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Butternut squash out of control?
Pete.8
Posts: 11,340
in Fruit & veg
As a first time squash grower would appreciate some advice with my 2 Butternut Squash plants.
I water them daily, sometimes twice daily feed every week and they're doing well, but I'm not sure what I should be doing to control them.
Any suggestions appreciated
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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Not much you can do Pete, that's how they grow when the weather suits them!
Thanks Bob. There are lots and lots of small fruits, don't they need thinning or anything? Will they all get to be decent size (1kg+) fruits?
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Yes indeed, you can thin them to get fewer but bigger fruit. I never get more than about 6 per plant. In a bad year (like last year) I only got one or two per plant. Yours look very happy indeed!
What variety are they?
Last edited: 12 July 2017 19:50:16
Cheers Bob - the variety is Hawk -
http://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Vegetable-Seeds/Squash-Butternut-Hawk-F1-Seeds.html
There are lots forming on every 'branch' each plant must have about 50!!
How many do you suggest I leave on each plant? then do I just cut off new ones that appear?
Thanks
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Aha! Hawk is a variety bred to produce lots of smaller fruit (up to 0.7kg) so you can let more grow than the larger fruited varieties. 50 does sound a bit excessive though! Because they keep so well once properly ripened, you want to get as many to that stage as possible and stop them producing fruit which won't have time. It's really difficult to say how many you should limit it to, but I would certainly start nipping off any new fruit which form from now on.
Here's a field trial report from the RHS which includes Hawk:
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/planttrials/TrialReports/Butternut%20Squash%202008.pdf
It's still only early July and these aren't going to be harvested until October - if you keep feeding and watering I don't see why you shouldn't get a pretty big harvest. Obviously the bigger the plants get the more fruits they can support. I find sometimes the slugs damage the small fruits, so best to remove any damaged ones if you spot them.
Once you get into October you can cover the plants with fleece on cold nights to keep the frost off and the plants going as long as possible.
I don't have the ground space to grow the squash so am trying in a large pot on a shelf in my small green house (4'3" x 4'x3"). Due to the size I've been reducing the number of squash would be happy with two in total as I'm the only one who eats it in our house. It's a Hawk F1. so far they have produced 5 which grow to about an1" then go brown/black at the bottom . I feed it weekly, water with rainwater. Any ideas how I can get them past the 1" growth. I should add that I've taken out the middle shelf of the bench so it's sprawling along netting and anywhere else it can go. Top shelf I'm trying melon!
Thanks Bob & Ono
I'll remove the new fruits that are forming and stop any more and reduce the number of fruits to about 10 on each. Quite what I'm going to do with 20 squash, I'm not sure - lots of soups and casseroles for the cold months.
Ever-hopeful - You need to feed you plants with more than rain water - there are no nutrients in rain water. I feed with tomorite once a week and give them a seaweed drench once a week and water each plant with a gallon of water a day when it's hot and dry.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Hi Pete8
Re your point on feeding which I had written before rainwater, I do feed them. Have used tomatorite and vitax. Anything else I can do?