Courgettes - lots of male flowers, hardly any female

ukbill69

I will have photos later on my thread, it shows it growing from the flower. Im at work after holiday, so haven't had chance, but keep an eye out later.

starstella

ukbill69 wrote: »

I will have photos later on my thread, it shows it growing from the flower. Im at work after holiday, so haven't had chance, but keep an eye out later.

Thanks Bill will check in later:)

Lotus-eater

starstella wrote: »

Well I am more confused than ever.Mine have big flowers which opened this morning.I thought the courgette was what the flower had come from????Now I am thinking it is like a tomato and grows from the flower??I haven't got a clue as this is the first time I have grown them.Also I am sure I read the flower was edible.Is this correct and how would you eat it?Sorry I am being thick,I would really appreciate an answer:)


I have just been out to check them.I have all female flowers.So,is the "stem" of the flower the courgette?It seems like it is to me but as I said I haven't grown them before.Now I am going to look for recipes:)

If you have female flowers the stem is indeed the courgette.
Sometimes I pick them when they are really tiny, like the flower has only just opened, depends how big they are at this point. If you have open flowers on females, you also need male flowers to pollinate them, insects should do that for you now.
It's worth noting that picking the first few fruit small is thought to help the plant grow more cougettes.

You can cook and eat the flowers, I've never thought it worthwhile.

starstella

Thankyou Lotus-eater for that really helpful information.I feel I know what I am doing now.I will pick the first fruit as you advise.As an experiment I have grown some outdoors in pots some in the greenhouse in pots and kept 3 in tiny pots in the greenhouse.The pot bound plants seem to have the most buds but the outdoor and indoor ones in bigger pots have bloomed.I will post my findings at a later date.If someone else has already tried this please let me know the outcome.Thanks again:T

bethesda

icecreamdogpark wrote: »

They get pollinated by bees that have visited courgettes of the opposite sex i think ? Probably in someones garden /allotment:)

If your plants are in the greenhouse and need pollinating you can do this yourself by using a paint brush on the male then on the female flowers to distribute the pollen or take the male flower off and insert it into the female.

Lotus-eater

bethesda wrote: »

or take the male flower off and insert it into the female.

Or on a slightly more romantic note, you could gently caress and stroke the female parts with the male centre of the flower.

tagz

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Or on a slightly more romantic note, you could gently caress and stroke the female parts with the male centre of the flower.

Would soft music and some fine wine help?:rotfl:

Actually mine are producing all male flowers at the mo. Just noticed they have also got blackfly. As I'm a newbie gardener I don't know how do to get rid of them without using nasty chemicals? Any advice?

Jnelhams

If you already have male flowers but no female flowers open yet, it is possbile to pick the male flowers off, and store in damp tissue in a box in your fridge. When the female flowers open, you can then take the pollen from the male flowers already stored.

freakyogre

I appear to have a baby courgette growing from one of my plants, but I am a tad confused (as it seems is the courgette )

Going by the picture above i'm thinking it's a female plant as has what i'm guessing is the courgette, then the flower. However, it also seems to have the long looking middle bit of the flower as the male. Nothing else on the plant seems to look male though.

So...what do I rub/insert against what?!

Also, when you say 'take the male flower off' do I literally just remove the whole flower section? (although as I say, it looks like the female plant, so I don't want to pull the wrong bits off!)

Sorry, I am very new to this and am actually amazed that they're still growing as I haven't been able to do anything with them for a couple of weeks!

System

Tagz, I wonder if your blackfly are actually black beetles? Small very black and shiny, wandering around yellow flowers? Lots about at the moment, and as far as I know not in any way harmful. So you dont have to worry. Blackfly are grey,fuzzy and behave like the aphids they are huge clusters in folds/undersides on leaves.