Kitchen Garden Forum

I have been asked to plant sit two of the sorriest looking courgette plants I have ever seen. They are weedy looking in fairly small pots and their bottom leaves are turning yellow. The courgettes themselves have flowers on but are tiny.Help my neighbour is a lovely lady and I have a week to rescue them Any ideas???

Bigger pots!!

Thanks retropants that was my first thought too but I am wondering what she planted them in. I use multi purpose compost so I am wondering if she has used poor soil.What do you think?is it worth a complete change

Hi Polly

I know this is not relevant to your situation, but I would not recommend growing courgettes in pots. They are hungry, vigorous plants and really need to be in the ground to give of their best. However, in pots, the general wisdom is at least a 30 cm diameter full pot - and plenty of feed.

Thanks so much Alan, I think she had the plants donated and is happy if just one courgette is edible.I have a few large pots around will try out the largest and keep my fingers crossed.

Dear Poly, i know this will sound a little harsh but, i would also nip out any flowers, until the plants put on some healthy growth.

Hi, I've been growing a single courgette plant on my roof garden (central London, so it gets very warm up there!) and I simply cannot water the monster enough lol. It's currently growing another 3 fruits - I'm glad to say that there seems no shortage of hover flies, bees (honey and bumble) and other insects to do the hard work of pollination. Having said that, my plant's leaves are also turning pale green then yellow and eventually dying - although I will have had in excess of 10 fruits so far. The leaves also have a white powdery substance on them, although this doesn't seem to result in loss of 'production'. Just wondering if this is normal, or if the leaves would normally stay a healthy dark green colour all through the summer. The plant is in a large pot and has been fed plentifully all summer.

armstrom wrote:Hi, I've been growing a single courgette plant on my roof garden (central London, so it gets very warm up there!) and I simply cannot water the monster enough lol. It's currently growing another 3 fruits - I'm glad to say that there seems no shortage of hover flies, bees (honey and bumble) and other insects to do the hard work of pollination. Having said that, my plant's leaves are also turning pale green then yellow and eventually dying - although I will have had in excess of 10 fruits so far. The leaves also have a white powdery substance on them, although this doesn't seem to result in loss of 'production'. Just wondering if this is normal, or if the leaves would normally stay a healthy dark green colour all through the summer. The plant is in a large pot and has been fed plentifully all summer.

Everything you describe is perfectly normal in my experience.

Over my years of growing courgettes, I've often found that some of the leaves go yellow or the plants start to get mildew but they soldier on and still keep producing fruit. They do seem to fare better when planted in the ground with a large quantity of rotted manure around their roots. What finally seems to finish mine off are the cold nights. I've never tried growing them in pots - they always seem to be vigorous growers and although the roots don't go particularly deep, they do seem to like a lot of space near the surface of the soil to spread themselves.

In agreement with Alan, they are heavy feeders and perform much better in
soil, , I planted four goldie courgettes in the remains of an old compost heap, the leaves remain vibrant and they are very productive, no sign of mildew though they have been producing for weeks.
Apply liberal manure in autumn, make a low mound then cover with a cloche for a week or two to warm soil, sow a couple of seeds on each mound and remove weaker seedling. If you need to water, avoid wetting the leaves, which encourages mildew.

Morning Primrose and NB

I'm having fantasies about poor Armstrom hauling cartloads of well-rotted manure up to his central London roof garden

Standing by with a bucket and shovel when the Queens horses are on parade.

Funny you should say that; every few weeks police horses do wander past leaving a trail of nutrition. I haven't brought myself to collecting any yet, mainly because I would still need to let it rot before I use it and don't really have the space for that. What I wouldn't give for a bit of real soil, so that I don't have to worry about the weight of everything I buy or grow . Thanks for the feedback everyone, sounds like I have nothing to worry about re the courgette plant. Can I expect it to crop all the way through until the first frosts set in?