When to remove the blossom at the bottom of the zucchini?

Figgerlickinggood

Well-known member
Today I found a couple of zucchini that had blossom end rot. I wasn’t sure if it was because of calcium deficiency or because I never removed any of the blossoms after they are finished and wilting. Should blossoms be removed from the zucchini when there done or should they stay till they fall off by themselves?
 
I never recommend the blossoms. I never recall having BER on my zukes or toms either. But I have irrigation that either waters everyday or every other day. I mulch too.

Common cause for tom BER is infrequent watering. She you manually watering? Is the soil kept moist?
 
I never remove blossoms either, and don't have BER issues. Well, I do remove some every now and again to use for cooking, but otherwise no.
 
I never removed them...my biggest issue here was always powdery mildew.
Bonide sulfur is a good preventative for PM. Whenever I spray my figs, I spray on my zucchini as well.

I also start new seedling right when I transplant. When/if the old ones get sick, I have a backup. Besides, new plants are very vigorous and more productive than old ones later in the season, so it makes sense to replace them. I do that to cukes and tomatoes too.
 
Bonide sulfur is a good preventative for PM. Whenever I spray my figs, I spray on my zucchini as well.

I also start new seedling right when I transplant. When/if the old ones get sick, I have a backup. Besides, new plants are very vigorous and more productive than old ones later in the season, so it makes sense to replace them. I do that to cukes and tomatoes too.
It is extremely humid here in the south but maybe that spray would help.
I'll try it.
That's why I like the South Amna butternut squash so much, no spraying...no issues at all.
 
Up here here it's not that humid in general, but we do tend to have rainy spells and those can wreak havoc. A couple of seasons back, my melons and zucchini looked fine until some time late July they all got white, practically overnight. I tried everything, but it's hard save them once PM takes holds. I replaced the squash with new plants, but couldn't save the melons. Last year, I sprayed regularly with sulfur and copper a couple of times, and that helped quite a lot. I saw some PM and just removed the affected leaves.

Another thing I heard is good is Kaolin Clay. I used to spray my cukes and grapes with it to fight cucumber beatles and Japanese beatles. But I heard once you spray it on leaves prone to PM, it creates a barrier. It's messy and unsightly, and you have to reapply after each moderate to heavy rain, but apparently it works. At least most cucumber beetles left my cukes alone that year.
 
@ktrain @Figgin' A I recently purchased this clay powder to spray on trees and plants that I saw on a James Prigioni video from Agcare products. Paid $45 for 25lbs.

View attachment 8142
I got a 25lb bag from GrowItNatuirally a few years back. Still have most of it. You don't need to use a lot, and in a small garden, it will last many years. This is the most economical way to buy it as small containers are crazy overpriced compared to the 25lb bags.
 
I got a 25lb bag from GrowItNatuirally a few years back. Still have most of it. You don't need to use a lot, and in a small garden, it will last many years. This is the most economical way to buy it as small containers are crazy overpriced compared to the 25lb bags.
You have to get a 25lb. bag because seems it’s the only size.
 
You have to get a 25lb. bag because seems it’s the only size.
Up here in Canada, it’s almost impossible to find it locally or for shipping unless buying from Amazon. There, they only sell 2 lb or 1kg packages for 50-70 bucks. I was not ably to find 25 lb packages here so had to buy from the US. It way more reasonably priced down there, especially the 25 lb packages. I am sure you can find kaolin clay on Amazon down there or in health stores, but price per lb will be ridiculous.
 
I got a 25lb bag from GrowItNatuirally a few years back. Still have most of it. You don't need to use a lot, and in a small garden, it will last many years. This is the most economical way to buy it as small containers are crazy overpriced compared to the 25lb bags.

That's from the US? I don't want to know what that cost to ship.... Well, I kinda do LoL!

I don't know why it's so tough to find here.
 
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