Loads of courgettes, loads of pumpkins, all planted the same time and in the same patch as the squash, but not a single fruit. :( Any ideas why? The leaves on the squash have been paler all along - is that normal or could it be a clue to the problem?
I have no luck with them either Caroline, think they need a bit more heat than we can provide at the moment!
:-\
Same experience here, based in Northampton. Probably not enough sunny days to get bees out to pollinate the flowers and then lack of heat to get the butternut squashes to grow. Certainly not due to lack of rain !!
I have been a bit luckier - I have three butternut squashes (Cobnut) from four plants. They are not huge - probably the size of a grapefruit-and-a-half. They are a lovely pale buff colour at the moment and can't wait to pick them. I have loads of smaller ones too but they are still green and I don't know whether they will have time to reach maturity - will leave them on to see as the leaves on the vines are still going strong..... I tried to grow them last year and was completely unsuccessful. So, it would seem that it pays to be persistent.
twinkletoes
My plant had none until a few days ago - two very tiny green butternuts are now growing. Me thinks they might never make it to the plate though! Pleased to hear you had success in your second year with them twinkletoes as this is my first year attempting to grow them - hopefully better luck next year!
xx
Mine won't even flower.
Can I just ask while Butternuts are on this post.
My butternut is planted in a large planter and has 3 stems growing all over the place, with loads of of flower buds. But none have flowered.
Would I be better to trim it back to a few buds to stop green growth and try to trigger it into flowering?
I'm never going to get 20 Butternuts off the plant but there must be at least 20 buds on the stems.
What do you think?
First time of growing them and not a hint of a fruit – very disappointed
Oh well, makse me fel better to know I'm not the only one!
....but you are all going to have another go at them next year eh? :) I put mine about 2.5 ft apart in a square and sloshing on loads of water every day (exept when I didn't go cos it was too wet! ::) ) and I didn't take off any of the runners until the first three butternuts had formed and started change colour.
twinkletoes
I had one plant and reaped one squash.
Didn't feel too badly though because the free seed
was plucked from one we ate from the store.
Has anyone tried growing them vertically??
Maybe I should start a new thread.
Guess I better so nobody yells at me!
My variety of butternut squash, called Ithoughticus Itwascourgetticus, has three fruits on it, getting bigger but still green and, as they are accidentally in the garden border, I've trained them up the sunflowers (or should I say, sunplants, as there's still no sign of any blossom yet). Anyway, the squash are doing pretty well growing vertically. And GrannieAnnie...
OI!
Feel free to yell back any time!
;D
It's been too wet, cold and dark for Butternuts. Even the "UK climate" ones like Harrier, Hawk and Hunter haven't done well: mine are about half the size they ought to be.
My best ever crop was in 2005, which had a longer, warmer growing season (than 07 or 08)
We have been away for the whole six week school holiday. When I got back to the allotments the weeds had taken over so I have a few days work to do once it stops raining.
However weeds were not the only things to go wild. My Butternut squash plants, 3 of them, have also gone wild and reached lengths in excess of 35 foot in all directions. I can't tread anywhere without falling over a giant Butternut. I have enough to make soup to fill an olympic sized swimming pool.
It's the first time I've ever grown them and other than ignoring them and leaving them to fend for themselves for the past six weeks I've done nothing to aid them.
I brought three home, one we gave to the washing machine repair man who happened to see them and loves them, one my wife made soup with last night which we had with cheese on toast croutons and it was the best soup I've ever had, the other is in the picture I've just taken for this post with the Sky remote for scale.
There are at least 15 to 20, maybe even more lurking in the undergrowth still on the plants. Like I said, I did nothing to help them other than transplant them months ago into manure filled holes.
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/6711_05_09_08_9_57_54.jpg)
The question now is... Do I store them as they are or make soup and try to find a swimming pool sized freezer?
Wowsers!!! :o :o :o
That's amazing!!
Maybe I should try a 6 week break to see if my allotment does better without me tinkering with things.
I'm seriously impressed!!!!
xx
That looks brilliant, which seed did you plant and where did you buy it from? I bet there will be many people drooling over that one!
Ideally you need to ripen the skin for storage - that means in the sun. ??? If we ever see it!! Which soup recipe did your wife use? I am always looking for new squash soup recipes to add variety in our house.
Brill squash! :)
T.
You bloody lucky bast**d ;D wow :o.
Leave them on the plants till the plants start to die naturally or till the first frost forecast then remove from vines with a good bit of stem, leave them somewhere warm and hopefully sunny like an open greenhouse to fully ripen then store in a cool dry place for the rest of winter. I had an OK crop last year about 8 large to medium size ones (none like your giants) which kept us happy right up till march and I stored them in my closed greenhouse all winter which might have been too cold at times as the standing water in there froze a couple times but they all kept well. Please tell us which seeds you used, last year and the year before i got plants from my neighbour who simply grew plants from seeds out of store bought fruits, this year i bought seed to grow myself and the crop has not been as productive.
