courgette help please

kiwimama

My courgette plants have been indoors and until this past week have been doing really well, they are rather large but due to cold snap cant plant them out. They have about 4 large stems/leaves and lots of smaller leaves coming up but now the established leaves are starting to curl and go a little black around the edges - a quick google hasnt revealed anything useful, any ideas of the greenfingered MSEers???

stilernin

Not too sure about the 'black' but you are right not to put them out yet. When you are ready they will have to be hardened off bit by bit first as well.

The only thing I can think of that could be a problem is keeping them too wet. They don't like their feet wet (even when planted out they like to be on a small mound) so only water from the bottom and don't let the water get to the surface. IYSWIM

You didn't say where you are, which will make up to 3 weeks difference to any advice.

Someone else will be along soon who might know what the problem is.

kiwimama

I think you might be right about being too wet, I do tend to overwater and suspect that the matting stuff they are sitting on is water retaining too so they will have wet feet. I'm in Reading, my tomato's had to go outside a few weeks back but have done okay in the unheated greenhouse, I wonder if the courgettes are desperate to have more room / nutrients and need to get in their grow bags (which is what happened with my tom's). If it is a case of overwatering will they be okay if I hold back a little or have I 'broken' them??

officeguru

If possible, plant them out and cover them with a piece of fleece... Put pleats in the fleece so that each plant has plenty of room underneath and that the fleece isn't 'squashing' them.... Cover the edges of the fleece with earth so that the plants are kept draught free and you'll find they are fine... Fleece is getting really cheap to buy... I think Poundland sells it.....

I hope this helps

Cheers

LJM

they do say overwatering can be just as dangerous as underwatering, i agree they will need to be hardened off before they can go out

kiwimama

Does hardening off include going outside on colder days? So far they've only been out on sunny days. Will they recover from the mold / mildew / over watering damage that has been done already??

kiwimama

Sorry to be pain but I've been stressing all day, will my courgettes recover from the overwatering / mould or are they had it?? If they are toast then I guess its not too late to grow some more, I really only need three decent plants for my little family.

stilernin

kiwimama wrote: »

Sorry to be pain but I've been stressing all day, will my courgettes recover from the overwatering / mould or are they had it?? If they are toast then I guess its not too late to grow some more, I really only need three decent plants for my little family.

If the stem and newest leaves are still healthy, I reckon you have a good chance.

Do you think the compost is still too wet?

If so, and you want to go the extra mile with them, I would try this.

Use a teaspoon to scoop out compost from the surface around the edge of the pot. Go down as far as you safely can but be careful not to damage the root system, Get as much out as you can and then top up with fresh compost. Press down gently so it is in contact with the original compost but don't add any extra water.

From now on, test the weight of the pot to gauge if it needs watering and then only water from the bottom.

In the meantime, you could sow a couple more seeds in yoghurt pots as a back up plan.

Good luck.

kiwimama

Thanks stilernin, I put the pots out on newspaper today and there was quite a bit of wicking happening and the pots feel heavy so I'd say they are still quite damp. I brought some fleece today from Poundland and I think after another few days of hardening out I might plant them in the grow bags in the greenhouse, I've run out of fresh compost unfortunately and cant really justify another bag, though its only a few quid I guess... I just keep thinking of how many courgettes I could actually buy in the shops when you add up compost / grow bags etc LOL

The new growth / stem looks fine, its just the established leaves. Tho I did notice this afternoon that my biggest French Bean plant has got spots on its leaves. I think I started way to early this year, must remember for next year that late April / early May is fine to start seedlings.

stilernin

Newspaper mats are a really good idea. You could make rolled up wads of paper and stick them in the compost overnight to get rid of a bit more too.

Tomorrow, rough up the compost on the surface and that will allow more water to evaporate.

The plant will also be using some of the water so I am sure the panic is over.

Exciting this gardening malarkey, isn't it?

stilernin

Just a thought.... re courgettes and growbags. Courgette plants do get quite big and growbags don't offer a lot of compost/room because they are so flat.

You can improve matters by partly cutting a growbag in half and standing it on it's ends. You do this by putting your hand under the centre of the bag and lifting it until the ends only are touching the ground like two bags of compost. Now cut the growbag in half cross the top of the plastic taking care not to cut the bottom. The two bags are now stood upright next to each other, held together by the bottom of the growbag (the bit that wasn't cut).

You can only plant two courgettes this way but the amount of compost wouldn't have supported three successfully.

Some people use two growbags, one on top of the other having cut holes in the bottom of the upper one to allow the roots to go down to the lower one.

So many decisions I'm afraid..

Oh, and you will have so many courgettes once they start, that you will wonder what to do with them. Honest.