Hi everyone,
I'm de-lurking to ask for some advice. Only got our allotment in Feb this year, so I'm a total novice at all this. Been cramming up on this site though, and reading plenty of books on growing!
I've rather foolishly (I now realise) planted five pumpkin plants and two butternut squash in a bed that is far too small, probably about 8x4 feet.
Of course the squashes have gone mad and are romping all over my neighbouring beds and will very soon be marauding over my french beans, spinach and other stuff.
My questions are: do I dig up maybe three of the pumpkin plants and ditch them before they get any bigger (feel guilty about this), or keep cutting the stems on all the plants in the vague hope of controlling their size?
I have to say that I love this site and have become addicted to it and allotmenteering, despite the mountainous learning curve I have embarked on this year.
All advice most gratefully received :)
Julie
hiya, julie, glad you de-lurked, we've all done it...one of ours, last year, i pinched out the growing tip every time it got a fruit on but...saying that, have you got a compost heap you could transplant some to, just take as much rootball as you can,keep them well watered ::) until they're settled .. may as well see if you can save them :)
also, can you train some up trellising r frames, I've done that with one of our squash...seems to like it
anyway, there'll soon be someone along with more ideas :)
de-lurking, I like that ;D.
Butternut squash don't take up too much space, but some pumpkin plants can really romp away! Which varieties are you growing? If the fruit is smallish you could go upwards and build a wigwam for the plants to grow up. I have rouglhy the same number of plants in the same surface area, but half of them are climbing up a wigwam.
Thanks for the speedy replies!
I have got a compost heap, but it's young, only been going for a couple of months and hasn't got enough in it yet. Nor is it composty enough, if you know what I mean!
I'll have to check the variety, the seed packet is in the shed at the lottie. It's occurred to me that I could dig some of the pumpkins up and plant them in an area that I have that is unused - apart from the bindweed of course! It's not dug over, but if I just dig a big enough hole and shove them in, I would feel that I'd not completely cold-bloodedly murdered them!
The allotment has revealed itself now and is pretty much covered top to bottom in bindweed and marestail, which I am keeping in check (kind of) with a couple of methods. It's also got rogue potatoes which have popped up all over, so we're eating them on a daily basis - kids are sick of them already!
The lottie already had raspberries, strawberries, thornless blackberry, blackcurrant bushes and rhubarb. Also a shed with some inherited tools.
I've planted loads of stuff and we're eating a lot of it already, so I'm well encouraged to carry on - the novelty has worn off a bit for the kids, but I'll drag them up there anyway occasionally.
I'll post some pics when I get myself organised :)
Julie
The space you mention will maintain the two Butternuts easily on their own, but bear in mind the pumpkins vines can grow 20 feet or more. If you can move them I would do so, with the butternuts you can train the vines the way you want them to grow, around pathways etc, you can even turn them back on themselves as they grow,also you could trellis the butternuts but the pumpkins would grow too large.
You have a dilemma, it would be difficult to control their size,even pinching out with so many is so small a place as they will really want to go, the other problem is they will turn into a jungle and rob each other of soil nutrients and light.
I hate the thought of culling them too, but I fear you may have to sacrifice something.
1, Try and trellis the Butternuts, you should be able to do this.
2. Try and move the pumpkins, as Manics says they will happily grow on the compost heap,if not I would sacrifice 3 for the sake of the others, it is drastic but may be needed. Perhaps share them with a neighbour who might give you fruit back.
With just 4 plants in your space and two of them trellised I think you may be OK, feed and water them though as they will be competing.
You might get early downy mildew on them as the season progresses as they will be cramped , if you do leave the fruit on right until the plant had withered then harvest what is left and cure them. You can wipe them down in a very mild bleach/water mixture which will kill off any mildew on the fruit.
If the skin is hard enough that you cannot leave a thumb nail print in them they will keep.
There is one other point, there are some types of butternuts now that don't vine, they bush, if that is the case with yours they won't trellis but they won't take up so much room either. If you know the name of the variety of butternut I can tell you which they are.
Welcome to the site.
Hope this helps. XX Jeannine
We crossed typing !!
If you are planting on rough ground, try planting through black plastic, then the pumpkins don't have to comptete with the weeds!! Dig a hole and fill the hole with good soil, lay the plastic, then cut through to the good bit.
Good Luck XX Jeannine
Although I wouldn't question Jeannie's advice I tend to use a different approach.
I move my vines around obstructions such as the other plants in the bed.
This might entail the vines going around in circles but as I only allow two fruits per vine it doesn't seem to matter as the root systems of each plant are well apart.
Then once I have two fruit set per vine I stop the vine from progressing any further.
I must admit I havent mixed squash & pumpkins but perhaps growing the squash vertically might help.
I don't think moving them would be in your intereset at this late stage
oops forgot the picture!!
(http://tinyurl.com/yr785q)
Tee Gee, I agree. but that is a LOT of plants in a small area. XX Jeannine
True Jeannine but all I was doing was trying to help, as I said I have never had the squash problem hence me saying go skywards
Incidently the Pumpkins in the above picture is four plants = 8 fruit in a 6'-6" square (4 doors) compost heap
How about training the pumpking vines around in a circular fashion - that work well for me last year and the density of the growth almost got the better of the Horse/Maretail. Put some manure on the bed as you do have a lot of greedy feeders and so long as you are not expecting to break any size or weight records you should be able to manage for the rest of this year.
Post some piccies soon, we're dead nosy on this forum ;D
One good thing - if you move them to the unused area, the pumpkin and squash leaves will block out the light from getting to the bindweed!
;D
Right, I did move three of them. Because they were all really close to my french beans and other shortish stuff I was convinced the pumpkins would smother it all.
The patch I took them from looks much happier now although the butternut squash has got white stuff (mildew) on some leaves. Shall I just remove those leaves and hope for the best?
I haven't trellised the butternuts yet (been busy clearing and digging a space for my leeks), but I might have a go at it next week.
The three pumpkin plants I moved are not looking happy at all, but the leaves on the end of the long stems are perky so perhaps they'll pick up. Thev've got masses of space now and I might mulch with cardboard (if I get round to it) to keep a check on the bindweed.
I've taken some pics, but am still in the process of subscribing. Couldn't quite work out the link the other day, but I'll have another go.
Thanks for all your help so far!
Julie
Well, I've done the subscription thingy - don't know if these pics will show, but I'll give it a try.
The first one is the original bed of five pumpkins, but after I'd taken one out. I forgot to take a pic before doing that! The second one is the three that I moved to their new home.
I visited them today and they don't look completely dead so there's hope for them yet!
I did take some pics of the rest of the plot, but it just looks like a jungle. It is so long and skinny (about 12 feet x120 feet), that it's hard to photograph the length of it so that it makes any sense!
Julie
Give them a lot of water,don't let them go dry and I think they will be fine, they look very healthy XX Jeannine