Topic: How are your squash doing?

[Jayb]

Shape does vary a bit for butternuts, here's some of mine with different shapes, Barbara F1, Hunter F1 - they are quite blocky shaped and Tiana F1.

But I wonder if yours are Autumn Crown? http://www.dobies.co.uk/Garden/Vegetables/Vegetable+Seeds/Squash+Seeds/Squash+Autumn+Crown+F1+Seeds_438706.htm

[Jayb]

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...

Oops, funny I was thinking of putting something under mine, wouldn't have thought they would grow into a pallet!!!

[Deb P]

My squash are also behaving oddly......not much leafy growth, but many more fruits than I usually get! I have made a concerted effort to water them thoroughly, giving them a really good soak with a watering can full once a week, and they are all planted in a pile of well rotted manure. Some of the smaller ones have already changed colour! I've never had this happen before so early......

[sparrow]

I had 3 flowers ready to pop open this morning and it was    raining.

[Digeroo]

Getting some nice big Tromba.  The plants are getting quite big, seems to be a race to see which plant gets to the edge of the plot first. 
They had a bucket full of manure each to start with and then a large pot of compost (not potting compost the real thing) beside each plant.  I found this on a US site about growing zucchini and it seems to work well.  Unfortunately I cannot find the site again.

[peanuts]

With our warmer sunnier summer this year, and not much rain (except storms every now and again) our Waltham squash have done really well.  They started late, with no help from me as we were in UK for a month), some planted out as small plants on the manure heap, others just sown direct. I've no idea how many plants I ended up with therefore, possibly a dozen.  Despite their late start they have romped along, the first flowers appearing end July, and now there are at least 60 fruit, most of them much larger this year!! I don't water them, just leave them to get on with it. The last two weeks I have cut loads of shoots back as I don't want any more to form!

[tricia]

As far as I can see, I have only five butternuts maturing on two plants - none on the Waltham - maybe four on one of two Autumn Crown plants, but none on the other. Very poor showing! The rain has stopped so I've been out removing lots of shoots in the hope that the remaining females will get pollinated tomorrow (sun is forecast!). I've lost count of the number of aborted and yellowed fruit I've removed over the past few weeks. . I tried hand pollinating with a soft paint brush after tieing the flowers closed, but obviously that didn't work very well. Oh well - I guess I won't be distributing squashes from an over-abundance this year.

Tricia

[johhnyco15]

had a count up today before the rain started got around 30 butternuts from 5 plants most around the 2 kilo mark another 2 are massive 3 kilo plus i reckon so they are not as good as last year but i did have 15 plants  but got 211  1 kilo to 3 kilo squashes so yes its been a poor year

[strawberry1]

not been worth it this year. 4 butternut on two healthy plants. Not bothering next year on my small plot I can get better value for the space

[sparrow]

As long as they all mature and none of them fall off I will have:
4 small black futsus, 1 shishigatani (off 2 plants!), 1 berretina piacentina, 4 sweet dumpling, 2 flat whites, 1 jarrahdale (again, 2 plants), 2 geraumon martinique, 1 marina di chioggia, 1 tiny not worth it burgess buttercup, 2 trombas, 3 potimarron
 
Most of them are much smaller than they should be, there is only usually one per plant (22 plants!) and no butternuts at all on the plants. It's been a dismal year for them, like Tricia I've had umpteen aborted fruits. I was hoping to be giving lots away, but that's just enough for us over winter.

[chriscross1966]

If I had a small plot I wouldn't bother with cucurbits at all I think, pumpkins are  a decoration at the size I grow them, and winter squash take up way too much space for what in a bad year will be a disappointing yield.... thankful that I have space

[strawberry1]

yes I agree with the disappointment.I have done my planting plan for next year and am leaving squash out altogether. Cheap enough to buy if I want one and if I am very very honest with myself, I never go `wow I have a squash to eat` nutritionally good and keep well but I don`t really like them.

[Digeroo]

Bit frustrated my tromba are rotting at the end, so they will not keep.

[chriscross1966]

Squash was a bit of a pointless thing until I discovered naan loaf... now I need plenty of squash to make the curried roast squash soup that I eat with the most delicious bread I have created...

ANd it's pretty easy.... replace the water in a normal bread mix with milk and add some yoghurt, butter instead of oil and plenty of black onion seeds and cumin seeds, otherwise treat as normal bread..... it is like eating a well made white loaf but it tastes like naan bread.... perfect with curried soups, and there's few as simple as cream of curried roast squash...

[sparrow]

yes I agree with the disappointment.I have done my planting plan for next year and am leaving squash out altogether. Cheap enough to buy if I want one and if I am very very honest with myself, I never go `wow I have a squash to eat` nutritionally good and keep well but I don`t really like them.

Mebbe you've just not found the right ones for you? I am working through a huge list and so far have found a few that are amazingly like chestnuts or hazelnuts and they are being grown year on year. For me they are worth the risk of a short season.

[Silverleaf]

I've had a lot of aborted squash fruits too. It's weird, because there's been lots of bees buzzing around.

[sparrow]

Mine have been aborting prior to opening. After much googling I've put it down to temps or moisture issues or a combination of both. 

[johhnyco15]

yesterday saw my first ripe butternut of the year yippy

[Digeroo]

It was very cold this morning so I hope they will not mind too much,

I am now hoping that this return to warmer weather will get them excited.  There are a huge number of small female flowers, just not sure there is enough time to get them mature.    If not lots of immature ones to eat in November.

I hated last winter without any tromba.  I left some gently frying, and they make delicious crisps.   I have given up on butternut, skin too hard.  I either seem to get nothing or a huge thing most of which gets wasted.

Looks like I will have to go and water.

[Deb P]

I think I might cliche mine tomorrow, been outside tonight and it feels very chilly!