Allotments 4 All

Mine have only just started to form, although I have pumpkins the size of footballs and marrows the size of a small village.....am I just impatient?   ???  ;D

I am exactly the same, can't find any butternuts but a few pumpkins - was wondering if I was doing something wrong?

Same here, mine are poor show this year, but I live in hope of an Indian summer! ;D

On one of our plants - we have one which is getting biggish now - about 6 inches long and 4inches wide. A few others have just shrivelled and died, and about 3 are showing some promise of doing something useful.

But - the other plant has not really even starting flowering yet!

No pumpkins yet (butternuts were all eaten by snails)

Same here, on Gardeners World tonight they said cold and dry spring has affected squash, pumpkin & courgettes but they should recover.  Last yr my squashes started to grow quite late and then the cold weather stopped them altogether when they were quite small :(

How many pumpkins do people leave on each plant?

three female flowers on our butternuts, but they seem healthy enough. guess it's just a case of wait and see.

Indian Summer DP!  It was dark by 9pm tonight.  Is autumn really coming already!?

My first few butternuts shrivelled up and fell off.  I was burrowing around under the leaves the other day (like a jungle in there) and found several that are about 5" long.

Fingers crossed!!

Re Pumpkins I usually stop the plant when 2 or 3 have set except for one plant that I stop with one fruit set and feed extra for the large pumpkin my Daughter loves at Halloween. Butternut useless this year especially after all the problems earlier with germination. Managed a couple of decent plants but have not set?
Try again next year.
Regards
Chriszog

Hi all,  :D
              pumpkin plants = 6  pumpkins = 28  :o

              butternut plants= 3  butternuts = 1   :'(

               nuf said
               adrian.

Can't even find my plants amongst all the darn gourds!! Have loads of gourds, which were after thought, pumpkin flowers, no pumpkin and no idea what's happened to the butternut squash plants!!!  Might be in there somewhere.... ??? Lottie

Hadn't looked at the butternuts for a couple of days.  They're about 8" now!!  (Don't mean to show off but as I've just had to rip all the tomatoes out as they had blight    :'(  I need to brag about something)

Can I keep them after I pick them?  If I can, how long do they last?

Last year mine lasted for ages in a cool garage. Still fine in Feb March.

I think I have butternuts.  I planted the seeds from a shop bought butternut and was warned i could get anything (did the same with acorn squash and they look ok.  When do you pick them ?).  The butternuts are 3" long and they right shape so who knows ........

I've got a nice sized butternut under the foliage, and I'm hoping that I'll soon have another on plant 2.  Last year I got three off one, so I'm a bit disappointed, but the plants are still growing fast and the use of a cloche later on for ripening will be helpful.

moonbells

Silly Question.  What are gourds?

Anna

I'm interested in the cloche idea as I'm sure my butternuts will be very late.  (Flowering now.)  When would I need to put out a cloche?  (South Cheshire area)

Quote from: Nathan on August 21, 2005, 23:09:12
I'm interested in the cloche idea as I'm sure my butternuts will be very late.  (Flowering now.)  When would I need to put out a cloche?  (South Cheshire area)

I'd say when the night temperatures drop below about 10.  Usually first week of September, when you get the first definite chill feel to the air and mutter something about there goes summer...

First year I grew them (2003) I was horribly late planting and so covered my butternut completely in the Sept. It was enough to ripen a lone fruit.

(http://www.moonbells.freeserve.co.uk/allotment/2003/September_03/150903_1.jpg)

moonbells

Hi  all,  :D
                Must learn not to be so impatient, visited lottie today & instead of just 1 butternut, (see a previous post)  now there are at least 7. Hopefully they will grow & ripen in time.
                            Adrian.

                                       

Quote from: Annadl on August 21, 2005, 00:46:11
Silly Question.  What are gourds?

Anna

Home counties deities  ;D

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-29.html - All about Gourds.

At last, loads of baby butternuts.  Now to get them ripe.  Must go buy a cloche or two. Or make one.  Any reccommendations?

I have plenty of flowers forming so will wait patiently

(at least a day!! ) and investigate.

