Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Lizann on July 30, 2009, 20:16:30
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I have several butternut squash plants (Hunter) and they look as if they only have male flowers, no sign of any squash at all. Is there any hope I might get some squash now or is it too late?
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Lizann, mine were same a week ago now wee female fruits/growth showing :)
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Fab, so there is still hope! Thanks.
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thats exactly the question i was going to ask i've got 2 plants and they only seem to have male flowers.
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i have a few fruit on my plants, but do the male flowers need to be removed does anyone know??
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Hiya, Colman, welcome to a4a ;D
short answer is no, the male flowers are needed to pollinate the fruit :)
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Hiya, Colman, welcome to a4a ;D
short answer is no, the male flowers are needed to pollinate the fruit :)
thanks for the info, and for the welcome...
had my lottie since january and its been a steep learning curve but great fun...
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Hello colman and welcome to A4A. My first year too and yes it is very steep! Made quite a few rookie bloomers but had a few successes too. One of my butternuts has just started small fruit but the other is same as yours.
Lushy x
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I have three plants growing (seeds from the BBC Dig It programme), noticed the first little squashes tonight, they are only about 1" long, but I'm happy all the same. For your info, I only noticed the first flowers of any kind around one week ago.
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i find butternut always takes longe to start fruiting, this is what i said last year in relation to getting as many mature fruits as possible:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,45150.msg451650.html#msg451650 (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,45150.msg451650.html#msg451650)
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I have Hunter and Harrier F1. Neither of which have any fruits at present. ??? ???
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I am in Berks and have now been growing butternut squashes for 5 years. They are sown indoors around mid-April and planted out in mid-May.
Typically the fruits start to appear around the first week in August - it was earlier in 2006 when we had a good summer. This year they are about 10 days ahead of schedule. The variety is Avalon. I also tried Harrier one year but was not impressed with them.
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We have grown all our squash up a structure this year and they do seem to be fruiting better. Haven't got all that growth on the ground waiting to trip me up. Some have side shooted so may let a couple have a wander down the edge of the plot where they can do no harm. BTW Wecome to the site
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My Hunter butternut have been producing all female flowers for last couple of weeks(more than a dozen already). Still not a male in sight. Had same problem with other squash and courgette.
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Last year my BNS produced fruit very late but I still got a good crop - just hold on in there!
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Still not a male in sight
Will a pumpkin or courgette do the job? I have a trompetto D'albenga (also a curcurbita moschata)and that is having no problem at all being fertilized.
Only one of mine is producing females, and that it the one I gave to someone else. ::) ::)
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Digerdoo, any squash will fertilise the butternut female flowers, but the resulting seeds from squashes produced can't be used to get more butternuts as the seed will be crossed and not run true to type. Not a problem in my book - I usually loove buying seeds anyway.
So far I've had about 4 of my round courgettes to eat, but no baby butternuts. With the funny weather they'll take a bit longer this year, I suspect. Butternuts always seem to be the last to produce on my plot.
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Even my courgettes aren't brilliant this year. Two plants and only one decent courgette from each so far. Wonder what I'm doing wrong. I though courgettes were meant to be really easy to grow and I would have trouble keeping up with eating them, but not so. Think I might try a different type than just the usual long green ones next year. Any suggestions gratefully received.
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Even my courgettes aren't brilliant this year
What variety are you growing? Courgettes like bucket full of compost and lots of water and sun. Did you manage to harden them off well. If they get too much of a set back they give up. And how are you for slugs? If these are a problem there are several varieties which are more slug resistant than others.
What do you like doing with courgettes. Do you like them fried or in ratatoille? Send me a PM and I will send you some different types to try next year.
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Wished yer lived near me Lizann. You could have some of mine. Everyone on our site that I offer them to gives me that knowing look and I just skulk away. ;D
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Wished yer lived near me Lizann. You could have some of mine. Everyone on our site that I offer them to gives me that knowing look and I just skulk away. ;D
Time to resort to Courgette Surprise http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,53281.0.html (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,53281.0.html)
chrisc
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My butternuts are setting like quick set cement now, there was not a lot of fruit a fortnight ago. I always grow Waltham, it has shown the best results for me consistently delivering even in rubbish weather.
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think i have about 12 squashes now growing nicely on 4 plants...I planted them in tyres filled with manure and they are going great guns now...
Also did cougettes the same and from 3 plants i have had nearly 40 courgettes, i am now getting sick of them though - have made up a nice batch of courgette and tom soup this avo to put in the freezer for winter lunches...
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Still no progress or fruit! Is there anything I can do or feed them with to be helping things along. Loads of male flowers. Possibly some female flowers now, but ALL flowers still tightly closed and not looking like there's been much growth at all. I am so disappointed. Maybe I didn't prepare the soil well enough. Any suggestions from any of you squash experts? I just love butternut squash soup and hate paying a fortune in the shops for the squash.
