[Grubbypaws]

I have 6 courgette defender F1 growing in containers. They all look healthy and are in flower. The mystery is that none of the male flowers have produced any pollen. In some there is no stamen to be seen whilst in others it is very small. Does anyone know what is going on?

[JayG]

I used to have the same problem with this variety, which is why I no longer grow it.

I agree that they don't seem to produce an abundance of pollen, and I suppose it's just about possible that some type of pollen beetle or other insect is helping themselves to the pollen before the bees visit.

All you can really do in practice is to try to find some male flowers which have only just opened and use them to hand pollinate the female flowers.

(No such problems with Astia F1 the last few years, with the added bonus that Wilco's sell them at a competitive price.)