by Why do zucchini ovaries rot despite all your care for them? Let’s figure out together the reasons for what is happening, as well as how to prevent it and save your harvest.
There may be several reasons why zucchini ovaries are rotting in your garden. Some of them are not even your fault. But you can help your plants resist these problems.
Let’s list the main reasons for the rotting of zucchini ovaries.
Poorly chosen location
Zucchini will not bear fruit in the place where their “relatives” grew before them – cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, watermelons. Before planting zucchini in this place, it is recommended to wait at least 4 years. But zucchini really love the soil where potatoes, beets, cabbage, carrots, onions or greens grew before them.
The zucchini got its name from the word “kabak”, which came into modern speech from the Turkic languages: initially, this was the name for pumpkin. This name was also assigned to pumpkin in some regions of Ukraine.
Weather
The squash “arrived” in our latitudes from Mexico, where it was initially grown only for eating seeds. In Europe, it was also initially grown as an ornamental plant. The Italians were the first to start eating it in the 18th century.
Due to its origin, zucchini is heat-loving and very sensitive to excessive humidity. For this reason alone, in damp and cold weather, its immunity decreases, and the ovaries rot.
To help the vegetable, cover it with film or place an umbrella over it in cold and damp weather. You can also put straw and boards under the fruit.
By the way, in hot weather, plants are watered with clean warm water and sprayed with a solution of boric acid at a rate of 1-2 g per 10 liters of water.
Dense planting
You planted the zucchini too close to each other, and their grown leaves prevent the ovaries from receiving sunlight and ventilation. The consequence of this is the rotting of the zucchini ovaries.
In this case, the problem is solved quite simply: you just need to thin out the leaves, removing all the old ones.
Micronutrient deficiencies
Zucchini ovaries can also start to rot if they lack microelements, in particular, boron and iodine. The latter deficiency can occur if you watered the plant with water containing a high iron content, but there may be a lack of boron in the soil to begin with.
To compensate for the lack of “vitamins”, once per season treat the plants with a solution of 2 g of potassium iodide diluted in 10 l of water and a solution of boric acid at a rate of 2 g per 10 l of water. You can also combine both components in one solution.
It is preferable to pre-treat the squash with the fertilizers they need. For this, you can use a mixture of 5 g of superphosphate, 2 g of urea and 1 liter of water. The first feeding is carried out 10 days after the emergence of shoots, the second – a week later.
Diseases of courgettes
Rot of the zucchini ovary can also be caused by diseases – cucumber mosaic virus or powdery mildew. In the first case, the plantings must be treated with bactericides, such as Farmayod (0,03-0,035% solution), in the second case – with fungicides, for example, Alirin-B or Fitosporin-M. It will not hurt to treat against pests (aphids, Colorado potato beetle, ants) that spread the main diseases of zucchini: for this, it is best to use insecticides such as Aktara.
Plants must be treated as described in the instructions for the preparation.
We have listed all the possible reasons why zucchini ovaries rot. We hope that this rarely happens in your garden thanks to the prevention of this unpleasant phenomenon.