Quote from: oakmore2 on September 05, 2008, 10:17:24
Wowsers!!! :o :o :o
That's amazing!!
Maybe I should try a 6 week break to see if my allotment does better without me tinkering with things.
I'm seriously impressed!!!!
xx
Thank you very much but I wouldn't advise a six week break, especially mid summer. It's like starting from scratch now that I'm back.
Quote from: Tulipa on September 05, 2008, 10:18:29
That looks brilliant, which seed did you plant and where did you buy it from? I bet there will be many people drooling over that one!
Ideally you need to ripen the skin for storage - that means in the sun. ??? If we ever see it!! Which soup recipe did your wife use? I am always looking for new squash soup recipes to add variety in our house.
Brill squash! :)
The seed... Johnsons World Kitchen Sprinter F1. Cost £2.29 for about 10 seeds.
On this page, 6th one up. http://www.johnsons-seeds.com/acatalog/wkseeds.html
The recipe... Squash. Sweet peppers. Mushrooms. Hot chili. Whole garlic. Large onions (All home grown). All chopped up and baked in the oven then wizzed up with water in a blender to the desired texture and served with cheese on toast croutons... Or in my case, whole slices floating in it... Lovely.
I don't like mine puree'd too much, I like it grainy so to speak with an extra hot chili slipped onto the baking tray when the Missus isn't looking.
Quote from: thifasmom on September 05, 2008, 10:25:57
You lucky, lucky bast**d ;D wow :o.
What is this, Monty Python?
Anyway, thanks for your comments. I'll certainly store them as you advise. With the amount of weeds I have to clear it'll be a while before I can find them all.
Seeds are as mentioned above. If it wasn't for the fact they're F1 I'd save a load and put them the seed swap. But as they're Johnsons they shouldn't be too hard to find.
Thanks, I have added that to my seed list! :)
T.
Forgot to say, I have 5 pumpkins as well. The largest of which will certainly test the integrity of my wheel barrow.
This is what my plots were like before I went away...
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/6711_05_09_08_11_54_27.jpg)
And after I came back...
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/6711_05_09_08_11_54_56.jpg)
The Sprinter seeds are a bit cheaper at:
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_22_43_114
but they don;t mention F1
or at
http://www.tozerseedsdirect.com/seeds/C185-squashbutternut.php
Can vouch for Organic Catalog but haven't bought from Tozer
Yikes! You've got your work cut out now! Don't worry, was only joking about taking a 6 week break. The suspense of not knowing what was/wasn't growing would kill me wnayway so would never manage it!! ;D ;D
Good luck with the clear up operation, I'm sure you'll have it shipshape in no time, and think of all those veggie surprises lurking amongst the growth!!
xx
thanks for the info, and sorry if i offended you earlier :-[. but besides the bumper butternut squashes and pumpkins and don't forget weeds ;). did you have any other successes and were there any failures. i saw you netted your brassicus plants were they all safe, some people were hit pretty bad with the caterpillars while you weren't here.
when i went away on a 4wk holiday a few years go, i used the cheap landscape fabric that would just last a season to help keep down the weeds down with good effect. but i suppose you could also use cardboard or some other deep mulch which should also help to conserve moisture if the summer turns out to be hot and dry (well we can always dream :)).
at least with all the rain the weeds should come up fairly easily.
You didn't offend me at all, your comment just reminded me of Monty Python.
There were both successes and failures. I picked 12 pounds of tomatoes with treble that amount overripe, split and fallen. Loads more yet to find.
Most of my French climbing beans both green and purple are too large and stringy to eat so I've lost most of them, same with my runners. I'll save the seed though. And yes, caterpillars have decimated all my brassicas except my sprouts and some PSB.
Got enough onions to last till next year and spring onions as big as golf balls. Sweet corn is perfect, couldn't have timed it better if I'd have been there all the time. Froze a few dozen of those as I left them too long last year.
Beetroot has done really well and parsnips! Well I've had a bumper year for parsnips. Got enough to satisfy my sniffing addiction for years. (Some people sniff glue, I could sit and sniff a parsnip all day).
Turnips and swedes are a big disappointment. There maybe a few edible ones but I think white fly got the best of them.
I've got courgettes the size of marrows ::) and quite a few pati pans, although I have no idea what to do with them.
I've had to buy another chest freezer to help cope with it all which is what it's all about really. I got enough jam, soft fruit and crumble to last so all in all I'm pleased with this years crop.
Oh, forgot the potatoes... The Charlotte are great and the PFA's are fabulous, should be enough of those to last well past Xmas.
