why do my courgettes keep rotting?

[daisybo]

they keep going manky at the flower end just before they're big enough to pick
am gettin fed up! what can i do to stop this happening??

at least you are getting some! mine were a bit late i guess and ive been getting flowers but no courgettes, trouble is i didnt realise the courgettes grew behind the flowers til i noticed a few courgettes growing behind the shorter flowers. Some of my flowers are on great long stalks, so i must be doing something wrong, is this bolting?

Daisy, when you water them are you aiming only at the roots? maybe they are getting too wet, like i'd know just a thought.

Hi you two. Not every flower on the plant develops into a courgette, the long stalk with the flower on the end is the male and it will fertilise the female flowers which will then swell and fruits will develop behind the flower of the female. The rotting of the end of the courgette is similiar to blossom end rot you sometimes get on tomatoes. Regular watering and provding lots of mulch should stop this from happening. Courgettes need loads of organic matter aroung their roots so I grow mine in a bed of part rotted manure which they love. Also it helps to mulch with straw which may stop any fruits rotting on the surface of the soil, the same as you do with strawberries. Hope this helps.

thanks christy, hmmm, now i wish i checked here before i showed my DP because then when he questioned me i could have sounded all knowledgable Should i mulch mine then, i have two in huge pots and two (which were nearly dead before i planted them out) in the ground. What should i mulch them with?

make sure they are good and moist, then cover the soil with something so it can't dry out. Easiest is chipped bark from the garden centre, but you can use gravel or something decorative like shells, or you can use straw or hay (from a pet shop) like ChristyC says, keeps the courgettes clean and dry and looks very rustic. You could use lawn clippings but slugs like living in them so you'd have to watch out for slug damage.

then water regularly

thanks now of course i am in a thundering rage as one of the plants i gave to my mum, it was a bit manky, has produced a huge corgette!!! arrgggh