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Ours are only just beginning to get fruit on whereas the other varieties of squash are doing well. If I remember last year ours didn't start to get going until late but we still had a good few
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Even my courgettes aren't brilliant this year. Two plants and only one decent courgette from each so far. Wonder what I'm doing wrong. I though courgettes were meant to be really easy to grow and I would have trouble keeping up with eating them, but not so. Think I might try a different type than just the usual long green ones next year. Any suggestions gratefully received.
Hi Lizann,
I've mentioned these before on another thread - Cavili from Thompson & Morgan are self-fertile so it doesn't seem to matter what the weather throws at them. Also they're very pale-skinned and creamy-fleshed so have a bit more going for them than the usual types. I haven't seen them on sale in any shops so you probably have to send up for them.
Good luck!
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I tried Butternut last year...........no fruit,not even one. :'(
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I lost the one I had but still live in hope... :-[
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Don't suppose anyone could send me a photo of what a baby squash looks like in case I've got them and I just don't know what they look like? Sorry, I know I'm thick but not grown these before at all!
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mine only set its first fruit last week and i have said before i can't remember mine ever setting fruit before august, so hope fully I'll get at least another three off of it.
Don't suppose anyone could send me a photo of what a baby squash looks like in case I've got them and I just don't know what they look like? Sorry, I know I'm thick but not grown these before at all!
this is the very embryonic stage before the flower develops properly to opens i took this pic 23/07/09.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wNGXTrtW5rc/Smgw4YBNxuI/AAAAAAAABks/xiMWlLC0R4w/s1600-h/IMG_4834.JPG (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wNGXTrtW5rc/Smgw4YBNxuI/AAAAAAAABks/xiMWlLC0R4w/s1600-h/IMG_4834.JPG)
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Thanks so much! I think I MAY have one of those ... five plants, one female. There are perhaps others close to the plant that might come, but millions of male flowers, none opening yet. There may still be hope. Should I give it some tomato feed, do you think?
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i don't feed mine as i bunged some goodness into the planting hole at transplanting time but a little feed won't hurt and if it dry for prolonged periods give them a good drink.
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Thanks, Thifasmom. If the other four don't start producing soon then I'm going to dig them up and throw in the compost bin to free up space for something that is going produce something edible. I'm really disappointed. Maybe I'm being premature, will give them another couple of weeks, perhaps, because after that it might take too long for them to mature anyway??
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i see you're up Scotland so your season is much shorter than mine in Kent. I'm normally able to not worry about them too much as they are normally safe certainly till the end of September.
then if frosts are forecasted i have a tendency to wrap the maturing fruits in 2 or 3 sheets of newspaper each night till the plant itself succumbs to the colder days and nights, then i remove the fruits.
as you said you could leave them a couple more weeks to see if any fruit sets, then after that remove any fruit that might want to set therefore giving the already set fruits greater chance to mature quickly. if the plants aren't too large maybe you could fleece the whole lot.
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Well, still five butternut squash plants and only one with 3 little squash ... is it time to dig the other four up and compost them? Wonder what has gone wrong? I was so looking forward to loads of butternut squash.
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Lizann, I grow a variety of squash in Glasgow and it has been tough during August because we have had rain almost every day, and more forecast.
Butternuts are particularly difficult in Glasgow because of the cooler temps, but I have succeeded this year by keeping them under a large Lidl cloche, open at the ends for pollination by bees. They only started setting fruit about the middle of August, but today there are now 4 fruits which should ripen by the end of September.
My method for growing butternuts is set out here http://www.growyourown.info/page147.html
Remember for next year that Winter Squash are just as sweet as butternuts, but are much easier to grow in Glasgow.
See http://www.growyourown.info/page127.html
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Squash is very popular here in Ontario, Canada, both summer and winter squash, the favourite winter squash in our house is Butternut or Hubbard used as a vegetable, or often used to make Pumpkin pie. A great Canadian favourite. both replace Pumpkin well.
how do you prepare your squash???? qahtan
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I'm on the east coast and my first butternut flowers opened two weeks ago; I've yet to establish if the fruit have been polinated. On the other hand, each of my Blue Kuri, Uchiki Kuri & Sweet Dumpling have three to five fruits per plant which are swelling nicely.
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My butternuts are a tale of two halves - I have two half plots on different site (a long story) about 8 miles apart, at both I planted the same plants out at the same time.
Three went in prepared ground - bucket full of manure, heaped up with a little dip - just like the book said, the remaining two went in on the other plot on the old manure stack. Just covered it with black mulch and cut a slit in - not even any soil was added.
The ones planted like the books are tiny, they really haven't got away at all, the leaves are very small and although they have started to fruit it is as if the plant is a bonsai.... the others well, between the two plants I have 15 butter nuts and more if I don't keep having to trim them back. I knocked one of them off the other day when trying to release it from a stuck up paving slab weighed in at a massive 6lbs!
Next year they are all going on the remants of the manure heap and to hell with the preparation. :P