Debs ;D

Quote from: Nathan on August 22, 2005, 21:24:37
At last, loads of baby butternuts.  Now to get them ripe.  Must go buy a cloche or two. Or make one.  Any reccommendations?

Some recommendations:
1) a Geoff Hamilton cloche
go to Paul's Garden World http://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/ and navigate to garden projects and Geoff Hamilton cloche

2) a simple tunnel cloche - basically a large GH cloche
(same site - has nice diagram)

You can get blue alkathene water pipe from Wickes or plumbers' supplies: round us the Wickes piping came out cheaper.

Cover the cloche with fleece -  making sure it's heavy duty and also wide enough for your bed. You can also cover with plastic sheeting but don't forget to water regularly in that case as rain can't get in!

3) Just cover the whole bed with fleece and forget the supports.

moonbells

ps this was what I did
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,9351.msg84523.html#msg84523

I will fleece mine at the end of next week - but I have about 10 butternuts on each plant!

Thanks for the tips Moonbells.   I'll use fleece and some homemade supports.  While we're on the subject, can you pick butternuts small or will they taste 'wrong'?

Quote from: Nathan on August 23, 2005, 23:26:10
Thanks for the tips Moonbells.   I'll use fleece and some homemade supports.  While we're on the subject, can you pick butternuts small or will they taste 'wrong'?

If they're still stripy I would leave them until they are golden.  I'm sure you could eat them earlier but I'm not sure they'd have the right taste.  Mine (still a singleton) is still at that stage and I'm wondering how to help it ripen. Will probably just put a pop bottle over the fruit.

moonbells

I had a funny start with my butternuts, lots and lots of flowering, very little fruit set and then.. a significant change, a couple of fruit set and then it all took off like wildfire. I had one fruit in particular that I cut off early (green/stripey skin) and that has now matured into a light yellow off the vine.

I've left all of the ofther fruit on the vines (after advice given here!) and they're all doing quite well. I'm a first time gardener with these and I've followed the cultiavtion instructions on the seed packet to the letter. I bought the seed in South Africa and the recommendation to grow them goes like this..

They suggest a 1M diameter raised circular ridge with a slightly dished out interior, with the seeds planted around the rim. I have three plants equally spaced around the rim of each circle and three butternut circles in total, nine plants.

I'd filled the interior of the dish with some old hay as a mulch and it has made watering a fairly simple process, each 'dish' gets an 11l watering can full once every couple of days. The soil had many hundreds of litres of old chicken manure dug in and has had the odd handful of a non-organic balanced granulaer fertilizer and now mostly gets the odd half bucket of a homemade organic nettle 'soup'. The change to the nettle soup stuff coincided with the blaze of fruit set but I've been too timid to experiment on some of the plants by not feeding this stuff.

I'll see if I can figure out some photos if anyone is interested?

I have no butternuts yet, and mine are on manure as well, plenty of leaf and nowt else!

mine went into freshly dug not very good soil without manure and were neglected. They have romped and gone crazy producing squashes. Perhaps manure is simply too rich for them?

Well off I went with high hopes of acquiring a cloche only to find a nasty little overpriced plastic thing, about £10 and covering maybe 2 square feet.  What a disappointment.    Next step was to investigate perspex or pvc sheets, my idea was that two rectangular pieces can be taped together along a long edge to form a hinge and produce a simple cloche.   Clear rigid plastic, however, turns out to be really expensive.

So now I'm on to idea number 3 which is going to involve wood and plastic, and which I will describe if it proves successful.  The design spec is:  Cheap, light, single object that does not require 'putting up', must stack when not in use.  I am aiming to keep the price below £1/square foot. Watch this space and wish me luck.

There was a very chilled out bumble bee in one of my pumpkin flowers today so I am hopeful that I might have my first taker.  Hopefully there is time for it to get big enough for the kids to have a homegrown pumpkin to carve come the end of October.

our butternuts are all about an inch long! but they have pretty flowers.
      Ruth

I was thrilled today to find two 2" butternuts, I am really excited - first time growing them thanks to A4A, I hadn't even heard of them this time last year and am now hooked on them!

