[KT]

Ok so i hold my hand up and admit i have a few too many courgette plants!!

I have 5 lovely shiny triffid like courgettes slowely taking over my garden, my dad thinks i should pull a couple up because he says there is no way ill use that many courgettes i beg to differ though, im found lots of wonderful recipes for courgette, they blend invisably into spagetti bolognaise and my kids don't even know they are there .. tee hee, not to mention courgette tea bread or marrow chuckney... which i also LOVE!

Anyway! ... to the problem.

My courgettes have been trying to fruit for well over a month now but the courgettes get to about 2"-3" long and then start to rot, i thought it might be a pollenation problem so i tried to hand pollenate but that doens't seem to be helping.

At first they seemed to rot from the flower end but the weather was quite wet so i put it down to the damp clinging to the flowers, so i started to knock the flowers off when they looked like they'd finished with them.

Now the flower end rot has stopped but the courgettes are STILL not maturing they grow for a while then they shrivel up like they are dehydrated? i've checked the soil and it seems damp a few inch's down, i gave them a good soaking with a hose to the soil (so i missed the leaves) yesterday but i can't work out what the problem is??

Could it still be lack of pollenation? I thought perhaps i was just being impatient but everyone else seems to be eating courgettes *sob* and i'm still buying mine...

Im in the Northwest if that helps.

[wysiwyg]

If you are getting fruit that then dies then you have pollination  I have had the problem in the past with rot at the flower end but havent heard of them shrivelling like you said.  Do you reckon there is enough goodness in the soil?  They do like loads of muck, I grow mine on top of nearly pure composted cow shed sh**!  mine have only just started to flower so will see what happens

[zazen999]

Take the first few off at a couple of inches long, this spurs the plants into producing quicker.

I've got 8 [I did have 6 but a friend sent me some trial hybrids he wanted trying out so I had to have another 2]......and there's only 2 of us that eat courgettes. You can always make happiness soup [google it] or give them away if you have too many [when you have too many :d]

Have you got lots of bees and insects in the garden? If not try getting some flowering plants to entice them in.

[KT]

No idea what the soil is like, it's my first year growing so i didn't really have much time to prep it, the weeds seem to like it though 

i've been giving them a weak feed, do you think i should give them more? is all purpose tomato/veg feed alright or is there something they like better??

[KT]

Take the first few off at a couple of inches long, this spurs the plants into producing quicker.

I've got 8 [I did have 6 but a friend sent me some trial hybrids he wanted trying out so I had to have another 2]......and there's only 2 of us that eat courgettes. You can always make happiness soup [google it] or give them away if you have too many [when you have too many :d]

Have you got lots of bees and insects in the garden? If not try getting some flowering plants to entice them in.

Maybe thats my problem i havn't really noticed that many insects about? but hand pollenating isn't really helping either, they are quite hidden away could that be the problem .. they are at the back of the fence plenty of sun but maybe the insect's get distracted by the easier to find flowers?

I'm just getting very impatient i really want some courgettes and im sick of paying 50p each in asda when i have al these plants in the ground!!