Blue banana squash - when are they ready?

[lewic]

I planted 3 x blue banana squash from Real Seeds. They took off immediately and grew huge, but only about 5 squash are ripening. Lots of small ones were pollinated and grew to about 4 inches, then shrivelled up. Any idea why this might be?

My butternuts which were planted at the same time took ages to fruit but now have loads on them, and the plants still look healthy. The only difference between them is the butternuts were planted through holes in weed membrane.

[lewic]

[realfood]

Probably a lack of water for the blue banana. Weed fabric slows down moisture loss from soil.

[galina]

Are you sure they were pollinated?  At 4 inches I would say possibly not.  Did you have drought conditions?  Another reason the plants could have rejected too many fruits.

[Jeannine]

galina is spot on. Mummy nature has a way of protecting things XX Jeannine