I'm so lucky, I have aprox. 20 butternuts ranging in size from 6cm to 30cm.
They are all hidden under foliage, should I cut back some of the leaves to give them a better chance of ripening?
I took the camera down to take a photo at 7 this morning but the battery died on me :(

 ;D ;D

I just cleared out a bit of the understairs storage so I could fit in some of the jam I made yesterday - and found one of last year's butternuts hiding at the back!!!

And it's still solid!!

I suspect butternut squash soup will be on the menu this week...  ;D ;D ;D ;D

moonbells

Hi all

My Butternuts have been doing OK
4 plants, approx 15 squashes, feeling quite pleased with my first attempt.
Now disaster, 2 squashes have split.

Should i pick the rest even though they are still a little green?
Any idea whats gone wrong?

Quote from: scumpy on September 01, 2005, 13:21:44
Now disaster, 2 squashes have split.
...
Any idea whats gone wrong?

Yes, had a couple of mine split... these were large fruits with no leaf-cover that have been exposed to full-sun. We had an extended hot/dry spell here and then a Major day-long downpour where everything got a soaking and then the heat returned again. It was hot-downpour-hot sequence that made a couple of my fruits rupture and then crack open a bit.

The 'wound' oozed a bit and has then hardened off and healed up.

All the fruits that lie underneath the leaf canopy of the plants are doing just fine. I'd say leave them on, let them fix themselves and see how it goes.

I don't ever remember seeing a fruit that was as damaged as some of mine have become... but presumably it happens and they're just filtered out in the QC process before they reach the store.

If you do decide to keep damaged fruit on the plant then you should keep a look-out for infection by opportunistic pathogens. In particular at this time of year conditions for black rot (Didymella bryoniae) infection on squash are quite favourable and it will readily germinate in damaged fruit.

  I'm growing squashes for the first time. I have 'Golden Delicious' - three plants with three fruits between them - but I don't know if they're mature yet, and 'Butternut Sprinter' - three plants racing across the plot at great speed, but producing only male flowers: not a fruit in sight.  Anyone know whay that could be ??

I have got one whopper - must be about 6 inches thick and about 8 wide, all the rest get to about 2 inches, flowered, then died!! Must have had 15 - 20 attempting to grow. Wonder if the big boy is taking everything the plant has to offer. Going away tomorrow, leaving the garden in the hands of the neighbour, so hope I get to harvest the squash when I get back!

Quote from: Ern on September 06, 2005, 17:11:15
   'Butternut Sprinter' - three plants racing across the plot at great speed, but producing only male flowers: not a fruit in sight.  Anyone know whay that could be ??

The plants produce male flowers first then they produce female flowers. If you have applied too much nitrogen it may result in excessive vegetative growth and delay flowering.

Quote from: daisymay on September 06, 2005, 20:58:05
I have got one whopper - must be about 6 inches thick and about 8 wide, all the rest get to about 2 inches, flowered, then died!! Must have had 15 - 20 attempting to grow. Wonder if the big boy is taking everything the plant has to offer. Going away tomorrow, leaving the garden in the hands of the neighbour, so hope I get to harvest the squash when I get back!

Sounds like a pollination problem. Have you seen any bees working the flowers recently?

  Thanks, John.  I was afraid that might be the problem. Do you think it's too late now for the plants to produce anything ?

I was wondering where my butternuts had got to, now it seems like I'm in the same boat as most of you, lot's of male flowers, a few fruits had set then dried and fallen off but one or two seem to be their for the long haul! ;D

I had 3 good pumpkins having decided to only grow one per plant in my limitted space... all about 2-2lbs each...

I've got 2!!!! Really excited, first attempt at butternut squash, seem OK at min.  But having read this. I'm off to water manically, really don't want them to split. But I must be the only person who's manged to produce 1 marrow..... ::) Lottie

I have several pumpkins, and some winter squashes of unknown orgin, because they were given to me by my neighbour. Are butternut squashes particularly difficult then, as all my plants have been incredibly prolific, ie I have enough fruit for the whole of my city !

Derekthefox  :D

I probably have around 15-20 fruits at the moment, haven't been able to count them all because the foliage is hiding them! Some are massive - much bigger than shop bought ones. Some are still weeny, but growing.

