Soft ends on zucchini

[morlogs]

Hi Folks, Anyone tell me why some of my Zucchinis are getting yellow and soft on the ends at around 5 inches in length? I'm harvesting them at that point and cutting off the bad ends but I'd like to get them to grow a few inches longer before harvesting. I thinned the leaves a little this morning to give them a little more exposure to the sun and more air circulation. Hope that will help but I'd love any insights that the group may have.(Soil deficiencies etc.) Hey! Thanks all!

 

[headfullofbees]

Most problems I've come across with zucchini are down to poor pollenation.
If you can get a male flower when you have female flowers open then rub a paintbrush into the male to collect pollen, the into the females to pollenate.

Other than that, feed with tomato food.

 

[ChanellG]

Are your plants too wet? My mom had similar issues with her zucchini this year as well as with her summer squash. She thought it was blossom end rot, but I suspect it was due to dampening off from too much moisture. We had a really wet end of winter and to me her plants just never looked healthy.

 

[maddie]

I had similar problems with cucumber. I was told it was due to lack of water than the excess of it. Once I started watering my plants twice a day the cucumbers grew nice and juicy all the way through. I wonder if it is the same with your zucchini. I have had poor luck with those.

 

[morlogs]

Thanx all. I'm pretty sure it's not a lack of pollination since the bees are all over these plants. I hope it's not over watering since it's pouring rain today and supposedly tomorrow as well. If it dries out here maybe I'll try watering less and I'll be doing the tomato food thing as well. Thanx again!

 

[zigs]

Could be Black rot. You need to remove affected ones and keep the plants drier. Bit of a tall order in the rain.

 

[morlogs]

Could be Black rot. You need to remove affected ones and keep the plants drier. Bit of a tall order in the rain.

Thanks zigs. Nope. Sure can't control the weather. I have been removing the bad ones as they appear though. It only seems to be an occasional thing so I'm still getting a pretty fair output. Just an interesting aside, I almost planted some store-bought potatoes until you scared hell out of me with the blight posts. I'd have never imagined.

 

[Jed]

This seems to be a regular problem. As mentioned fertilization by a male flower is essential and the female flower needs to be open at the time. Insects usually provide this service but if there's a lack of them for whatever reason, temperature, insecticides, bee stress disease as in the US then the paint brush is essential for successful fruiting.

 

[morlogs]

Thanks Jed. As I posted earlier, I don't think it's a pollination problem since my Zucchinis are usually about 80% mature when the problem sets in. I have used the paintbrush thing in the past with good results. I'm leaning towards either over or under watering as the issue but I can't test either one during this unseasonably cold and rainy weather. Zigs' blackrot theory is also a concern but I don't know much about it.