Courgettes and squashes fruit aborting

[Gilda]

Hi Charles,

We’ve been doing the no dig for a bit more than a year now and we’re having great results, though we’ve been having problems with our courgettes and squashes. The plants won’t grow well, the leaves will turn yellowish and once they are fruiting the fruits will stop growing, turn pale yellow/brown on the tips and may start to rot and fall off the plant. I’ve been reading this might be a deficiency in calcium. Is this the case? any tips on how to feed the plants or sort the issue out?

Many thanks!

Gilda

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[charles]

Gilda, how do you know it’s a feed problem and not temperatures or rainfall? Are you referring to courgettes planted this spring? Or did it happen all last summer too, so you harvested no fruit? What country are you? I need more info!

[Gilda]

We are London based. We planted the seeds back in March and kept the seedlings in a greenhouse, transplanted them out about 3 weeks ago. The same happened last year with most of the courgette plants and none of the squashes finished the fruiting process, we managed to harvest a few courgettes though but lost most of them. The same seems to be happening this year, they start growing nicely and they reach a point where they become brownish and fall off.

[Gilda]

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[charles]

Gosh that is bad. Other veg are growing fine?
I don’t know what may be causing this.In case of trace element deficiency, I would add either seaweed meal and/or rockdust.

[Gilda]

Thanks Charles, would you be able to recommend brands or online places where to buy the seaweed meal and rock dust? can these be applied together?

Many thanks!

[charles]

Many places sell seaweed, check Remin Scotland for rockdust

[Author]

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