I had a fabulous meal in a restaurant last night - half a roasted butternut squahs, filled with ratatouille with cubes of feta cheese on top. I shall definitely be giving that a go when my squashes are ready!

Derek last year I had masses, this year can only see 2 so far, unless they are lurking under leaves, (she hopes!)  I have never found them difficult till this year, must be the weather! :'(

Hi all!
This is my first year growing butternuts too!  After a very slow start I now have about 10 that have set.  Does anyone know how long it takes from setting to harveting? 
I love growing butternuts .. watching the fruits swell is really fascinating!

Kc Seems to depend on the weather with mine! I leave them on the vine as long as possible, to get them as big as they can, they say they survive a light frost but I try and bring them in before that, and finish ripening them on a windowsill or greenhouse.
I love growing squash, the speed of growth is very rewarding, and of course it is all above ground so you can watch them expand on a daily basis! ;D

I have quite a few small ones, and the bluddy slugs are munching them.  :-\

Alimo

Can you raise them at all Alimo?

We ate our first allotment grown butternut squash last week. everyone liked it.
Lots more close to being ripe.

Well Doris, the intention was that they'd grow up the wonderful support my husband made, but, best laid plans and all that, they're making a bolt for freedom across the veg patch.  

This being my first year at veggie growing I'm learning from my many mistakes - will try and tie them to supports next year and not rely on them just climbing themselves.  

Alimo

Yum West sussex!

Alimo you can try to reduce the damage by  putting a brick or tile gently under them,  or straw, though the little boogers will obviously climb up, but it gives them an obstacle! (I also gently try to send them upwards even if they are hurtling across the ground!)
Oh and hope you don't mind me saying (cos you may already know!), but if you have badly nibbled ones remove them so the energy can go to your best fruits, hope you get some fruit off!   DP

if it is a slug problem put some cut hair around the plants.
No slugs will come near.

No but I've got saltyballs  :o.  On a more serious note, this is the first year I've grown squshes other than courgettes/marrows - I'm having little sucess so far - only two small butternuts with a third one on the way - hope this one grows well

Thanks for the anti-slug hints and raising the plants advice. 

Ok - who wants a haircut???

 ;D

My butter nuts aren't.  I thinkthey must be pink banana or themystery seeds from the guy next door.  They are rugby ball shaped and custard powder yellow.

just got back from 2wk hols to find 8-10 b'nut averaging 4in in lenth on 5 plants so live in hope they will form in time.

first time messenger but have been readin all advice on A4A 4 a while now,excellent for tips and advice.great site

I've got butternuts rampaging all over the place, but no fruit. Next year I'll be planting them earlier as I didn't think of it till I read about them on this site in late June, and it was probably too late by that time.

I counted up 5 today, all at different stages and sizes, none of them ready yet. I can't wait to eat them. Even the OH was excited when he saw them.

OK before replying to this, bare in mind a few points
1 I'm a dingbat  2 permanent marker isn't always permanent
3 All squashes in big bed together  :o :o :o 4 This is the first season I've tried them 5 Any other reasons you can think of.......  OK here I go...Is this a butternut squash, or a really poorly marrow? I didn't realize, if it is, that they had pale stripes before ripening, and it's so hard! If marrow, what the hell is wrong with it!! Thank you  Lottie  ;D ;D

Errr Lottie,  methinks what you have there me dear is.......................a butternut squash! ;D   

(http://bestsmileys.com/dancing/12.gif)
Excellent!! Thanks DP, really chuffed! OK.....what next?  ;)
Lottie ;D

Put it somewhere and let it ripen, I put mine on a windowsill in the conservatory or in my unheated greenhouse, if you look here,
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,12896.0.html
there are a few notes about storage, unless of course you just want to go ahead and eat the darling now, in which case you need to search in the recipes section for butternut squash! ;D

Think I'll go the (http://bestsmileys.com/cooking/6.gif) route, DP!! Is it supposed to be so hard? Competing with homemade biscuits for hammer status!! Lottie  ;D

The question is how many did you eat while stipey?

