[Handy Andi]

I planted 8 courgette plants of several varieties, half a dozen gherkin plants and 2 pumpkin plants in late May, and am very disappointed in their growth. The plants all look healthy, the leaves and stems are all of a 'normal' colour etc, but they just haven't grown. At all. Most have sprouted a couple of new leaves, tiny ones, but then are just not growing. They started out under cloches for the first couple of weeks, til the weather really picked up. They're not in full sun, but the pumpkins and gherkins weren't last year either and they were just fine. They've been watered regularily and I've feed them a few times with comfrey tea. All my neighbours who are growing these have massive plants now, most with fruit or at least flowers. I've been growing these plants for 6 years now, and this has never happened. They pretty much look like the day I planted them in the ground. I manured the soil several weeks before I planted them and it's from a source I haven't used before but several of my fellow plot holders have, without any trouble, so I doubt it's that that's causing the growth problems.

Any ideas?

[Beetroot queen]

Mine seemed to do this but this last week with all the hot weather and constant watering they have romped away, i can see a difference every day now and the courgettes are in full fruit now.

[mumofstig]

Mine have only just started actively growing, as well 

[JayG]

Given the warmth and sunshine lately and given you successfully grew cucurbits in the same soil last year it can only be lack of suitable nutrients, although I have to say that starving plants usually look pale and weak as well as failing to grow.

Try a commercial liquid feed - I'm not suggesting your comfrey tea is necessarily faulty but in the absence of any obvious pests or diseases you sometimes just have to try something (anything!) different.

[Handy Andi]

Thanks for your replies.

That's a good idea, JayG. My comfrey tea does seem to be doing other plants good, but of course there's no way I can test the nutrient levels so I'll buy some feed this weekend.

I have a couple of other courgette plants in a different bed (we really like courgettes! ) and although they were a bit slow to start growing they are quite big now and have had our first courgette off one of them. The plants that aren't growing only get sun until early afternoon - how important a factor is that?  Also, if there was something wrong with the manure it would damage the plants wouldn't it? I'm gutted really, as I had planned to have loads of gherkins to pickle like I did last year 

[JayG]

Hopefully you can rule out the manure given that your fellow plot holders haven't had problems.

Cucurbits do like plenty of sun, so it will be a factor, but given the weather over the past week or so I'm still surprised they have stuck completely.

[Handy Andi]

Update - the courgettes and winter squashes have more or less caught up with other plot holders now ( alittle on the small size but I'm getting fruit so not bothered), but the gherkins still haven't grown. At all. The winter squashes get a little less sun than the gherkins, so I now know it's not lack of sun. Very strange

[seaside]

I guess we've all had batches of plants that just suffer, but given a long enough season they often do the business in the end. In my case such stick-in-the-muds have been over watered, and maybe my transplant method leaves a lot to be desired ( not enough hardening off etc ).
And here's another ... check what the moon was doing when you planted them. Some good growers swear by lunar planting, transplanting only around the full moon, when water in the plant is flowing most freely to support the shock.

[angelavdavis]

Hi Andi,

I don't know if your plot is a little exposed, but I placed a coldframe (minus the lid) on top of half of my squash bed to provide some protection to the first batch of plants planted here.  I found that the fact they were sheltered from the wind made a huge difference in the growth rate.  The ones outside the coldframe seemed to cease growth for ages.

Could this be a factor for your plants in this situation?  Just a suggestion.