Courgette plants struggling

[Smudge2201]

Help please, can anyone suggest why my courgette leaves are going yellow then burnt looking? Each raised bed has chopped up small branches at the bottom (about 8ins deep) and then filled with new compost, again about 8 inches deep. Should I cut these leaves off? I’m watering them about every 3 days and have used tomato feed in the last water to try and perk them up. Thanks in advance.

My instinct would be to pinch off the yellow leaves as they won't be doing anything for the plant at this point. But I'm no expert so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along!

Your courgettes are far too close. 1 per m2.

Mine did the same

I think it might be over watering in this weather.

if they are that close they will need lots of nutrients and a frame to grow up.

doesn't look too bad tbh.
the fresh leaves look good. just remove the wilted ones.

the plants are very close together though, tI would remove/replant 2 of them to give them more space.
2 plants would keep you and all your family and neighbours and friends fed all summer.

In my local alllotment there is a sign up.
”please insure your car doors are locked otherwise you may find unwelcome courgettes inside when you return”

You Don’t need many plants lol.

Thanks everyone, I’ll take the browning leaves off and move two of them I to another bed which is currently empty to give them more space, and keep my fingers crossed.

They look hungry to me. Keep up with weekly feeding and they should improve

Courgette plants are like a vine, they end up spreading everywhere and end up taking up a lot of space.

As PPs say you really only need 2 plants max unless you are supplying your local greengrocer. Alternatively I’ve got a good recipe for courgette chutney.

If it was me most of those plants would be dug up and passed on, or put on the compost heap.

Those plants are struggling a bit. I wouldnt be getting rid of any until I’d got a couple of good strong plants. At this stage you don’t necessarily know which will be the best.

I wonder if they ran out of nutrients in their old pots, as they look newly planted-out and the new growth seems healthy.

I agree with Mere to not cull any yet as some might die, and some might get eaten. But they do look too close.

People always say you only need a couple of plants, but I always have more as I like eating lots of veg, I pick my courgettes young and I like to freeze loads too.

agree with pp they look hungry. Also looks as if they are in a container in compost. The new peat free composts are very variable and often run out of nutrients quickly.

Thank you, I will.

There are two plants, and I am growing them for my mum to come and pick too whenever she likes. There are 4 plants but I am not sure they’re all going to make it.

Thanks all, there are 4 plants in total, I’ve cut off the yellow / burnt leaves and moved them so it’s just 2 in each bed now. I did notice a lot of tiny little flies around them when I was moving them, and little worrying signs on the remaining leaves - but fingers crossed.

Gives you enough to eat the flowers too

@Smudge2201 too close together won’t cause yellowing at this stage. Mine are like yours as well unfortunately

I’d have one courgette per planter, OP as they are BIG and hungry plants once they get going. A square metre per plane, not just linear space.

Pots are too small. I grow one in a pot 4 times that size. I don't feed them until they get flowers.

Thanks, I’m not sure it’s lack of space, at my old house I grew two each year in a bed about 2ft by 3ft and they thrived. That was south facing though whereas this garden faces West.

Peat free composts are variable in how they hold on to water and nutrients. If the bags were hanging around at the suppliers from last year they could have lost nutrients.

I have grown courgettes in 10 inch pots before with the old stuff.

I am not sure about using branches and twigs underneath - I would have used something more inert, or old compost. You could try a layer of composted manure on top?

Thank you, yes this year is definitely a learning one in this garden. The containers are massive and deep so it was going to be too expensive to fill them entirely from compost and I had a lot of material from beaches etc I’d had to prune as the whole garden was very overgrown. The runner and French beans, and the strawberries all in the other planters seem happy enough so far. Maybe I got unlucky with the bags of compost these went into.

I don't feed mine until they start fruiting, I'm guessing yours have just got too much water.