Topic: Why are my winter squash rotting off?

[Paulh]

I'm growing potimarron and Crown Prince and have lost about half of the fruits to rot. Mostly it is little ones that go which I've assumed is the plant deciding it can't support them or the fruit isn't viable for some reason, but I've lost several that were much larger and should have gone on to ripen.

Is it the humid weather? Too much or too little watering?

I've got some more fruit coming on some plants I set out later but it's a disappointing crop so far.

Any advice and suggestions welcome!

[squeezyjohn]

I always thought that small ones which rotted off are those which didn't get pollinated - no point in the plant putting all that energy in to a fruit if there's no viable seed inside! When I've hand pollinated squashes to save seed from in the past, the rotting small ones have not been an issue.

[galina]

This sounds very disappointing Paul, sorry you had problems.  I must admit my c. maxima squashes have not been brilliant this year either.  I isolated/handpollinated to get pure seeds on one variety and no good at all this year but at least I got fruits that were pollinated by bees. 

I agree with John about the tiny ones, but once fruit is beyond the embryo stage, it should 'make it'.  However, this year we had pretty virulent slugs and a slug hole or a bird peck (yes they do sometimes attack squash!    ) can lead to rotting at a later stage.  This may go towards explaining what might have been the matter. 

Also perhaps 'puddling' under the fruit where sudden rain did not drain on your clay soil.  I may be clutching at straws to try and explain, but some people put a roof slate or similar under developing squash to keep them dry.

Hope you still got plenty of fruit beyond the rotted ones.   

[Paulh]

Thanks, Galina, I'll try lifting the fruit off the ground next year. I've not really got enough of a harvest to have justified growing them but they'll taste great! I'll have to work harder next year at getting the best out of them.

[woodypecks]

Galina ------ like the tip about "  a roof "  That's gone down in my little red book !   Cheers   Debs   

[caroline7758]

My squash have been pretty rubbish this year. Got two acorn which I picked last week because the stems were dying back. Butternut & pumpkin did nothing and pottimarron are tiny. :(

[galina]

Not much better here - trouble was the very cold spring.  If squashes are not pretty developed and on the verge of flowering the second week of June, they tend to sulk for a long time and never really catch up.  On the other hand planting out early is also a gamble.  Unless the weather is balmy and sunny, they will sulk for a month too.  It can be so tricky to get them going well, outside the most southern counties and this year was the wrong weather for them unfortunately.  Courgettes fared better for me this year. 

[George the Pigman]

Same here. Squashes, Pumpkins and very surprisingly courgettes (normally have a glut but hardly had one!) have all been pathetic. Must be the crazy weather we have had this year.

[strawberry1]

I brought 9 more indoors today, decided that weather is getting too cold at night, so have put them in a lean to greenhouse to ripen, I have already stashed away 7 ripe ones.  All these from 2 plants, all butternuts. One plant had two, one plant had 14 and many were of a decent size. Amazingly my courgettes are still going strong, I have taken off the older leaves and the newer leaves look good still

It has been very dry here in the SW and is constantly sunny and outdoor humidity is low eg 36 today. Stupid me, I think I cut the stems too short so will end up chopping and freezing some of them in a few weeks. Should have left 6-8 inches