Topic: planting squash through membrane

[vicki]

Am I ok covering a whole bed with weed suppressant membrane and planting all my courgettes, pumpkins and butternut squash through it? I'm sure I read somewhere that squash/pumpkins put out roots as they sprawl to get more water/nutrients and I don't want to starve them if they can't do that

[raisedbedted]

Hi,

We did that last year and it worked very well.

However ( :-\) the only problem we had was that the slugs kept chewing off the plants and of course the slugs were happy under the membrane.  I had to replant twice before they finally got going but when they did they romped away and cropped very well.

So the answer is yes but do guard against the pesky slugs.

RBT

[daileg]

i dont use any weed control cos i grow up a  trellis and there off the ground then anyhow make sure you put a bottle in the ground up side down to water and feed or a pipe in the ground to get the water and food to the roots rather than the soil 

[manicscousers]

we do, every year, planting them out into the weed control when they can fend off the slugs, few at the back of the bed growing up trellis  ;D

[star]

Shove a load of bran under the membrane (costs about £4 a large sack from large pet stores or equine suppliers) The slugs love bran and eat lots of it.....then they either pop or dry out.  ;D ;D

[Crystalmoon]

Thanks for this tip Star think i will try this when I prepare the bed im planning to use for squash at my lottie