have I done something wrong?

[bedrockdave]

I have grown butternut squash this year for the first time..I have had LOADS of growth ..some of the stems must be 6 - 7  ft long . have grown some up canes  and some along the ground but had no fruit..well none that have matured, what I have had, have grown about 2 - 3ins and then rotted at the end. Dont know whether to try again next year but dont want to waste the space for nothing again...someone please help

[tricia]

It sounds like your squashes didn't get pollinated. With the bad weather this year I found the only way to ensure a crop was to hand pollinate every morning when there were male and female flowers open then close the female flower with string in case of rain. By doing this I have managed to get 8 fruit on two plants - not great but at least something! Quite often overnight or early morning rain had filled the opened flowers, so rendering them useless for either natural or hand pollinating.

Tricia

[Chrispy]

Quite often overnight or early morning rain had filled the opened flowers, so rendering them useless for either natural or hand pollinating.

You can tie the flower closed the day before to keep out the rain, heres a website about collecting you own seeds (1 of many) that have more details, squashes are halfway down the page.

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/fs/fs220/

[grannyjanny]

I bought a BNS plant from a grower. It wasn't a BNS but a pumpkin. I emailed & they said they will give me some BNS which I agreed to . They emailed me yesterday & said their BNS have failed this year but will give me some others.
Just goes to show it pays to complain pleasantly .

[caroline7758]

My BNS are the same, dave. I think I've got one tiny fruit. All the other squash and pumpkins in the same area have done really well. Is there a reason that BNS are less likely to get pollinated?

[realfood]

Butternuts are notoriously difficult to grow in the North of the UK unless with protection and the latest varieties bred in the UK.
See the comments on this page http://www.growyourown.info/page147.html
Instead for next year consider growing Winter Squash such as Crown Prince or the new hybrid Crown Prince/ butternut cross which has been quite successful for me even with the wettest August ever that we had this Summer.

[Doris_Pinks]

Have always had fab BNS, and have been a bit blaze about them, this year they are absolute pants! Done the same as previous years, but have nada squash, well maybe one tiny one........................I put it down to the weather. 

[chriscross1966]

Although I'm further south than you I'd recommend Hunter if you want a butternut, it seems more productive than Waltham. My Walthams produced one big (TBF too big) squash each. The hunters produced four or five sensibly smaller ones  Also look at Winter Festival, produced quite a few acorn squash about the size of a big grapfruit and the plants are quite bushy compared to some of the aggressively spreading varieties (yes I'm looking at you Bon-Bon. )

Also I'm pretty certain that all the set fruit on my BNS  (of both sorts) were fertilized by other things.... anything from a  pumpkin to a gherkin.... If I was going to abandon a squash next year it would be BNS (I won't, I've got some hunter seeds coming),  as it's the only squash you see in the supermarkets.... if I have a polytunnel next year I might try one in there to see how it fares, or maybe give it a cold frame or similar.... Hunter doesn't get that big (or didn't outdoors this year....) so

You could try swapping around for other things, and grow a big variety to see what works, to get you started I can send you a few Winter Festival seed if you PM your address

chrisc

[shirlton]

Ours haven't done any good either. Next year I am going to plant earlier and pot on as they grow so that they will be a decent size when they go out.