Yes they are hard skinned which is why they last so long over the winter, I don't start eating mine till we have run out of runners, beetroot, lettuce etc. I use the squashes as our winter fodder! ;D
They are great roasted, and one of my kids faves is carrot and squash puree, lovely with a roast dinner. :D  :D

LOL!! This is my first one Aussie Chick!! But more coming, will need identity parade to sort out marrows from butternuts from tiny pumpkins and gourds!! All yellow  ::) ::) ::)!! Marrows are beginning to turn, I think, could be...sigh!
DP, that sounds delicious! Will store it then, read that bit, feel more prepared now....ish !! Thanks for all your help.  Lottie  ;D

I too use them for winter, roasted is the best.

OK changed mind again, having read that!!! Have urge to roast it now... ::) ::) ::) Lottie  ;D

Best butternut meal:   Cut into chunks, boil like potatoes. mash with butter, salt and pepper, yum.

Second best butternut meal:  Roast in oven (small chunks) and eat mixed with crisp bacon, pasta, and feta cheese.  Yum yum.

Third best butternut meal:  Cut into thick slices. Put them in bottom of roasting dish while you roast a chicken.   Soaks up chicken flavour.

OK, gone midnight, but sound so nice half tempted to start now!! Thanks Nathan. Lottie  ;D

when i got my butternut plant the label suggested i halve it and roast with maple syrup. nigella lawson does a pancake recipe with maple syrup and crispy bacon, sounds disgusting i know but tastes divine. so IF i get any butternuts (notice that's a big if) i'm gonna roast 'em and top with crispy bacon.  ;D
Tara xx

My one butternut is really going to have to stretch with all these gorgeous ideas!! Thank you! Lottie  ;D

worryingly, yes, I do...... ;D Lottie

I harvested a dozen butternut squash last night. Plenty still left on the (5) plants that will hopefully swell now I've removed the biggest ones. Some of them are enormous, some look more pumpkin-shaped, which is odd. Some look quite ripe but some aren't, and are currently residing on the bench near the window in my shed. A couple of them had quite deep splits in them (which is why I decided to start harvesting). I've left those outside to ripen or rot, whichever happens first. It looks as if either slugs or woodlice may have been laying eggs on the cut surfaces, so I didn't want to store them with the others. If they ripen up quickly I still may be able to salvage the un-split sides for soup.

Also harvested all my pumpkins (15 of varying sizes currently taking up all the remaining space in my shed), four courgette/marrows, half a dozen globe artichokes, a carrier bag full of tomatoes and two rows of potatoes. Quite a haul for one evening!

There's a picture of the pumpkin/squash haul on my blog.

Think I'm too late for the veg show. Not to worry.

Do you know why they split? I have 4 and one quite small one has  split, also has white stuff on the outside of split. I didn't realise theses were eggs! yuck. Should I pick  it now or let it get bigger. Its slightly smaller than the size of your hand.

Quote from: SpeedyMango on September 14, 2005, 11:02:02
There's a picture of the pumpkin/squash haul on my blog.

Think I'm too late for the veg show. Not to worry.

I'm a bit of a spoon and can't find your pictures. Would you mind putting the link here please.

thanks,
AC

The link is in my sig. (below).

Mine fell off - we were distraught! However there is a new baby we are watching over it fondly - fingers crossed!! TONS of male flowers though. The globe courgettes have done really well though.

Wow Speedy Mango!! great web site.

Not to late Speedy, get those pictures on the 2004 show thread! 

Now that the weather is really turning wet and cold,

at what stage is it advisable to cut back some of the foliage to allow the sun to get in there to do its stuff and ripen the butter nuts?

Will the frost stop them in their tracks?

Similar query to flowerlady.  I am off on holiday for 2 weeks on Weds (yay) and wasn't sure as the weather has been so wet down here if I should actually cut the squash off and leave them in the greenhouse while I am away???

This may help!
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,12896.0.html

I've been harvesting mine over the past month, two of five pounds, four of over four pounds and half a dozen smaller. Quite a few small ones have just dropped off the vines and a few were eaten by pests.

I've not had any off my two plants.  No sign of any either.  The foliage is huge and healthy though  :)