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Posted by chrissierw (U14916624) on Wednesday, 22nd June 2011
Hi, I have two healthy courgettes with quite a few flowers on each - but they are all male! Is there anything I can do to encourage the growth of female flowers? I had a similar problem last year when my plant produced nine flowers, only two of them female. Help!
Nope. Nothing you can do. Lap of the Gods stuff. Last year I had four female flowers on six pumpkin plants. Enough to drive a bloke to drink.
Thanks anyway. I'll just have to plant a few more!
I read 'somewhere' (sorry, really can't remember where or when!) that an excess of male flowers on courgettes are produced when the weather is cool and wet.
As not everyone in the UK has been blessed - sorry, that should be plagued! - with hot dry conditions so far this summer, I guess that there may well be a trend towards predominantly male flowers in gardens north of the Watford Gap!
My plants always produce a few male flowers first, before producing females. Same every year.
My hunch is that the plant does this to ensure that there is plenty of pollen around when the stigma is ready. It's more expensive in energy terms to produce a female flower, so perhaps the plant 'tests the air' with male flowers before producing females.
Was fully expecting my first courgettes to wither away as no male flowers to be seen. But no, first cuttings fine - maybe the bees had been visiting next door!
Now have 3 productive plants...and it's not even peak season.
But I have concentrated on pollinator attracting flowers (limnanthes and phacelia) so maybe that's helped.
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