There's a few things I'm going to do different next year but I suspect most people's plots and methods evolve over the years. I just hope the bloody rain stops so I can go and get on with it.
Caroline7758,
I am not proffering the following as the way to do it, merely giving my experience. I have been growing them for 5 years ...
variety Avalon F1 (I tried Harrier as well last year but they failed)
seed sown mid April on window ledge
planting stations - dig a small hole (1 spade wide x 1 spade long x 1.5 spades deep) ... put a good heaped fork of manure in the hole put soil back on top, adding a pinch of sulphate of potash)
12 plants put out mid May (at about 3 feet apart they are too close together really)
I have not watered them (once they were established) or fed them.
I currently have 32 fruits of varying sizes, the largest (about 5 or 6 of them) are probably about 75% the size of the one in plot69's photo. There were more fruits but they rotted while still quite small.
In my favour - I am in Berks, so a bit further south than you.
A good summer helps enormously - 2006 when the temperature was up in mid 30Cs for a while was a bumper year.
Hope that this helps.
I had loads of flowers on my butternut but no fruit so I went around pinching all the ends of the runner and bingo they are fruiting. ??????
Quote from: Plot69 on September 05, 2008, 13:31:38
You didn't offend me at all, your comment just reminded me of Monty Python.
Most of my French climbing beans both green and purple are too large and stringy to eat so I've lost most of them, same with my runners. I'll save the seed though.
I've got courgettes the size of marrows ::) and quite a few pati pans, although I have no idea what to do with them.
There's a few things I'm going to do different next year but I suspect most people's plots and methods evolve over the years. I just hope the bloody rain stops so I can go and get on with it.
Glad to here i didn't offend it so easy to do so on the WWW. i also left my beans on to long this year and found that while to big and tough to stirfry, etc they make great stews so you can try that and if there is to much it can also freeze till a very cold winters day :).
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,44914.msg449319.html#msg449319 (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,44914.msg449319.html#msg449319)
i know when i lived in the west indies and had to much pumpkin and didnot want the excess to spoil i would cut it up into pieces i liked to add to stews etc and freeze, i would then add it to what ever i was cooking in the last 10 - 15 minutes, it would hold its shape and texture perfectly, you could try this with the patty pans i really love their flavour. also i suppose you could also make tons of squash and courgettes soups for those cold winter nights again, why not add the good parts of the damaged root vegetables to your soups for the freezer. of course there are tons of storing recipes out there so I'm sure you will be very busy.
the rain is also slowing me down too, but when you get out there have fun harvesting. :D
we had 16lbs of different beans gone too far, I've podded and frozen the beans so I can add them to soups and stews :)
forgot, we didn't do butternuts this year, used some seed from a saved squash, got 12 in all...I'll try butternuts again next year :)
NEWS FLASH....I read this thread last week because I too had no butternuts...BUT gone to the lottie this morning.....only 5 blumming butternuts!!! can't believe it!!
Is it too late to expect them to mature? 1 is about 6 inch long, the others about 4 inch.
Am i getting a bit giddy for nothing or do you think they will grow enough to be edible?
Quote from: flowergirl on September 07, 2008, 19:06:10
NEWS FLASH....I read this thread last week because I too had no butternuts...BUT gone to the lottie this morning.....only 5 blumming butternuts!!! can't believe it!!
Is it too late to expect them to mature? 1 is about 6 inch long, the others about 4 inch.
Am i getting a bit giddy for nothing or do you think they will grow enough to be edible?
I'm in the same boat, let's just hope for a mild, drier autumn....
It has been the worst possible year for Butternuts this year so any harvest is a bonus. poor things have had everything they hate and very little of what they like XX Jeannine
Mine were OK till I planted them out. After that they just sulked and did nothing. My mistake was to underplant some BB's that were due to come out not long after. The only squashes which did anything at all this year were the ones in full sun.
Well not wishing to brag or rub salt into anyones wounds but I picked these today...
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/6711_09_09_08_3_48_37.JPG)
I still have a dozen or so left to pick.
Very nice Plot 69, mine are about the size of a large pear. :( ??? ;D ;D ;D
ooww wow plot69 they're brill ................QUICK pass me a bib someone - I'm dribbling.............
twinkletoes
Quote from: cornykev on September 09, 2008, 16:04:20
Very nice Plot 69, mine are about the size of a large pear.
Nothing wrong with that, I like a nice large pair ::)
My Harrier butternuts are doing OK - they're a good size, not ripening very quickly but they'll make a dinner.
You need some of the cool-climate varieties, esp up north. Something like Harrier or Hawk. Even then, they do need more sun and warmth than we've had for the last two years. My best crop was in 2005.
I can't work out how to post a photo on here, but you can see them on that other website: www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine