
Hope all goes well for us all (?!)
Wellie

Keep up the TLC and recovery is almost certain. One factor is the difference between a pot of multipurpose compost and the final bed, it is never a smooth transition if you will see when you finally clear the bed and find the original rootball intact. Temperature and wind have a lot to do with it too.
Allan

As far as I can recall this has happened to me every year that I've grown courgettes and I've always had a huge crop. Mine are like that again this year but I'm not worrying about it (famous last words).

Thank goodness it's not just me! I've had this problem with both the courgettes and the squashes I planted out at the weekend - certainly worse than I recall having it in the past. Yes, I think it's transplant shock, made worse by the wierd weather. We went from 'too cold to plant out' to 'flaming June' in about three days. Because the second half of May was so wet and cold I delayed planting out longer than usual. I was surprised when I did plant them out that the roots didn't seem as well developed as I would have expected, relative to the top growth.

Mine did the same, but we had frosts up here in Scotland last week, so I put it down to that. It's hard to go wrong with courgettes and I'm sure they'll bounce back soon. And you'll wish you had planted a few less.

I only planted my courgette seeds direct into the ground 2/3 weeks ago, but I've got some nice little plants coming up.no sign of any problems yet,but I'll keep checking!