Author Topic: How are your squash doing?  (Read 17932 times)

tricia

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #20 on: July 25, 2015, 11:49:36 »
I get more frustrated every day  :BangHead:. Yesterday, two male flowers opened but were full of rain water so the five female flowers (equally full of water) couldn't benefit. This morning, in bright sunshine, seven more female flowers are hoping in vain to be pollinated since there are no male flowers open. I'm beginning to think that I won't get any squashes this year. So far I have removed a dozen or so yellowed and rotting baby squashes from my 5 plants and have, as yet, not a single one that has been pollinated :crybaby2:. Oh well! At least my water butts are full again after all that rain :icon_cheers:.

Tricia

Digeroo

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #21 on: July 25, 2015, 13:20:57 »
Quote
Yesterday, two male flowers opened but were full of rain water
Perhaps you need some little umbrellas over the flowers. :toothy2:

My tromba d'albenga are on a takeover bid.  :icon_cheers:  The plants are becoming huge. So far some small little squashes are forming. About an inch long :icon_cheers:  But no flowers open yet.   I hope the rain will get them swelling.    No t d'a last year they got slugged.  So gone overboard this year and they are all taking off though the  mole got one.  Hoping for enough for six or seven winter months until the courgettes start.   

Put about four slug pellets in each plastic bottle cloche, seems to have done the trick. 






strawberry1

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #22 on: July 28, 2015, 22:15:46 »
not a single butternut flower yet, healthy good plants. courgettes are steady and cucumber has started producing

BarriedaleNick

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #23 on: August 01, 2015, 09:17:13 »
Well the Kuri are going nuts now - huge plants and plenty of fruit.  However the Walnut (BNS) are small with no fruit at all but then I always think I am not going to get any off the BNS plants. They can be very late so we will see - they still have time.
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ACE

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #24 on: August 01, 2015, 12:48:45 »
Earlier on in the year I posted a thread on how I was going to use the huge mound of weeds and stuff that came off of my new plot. The idea was to cover the mountain in black plastic, then cut holes, sink bottomless buckets into it, then plant them with cucumbers, squash and courgettes. All the Harry Enfields joined in the chorus 'You don't want to do that'. Well the plants have gone mad, the neighbours are pretending not to be in when I walk up their paths with carrier bags in my hands.

On the other hand because of illness I could not manure the bottom of the old plot, so it was left in  a lumpy old clay mess. I put the rest of the plants in it just for ground cover really. The courgettes and cucumbers are just flowers, but the pumpkins and squash are producing well with good size fruits.

Silverleaf

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #25 on: August 01, 2015, 17:43:37 »
17 courgettes harvested so far - 1 each from Black Beauty, Tondo du Piacenza and Gold Rush, and the rest from two Temprano de Argelia. I'll definitely grow Temprano again, it tastes really nice too.

Struggled to get Rugoso Friulana to germinate, and while I got a plant eventually it's well behind the others, not even flowering yet. Three Scallop plants are just starting to throw up male flowers but no sign of fruits.

As for winter squash, I have Amber Cup, Black Futsu, Georgia Candy Roaster, Uchiki Kuri, Thelma Sanders and a mystery maxima variety from some seeds I saved but didn't label. Most have several fruits now, with huge leaves and really long stems. I'm looking forward to autumn!

strawberry1

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #26 on: August 02, 2015, 20:37:52 »
Two butternut from sarah raven seeds. Nice spreading healthy plants but not a single flower. Mind you this has happened in previous years and suddenly I get squashes, depends on the sun for the rest of summer. Frustrating but not the end of the world

saddad

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #27 on: August 03, 2015, 07:55:30 »
The courgettes have kicked in, but the rest are very slow to get going... all of August yet so not too worried yet!  :wave:

Jayb

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #28 on: August 03, 2015, 12:29:13 »

They are - I have plenty of seeds if you want to try them. Seeds of Italy are so generous with theirs.

The Black Futsus are in the sunniest spot on my plot and get regular encouragement to go visit all the lovely free rambling space under the sweetcorn. I hope they do well for you. :) One of my Potimarrons has developed a split stem so I don't think I will get more than one fruit from that vine.

Thank you I'd love to, but I'm trying to be firm and grow some of the older seeds I have next year, trouble is good intentions often go straight out the window when it comes to trying new varieties!

I've several fruits on my Potimarrons now as far as I can tell, it's getting a bit of a jungle where they are! Black Futsu have lots of baby female flowers which have just started opening  :blob7:
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Jayb

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #29 on: August 03, 2015, 12:37:16 »
I get more frustrated every day  :BangHead:. Yesterday, two male flowers opened but were full of rain water so the five female flowers (equally full of water) couldn't benefit. This morning, in bright sunshine, seven more female flowers are hoping in vain to be pollinated since there are no male flowers open. I'm beginning to think that I won't get any squashes this year. So far I have removed a dozen or so yellowed and rotting baby squashes from my 5 plants and have, as yet, not a single one that has been pollinated :crybaby2:. Oh well! At least my water butts are full again after all that rain :icon_cheers:.

