[bigginge]

Although we've had a bumper harvest of courgettes there is a whitish mould on the leaves. Is it OK to compost them, or burn them to be safe?

[upert]

sounds like powdery mildew. you can remove the worst effected leaves and prolong the harvest as left to it's own devices all leaves will be mildewy. i don't know about composting for sure but imagine it should be ok.

[Trillium]

Powdery mildew is usually what hits the plants about now - shortage of water is the usual cause as the weather patterns change. composting is okay as its not the type of mildew that's passed along.

[johnwoots]

i have had the same problem. but i disposed of the leaves and plants in the green waste bin and not the compost. I was advised by my father who has had this experience. so you can never be too sure.

I suppose everyone has different ways of doing things, but i would like to know the best way to avoid this happening in the first place?

[JayG]

Mildew thrives in damp humid conditions, which if caused by the weather you can't do much about, but do try and improve the air circulation round the leaves so that you are not creating a microclimate where the mould can flourish.

Take off any old and tatty leaves which are a good site for infection to spread and which are probably lying on the (damp) ground anyway. Try and avoid allowing leaves to overlap which again traps water between them and encourages mildew to take hold (cut a few off if necessary; the plant won't mind if there are still plenty left).

[johnwoots]

Many thanks for the advice. i thought about doing that for next season, so will definatly try and prevent it. i planted my caujettes about a foot apart. what do you think? i had a great crop but would they benefit from being further apart? 

any advice anyone?

[JayG]

A foot apart is not much for such a large plant like courgette and will certainly increase the chances of getting mildew. I think the recommended spacing is usually about 3 feet; I push it to about 2 feet but wouldn't personally go to less than that (but then you got a great crop this year................)

[johnwoots]

thanks fot the advice, will space them out further. in regards to great crop...its my first year so i cant compare it to anything else, so maybe i will get a better crop next year!

they are planted in raised bed so i will move them around and see what happens.

many thanks

[MoreWhisky]

I gave mine half square metre each and they have took up all that and more.

The moldy leaves are starting to hit now realy , theres a surprise.

Out of the four varietys i have grown the Yellow (and most attractive) courgette Parador is not affected at all. The defender is doing pretty well to.

I also used the milk/water spray on them and am convinced this has helped.

[bigginge]

Thanks for the replies, they've stopped cropping now so I'll chop them onto the compost heap.