[stompy]

As the title says,

My mum and dad have been harvesting their courgettes now for a couple of weeks, but this weekend the 4 they harvested tasted bitter, both the skin and the flesh.

Others that they have had off the same 2 plants have been fine but now these have as said become bitter.

Any ideas what this could be or if any of you guys have experienced this before?

[JayG]

Can only think that they might have been cross-pollinated by another cucurbit which has affected the taste, although my (not huge) understanding of genetics suggests that only the seeds would be affected rather than the whole fruit.

Other than that I can only comment that some courgette varieties don't improve with size and age as they are bred to be picked small.

[mumofstig]

Make sure to pick them small and sweet, and water them so that the fruits grow quickly

[stompy]

They have done that, watered well and picked at around 5" long.
The first ones were fine but the last few were awfull aparently.

[mumofstig]

have they watered over the plant with liquid feed or anything then?

[stompy]

No,
I asked them the exact same thing. Lol.
They say they havn't done anything out of the normal 

[mumofstig]

I've run out of ideas now 

[stompy]

Ha Ha, Me too.

I went through everything that i could think of (same things you guys came up with) and couldn't find an answer, thats why i asked here to see if anyone else had had the same problem.

I supose i'll have to give them some of mine.

[Trillium]

I wonder if the soil is simply starved now and needs feeding? A manure slurry would help, and watering it in. The next few courgettes might not taste good but when the slurry has time to reach the roots, the flavor should improve.

[stompy]

Thanks Trillium, but he feeds them a home made feed every week and they were planted in a pr-prepared hole with compost and well rotted manure.

He makes his feed from rhubarb leaves as i used to but i used to add the rhubarb leaves to my comfrey liquid.

I wonder if it's the acid from the leaves that is causing the bitterness.
He does rot them down for a good few weeks though 3 to 5 weeks?

[sunshineband]

Not sure I'd use rhubarb leaves in this way myself 

[stompy]

I've always used them in this way, 50/50 with comfrey leaves.

Never had a problem and had great crops always lush growth and plenty of fruit (sprouts, toms, cues, chillies (etc)).

[sunshineband]

I use them in compost so I guess it's the same kind of thing -- liquid feed is rotted down too isn't it?

Just never thought of it before 

[mumofstig]

You can only try feeding with something else to see if this cures the problem

[stompy]

I know i'll tell them to try that.
It's wierd that it's just started happening though as the first ones were ok