Cutting back courgette leaves ?

bindyloo, Jan 20, 12:36pm
Can anyone advise if I can cut back an excess of the large leaves on my courgettes without harming the plant, (I thought that with too many leaves the growth is going to them and not the flowers.) They have been fantastic this year but want to keep them flowering/fruiting.thanks

stevee6, Jan 20, 2:47pm
I've done it most years simply because they take up so much room, and so far so good.

sumstyle, Jan 20, 5:31pm
I do it too, starting with the oldest leaves, in the hope that the airflow will help stave off the powdery mildew they inevitably get.

love.a.bargain, Jan 20, 6:09pm
I do it each year as the leaves get old and start to get mildew and it's had no adverse effects, in fact I have had massive crops.

bindyloo, Jan 20, 6:26pm
Thanks so much for all the help, will now be confident in doing so as well.

lythande1, Jan 20, 9:10pm
It won't care, it will keep growing. It's also not at all necessary.
I've chopped mine but only cause it has a major case of mildew and the poor leaves are crisp, dead and powered.

cookiebarrel, Jan 20, 9:31pm
Sorry to use this thread to ask about something else, same sort of thing though.Can you or should you also cut the excess leaves off a pumpkin plant in the same way as above for a courgette plant!

liggy2, Jan 21, 12:34am
No the leaves are the factories that make good pumpkins.

cookiebarrel, Jan 22, 8:20pm
Thanks liggy2, bit new to this growing things, but really loving it.My dear old Dad was always the flower and vege garden person around here.Do miss him so and not only at times like this!

cantabman1, Feb 4, 7:05am
I only ever remove dead or old leaves from plants as it upsets the photosynthasis in producingmore general grow.
The exception to my rule is toms, where i remove all the lower stems, once it is really growing well. maybe i'm wrong, but my garden results say i'm right.