leggy courgettes

[velocidad]

had a first go at growing from seed this year. not going to well so far

the courgettes i thought were going ok, but then they just went mad. stems a bit thin and flimsy, and about 6 inches before first two leaves. not at all like the ones i just saw in the shop, which were much thicker at the stem, and had leaves at about 2 inches up. i used compost that said it was for seeds and young plants and then followed the seed packet instructions.

any ideas what's going on?

cheers, velocidad

[Marc]

Sounds like they're not getting enough light velo. Where are they, indoors or in greenhouse. Maybe too close together, and perhaps too warm also?

[red]

yeh sounds like lack of light.

[Andy Hamilton]

Some of our seedlings were looking a little leggy this year, I forgot that our coffee table in front of the window always benefits from a bunch of old Vhs videos to make it higher, well in line with the bottom of the window.

I have found that ideally plants need to be right next to a window with sun shine from the south (north for down under folk) hitting them. Any plants that are set a little further back or below the window sill can suffer. Plants that face north in our house goes leggy (west seems to be ok), any plants that are more than 1 ft away from the window go leggy and anything that is just below the widow sill go leggy.

[velocidad]

interesting! they were initially put in the airing cupboard until they started to show. then moved onto the the window sill which faces south, some may have been just behind the window sill on the ironing board, but still basically in full sun, and they have all gone equally leggy. so not sure how i could have given them more light. they could have got too warm but not sure how i could have avoided that and still shown them the light
bit confused now, wanted to have another go but unsure what to do differently. should i bin these leggy ones or persevere with them?

thanks for the advice,

cheers, velocidad

[red]

I wont be sowing my courgettes until next month, so you have plenty of time if you want another go. Why nt do some more AND hang on to the originals?
I find that everything on a windowsil goes a bit leggy - I used to have a conservatory and now I dont (moved house) I have really noticed the difference.. due to lack of light.
Chances are your courgettes will be fine even if they are leggy. you might have toruble hanging on until after the frost time is over though.. unless you have a poly tunnel or cold frame etc

[mrsflibble]

All of my seedlings are on a west facing window, purely 'cos I don't have a south facing one- but theu are all doing ok and not leggy at all. so far.

[Thurston Garden]

I think it's a combination of them searching for the light AND being too warm which encourages them to grow faster.

As Red said, there's plenty time for courgettes (although I have mine in ) so I would stick yours somewhere cooler but in the light and plant some more in a month or so.

My toms were far too leggy cos I forgot to take the lid off the propagator - you can get away with it on toms cos when you pot them on, just bury the hairy stem up to the seed leaves - the hairs are roots and they just grow all the harder! Courgettes (and marrows, cucs and pumpkins) need to be potted on higher (or shallower??) than the original cos they are very susceptible to rot around the base of the stem. Planting them higher helps keep this bit dry!

[velocidad]

thanks for the tip about the toms, they've gone a bit leggy too. yeah i'll have another go with the cougettes, bit hit and miss this seed lark

cheers, velocidad

[Thurston Garden]

Sow four times what you need: one for the rook, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow

[ina]

Sow four times what you need: one for the rook, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow

And a few more for the cats who use the seedtray as a toilet...

[SarahJane]

I planted a few courgettes about 3 weeks ago and they are in the unheated greenhouse, nothing coming through yet.

How long do they generally take to germinate?

[velocidad]

can't honestly remember how long mine took to show through now. wasn't as long as 3 weeks though, maybe it's been a bit cool for them in the greenhouse??

cheers, velocidad