The Zuchinni Blues.

[SP8]

HELP!

I planted 4 zuke seeds about 10 weeks ago and so far have zip to show for my efforts >_<

I haven't had any trouble growing lots and lots of these:

[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/SamhainP8/Zuke.jpg[/img]

But for no apparent reason they quickly turn into these:

[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/SamhainP8/Zuke2.jpg[/img]

What am I doing wrong???

[applestar]

I'm seeing powdery mildew spots on the leaves in the background. So I'd say spray with the 10% milk solution (1:10 milk and water -- I might actually go 1:8 ). Use rain water or boiled tap water, not chlorinated water.

[zone9garden.com]

Looks like it could also be a pollination issue… Do you have bees on your porch? If not, you may want to hand pollinate the plant. Zucchini are not self pollinating.

[SP8]

I'm seeing powdery mildew spots on the leaves in the background. So I'd say spray with the 10% milk solution (1:10 milk and water -- I might actually go 1:8 ). Use rain water or boiled tap water, not chlorinated water.

Yeah I'm getting on top of that ATM but would that cause the female flowers to stop developing?

[SP8]

Looks like it could also be a pollination issue… Do you have bees on your porch? If not, you may want to hand pollinate the plant. Zucchini are not self pollinating.

I get a lot of hornets but no bees. Hand pollinating isn't a problem as I already do it for my cucumbers. The problem is the female flowers don't get anywhere near a blooming stage. As shown in the pictures they go from looking great to a sorry dried up stick overnight.

[applestar]

I believe what causes the female flowers to stop developing is insufficient nourishment -- water and/or nutrients. In fact, THAT was what I was going to suggest at first, but then I noticed pretty significant spotting on the leaves.

It seems to stand to reason that if the plant is suffering from mildew interfering with gathering of sunlight as well as nourishment transport, the flowers would be aborted, especially early on in the season. The reverse can happen later on when the plants sense the "end is near" due to disease -- then they'll crank out flower after flower trying to accomplish their life purpose, even when they're pitifully devastated and hardly has a healthy leaf left.

[SP8]

I believe what causes the female flowers to stop developing is insufficient nourishment -- water and/or nutrients. In fact, THAT was what I was going to suggest at first, but then I noticed pretty significant spotting on the leaves.

It seems to stand to reason that if the plant is suffering from mildew interfering with gathering of sunlight as well as nourishment transport, the flowers would be aborted, especially early on in the season. The reverse can happen later on when the plants sense the "end is near" due to disease -- then they'll crank out flower after flower trying to accomplish their life purpose, even when they're pitifully devastated and hardly has a healthy leaf left.

I read that about the nutrients in one of my books but I don't think it's that as the pots are heavily blood and boned and all my plants get a fortnightly seaweed drink.

What you say about the mildew interfering with the gathering of sunlight on top of my current lack of sunlight sounds a likely cause.

Most of my experience has been with plants bolting as you've pointed out however this does seem to be a lack of sunlight gathering suicide case.

Thanks for the input!