My new friend, and fellow gardener, sent me a picture this morning of her first zucchini blossoms. I thought I'd read somewhere that you'll want to pluck the blossoms so the growing energy goes into the fruits. It's that true? I'd hate to give her some bad advice. I'm trying to get her to get an account here, as well.
I have never picked the blossoms off except for a friend who needed them for a bread presentation. I have not heard that there is any reason to do so. They only last one day anyhow. You need them for pollination. There are TWO types of blossoms on the squash, One is a female flower the other is a male flower. the male flower is on a long stem. the female flower blooms closer to the stem and has a larger bulbous base. that will be where the fruit (or squash) is produced. As soon as the mid day rolls around you will see the male flower has curled up and is spent. IF you want, pluck that off. It does not hurt it to leave it there, though.
I've never heard of plucking the blooms off either. They seem to fall off after they are done blooming anyway. And I've never had a problem getting enough fruit off the zucchini vines - it's usually quite the opposite. My neighbors seem me coming with arms full of zucchini and hide
I like to pick the male bloom early in the morning and wash them very good dip them in batter and deep fry them they are so very good to eat if you never have tried it its a great treat.
I've never read that. I've never done it. It doesn't make sense to me. You need the flowers--the male blossoms to pollinate the female blossoms. The blossoms will drop off on their own either after pollination has occurred (thanks to the bees or to the gardener who hand pollinates). If pollination doesn't occur the flowers will drop off on their own. Maybe you are thinking of dead heading flowers on some plants so they won't go to seed and stop producing blossoms for the season.
Thank you all for the great advice. See... this is why I'm in GardenStew. I can find out the answer before I spread bad information to someone else. I'd hate to be responsible for single-handedly destroying someone's garden after all the hard work she's put into it. So I won't be telling her to pluck. Instead I'll be praising the successes she's as overjoyed to see as I am :-D
Sharing our experiences and learning from each other is why we all come here. One thing about gardening is that none of us can learn it all in one lifetime. That's what keeps it interesting and challenging.
There are two reasons for plucking off courgette (zucchini) blooms: (1) To eat (frying, on salads, in omelettes or for stuffing) (2) to remove from the fruit in order to avoid the chance that the rotting bloom will cause the fruit to begin rotting from that end. The agent here is usually a fungus which spreads from the desiccated flower into the fruit itself. This typically occurs during cooler and moist weather. **When removing the spent flower from the female (fruit), grasp the base of the flower firmly and tug gently. If the flower comes off --that's good. If it does not come off, do not tug hard, tear it off or cut it off...simply be patient and try again the next day. Eventually it will let loose. **When I harvest blooms first day blooms, I always leave at least one female bloom and one male bloom on the same plant. If I am removing the first day female blooms, I also take the attached little courgette-let along with the bloom, as it is a delicacy.
I have never plucked off my zucchini flowers, only on pumpkin vines. Pumpkins need to grow big to carve. If you are not getting enough zucchini they probably need to be fertilized.