Tricia

If you are still having only a few male flowers, (my butternuts have only produced I think 4 or 5 males so far and that must be from about 20+ plants!) you could try tying some flowers shut as if you were for hand pollinating, it keeps them dry inside for when there is a break in the clouds and you have a chance to dab a little pollen about or if bees are working they can do their stuff once the flowers are untied.
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Deb P

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #30 on: August 03, 2015, 14:30:55 »
Courgettes are cropping  well now, I harvested nine from four plants yesterday and have started to train them vertically up canes now. The squash seem to have suddenly produced fruits, and although small are growing fast....
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

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tricia

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #31 on: August 03, 2015, 15:12:46 »
I tried that Jayb, but for some reason my squash plants just don't want to play ball this year  :BangHead:. There are now plenty of both male and female flowers each day and even though I have also tried hand pollinating I'm still removing most of the butternut and all of the Autumn Crown babies after a few days when they turn yellow and soft. So far, I can only see three butternuts that are growing well (three plants) - but no AC's at all on my two plants. I'm just not having a very good year with my veggies. Apart from a few Crimson Crush I have yet to harvest a ripe tomato!

Tricia  :wave:

ACE

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #32 on: August 03, 2015, 16:04:40 »
Mine are now doing so well I have a plant that is producing those small patti pan things. Strange cos I never planted any.

Digeroo

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #33 on: August 03, 2015, 17:52:14 »
Courgettes have slowed down a bit.  Still no flowers opening on the squashes.  All the rain has disappeared from the forecasts this week which is a pity.  Pumpkins plants now getting bigger but no sign of a pumpkin. 

Long white courgette produced one really long one most of a foot long but still quite slim, but I think it must have exhausted itself because now all its flowers are males. 

I planted some pattipan and they did not come up, so perhaps its one of mine.  :tongue3:



Silverleaf

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #34 on: August 03, 2015, 21:02:45 »
My pattypans aren't even really flowering yet, but some of the courgettes are kicking into gear now. I'm getting swamped already!

sparrow

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #35 on: August 04, 2015, 09:02:44 »
I tried that Jayb, but for some reason my squash plants just don't want to play ball this year  :BangHead:. There are now plenty of both male and female flowers each day and even though I have also tried hand pollinating I'm still removing most of the butternut and all of the Autumn Crown babies after a few days when they turn yellow and soft. So far, I can only see three butternuts that are growing well (three plants) - but no AC's at all on my two plants. I'm just not having a very good year with my veggies. Apart from a few Crimson Crush I have yet to harvest a ripe tomato!

Tricia  :wave:

How dry is your soil? My squash plants are aborting some their fruit because I am struggling to keep the ground moist enough for them to sustain them all. Just  a thought.

Jayb

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #36 on: August 15, 2015, 08:00:55 »
Wow, what a difference in just 3 weeks! Everything has gone mad  :toothy10:
I can only get close enough to see the plants around the edges, happily most of the maxima's look to be setting fruit, some of the butternuts too  :icon_cheers:
The 3 Walthams haven't even had (as far as I can tell) a female flower yet. I won't be trying to grow them again, it seems two years on a trot they aren't performing at all.
Sonka on the other hand have some decent size fruit growing, the plants are trailing everywhere now, the leaves have a silvery pattern on them which makes them easy to spot amongst the others. I'm looking forward to trying these later on.

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Old Ace

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #37 on: August 22, 2015, 10:01:09 »
My courgettes started really well and were quite prolific, however almost overnight the leaves have turned brown and brittle, the many fruits still on the plant have turned half black and drop straight off when touched. I presume this is a watering issue

chriscross1966

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #38 on: August 22, 2015, 19:47:23 »
Big pumpkins being their usual mischievous selves.... after last years epic of three of us straining to get get a 173 pounder into the van I had the cunning idea of putting a pallet under each of my set fruit (in fact I plated the area around the baby plants when they went out with pumpkins and trained them over them in hope).... so what have the buggers done?.... that's it they've grown into the pallets... they're stuck and moulding themselves around their carriers..... think I freed two of them, but the biggest (sigh) is stuck fast....the courgettes are stunted by the weather we had but seem to be keeping ahead of my ability to eat them, the winter festival squash seem to be a bit Januarine.... one is a massive spreading monstrosity covered in fruit, the other one is being polite, and seems to be making fruit, then making them big, then making another one... the big, spur-of-the-moment marrow is big and getting bigger .... hopefully show-bound in mid-september...

brownthumb2015

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Re: How are your squash doing?
« Reply #39 on: August 23, 2015, 08:27:36 »
I bought new  Butternut squash seeds this year can`t remember from where or name as pkt is in the lotty shed ,,,, their growing well and have fruit but they are round, is that usual for them to start round then become the proper shape later.... as i cant remember them doing so in  previous years

 

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