Harvesting zucchini: the more often you pick, the more fruit will follow

Created: 06/25/2022, 09:00

By: Ines Alms

When harvesting zucchini, it is not the size that matters, but the yield: If you pick regularly, more flowers and fruits will form.

Munich – Even if there are competitions as to which hobby gardener grows the largest vegetable, the following applies to zucchini: don't wait too long to harvest if you want a large yield.

They also lose flavor as the volume increases.

Harvesting zucchini: the more often you pick, the more fruit will follow

When harvesting zucchini, it is important not to let the fruit get too big.

(Iconic image) © Addictive Stock/Imago

As soon as the zucchini harvest begins in June, around six to eight weeks after planting, the table is usually well-laid with just a few vegetable plants.

At least if you pick the fruit regularly: the courgettes should be at least ten centimeters long, and you shouldn’t let them grow longer than 20 centimetres.

As a result, new flowers and thus new fruits are formed more quickly, since the plant wants to continue to multiply.

Waiting too long before picking the zucchini also has other disadvantages: the zucchini quickly becomes woody and more seeds form - it makes sense to core the zucchini before eating.

In addition, the vegetables may become bitter.

Either way, the zucchini loses flavor as it gets bigger.

Enlarge zucchini harvest: Fertilize and water regularly

There are other ways to increase the zucchini harvest:

• Water the plant regularly so that it forms many flowers.

  However, not on the leaves, but on the ground.

• If the zucchini is sparsely fruited, you can pollinate the flowers yourself by rubbing the pollen from the male flower with a brush or cotton swab and then placing it directly on the stigma of the female flower.

• Zucchini are heavy feeders, they need a lot of nutrients.

  Therefore, you should provide the plants with an organic fertilizer about every two weeks.

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If the zucchini has gotten too big, it is a good idea to fill it and bake it in the oven or use it in a quick zucchini soup.

Alternatively, you can freeze the zucchini.