Allotments 4 All

A question for those of you who grow their squash as climbers!

I have searched for previous posts on supporting squash plants, but have found only a few passing comments from those of you who do this (e.g. Doris Pinks)    I  am going to be growing quite a few this year for the first time as I love them (and they are sooo expensive in the shops) so I need to grow them upwards to save space!

What kind of supports do you use?
What size support space do they require? (width and height per plant - on average)
Any unsuitable varieties? (I am only growing small/medium varieties - see list below - I do have some areas in the rotation where they can go on the ground for those unsuitable)
Any other tips/hints?
Oh, and if I had a row of these on the N side (34m length) of my plot (i.e. so they all faced south) would they block out the sun from my neighbours plot, so annoy them? (The plot is currently unused)

Varieties I will be trying (1-2 plants of each) are: Jack Be Little, Twonga, Baby Bear, Potimarron, Butternut, Buttercup, Uchiki Kuri, Sweet Dumpling, Blue Kuri, Futsu, Gemstore, Golden Apple, Hasta La Pasta, Orange Dawn F1 Hybrid, Festival F1 Hybrid

Cheers
mat

Hi mat.
I've only done this once before, and I've no idea of the variety (my OH planted them but omitted a label), but I tied them up canes for maybe 4ft, then along another horizontal cane, building a structure as they grew. At planting I'd no intention of lifting them above ground, but they were fighting for space and I couldn't see another way round it. No doubt there'll be a 'correct' way of doing it, but I judged it to be a success and will try something similar again, but doing a better engineering job on the canes. Less slug damage too. From memory, the ones I grew went maybe 6 feet horizontally and all I used was plenty of string. I'd entertained the idea of growing vertically only, but we're a bit prone to winds here. I can see you're going to be short of room if you're planting all those lol, perhaps you could start with a wigwam type of structure, and run the horizontals off at different levels. I'm guessing of course, just transferring my thought processes to the keyboard.
Hope somebody who 'knows' comes along.

Geoff.

I'm going to try this year mat, and am on the lookout for something like this to scavenge (but used at 45 degrees-ish, south facing)
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,17269.0
Will also be growing squash atop ALL of my compost heaps except the one I'm using and the one I'm filling, that way they'll grow downwards  ;D

So glad you asked this - I'm very keen to grow some squash up trellises/arches/etc in the garden this year, but don't know what varieties would be suitable..

Melanie

I think anything with long vines and reasonably small fruit. Obviously not giant pumpkins!

Hi Mat, mine are just bits of old roofing baton, screwed together, and I put a trellis of strings for them to grow up.
My beds are about 4 foot wide so they span those, and they must be about 5 foot high (cos thats the size of baton I can get in my car! ;D)
I dig a trench, fill with well rotted manure, put frame up, plant squash and stand back! They romp away, the only thing I do is encourage them to go upwards by pointing them in the right direction! The only ones I wouldn't try with this method are for obvious reasons the bush variety  ;D
I have had large fruit hanging on mine and no support needed, but as Robert Says, no giant Pumpkins!!
Piccy below shows 3 of my Heath Robinson frames ;)

I copied Doris P's frames and it was amazing the weight of squash they could takethough  not the absolutely enormous ones, but quite big.  :) busy_lizzie

Sorry I mean't to post this one.  :D busy_lizzie

Thanks DorisP. and B.Lizzie... (and others)

Doris, sorry to sound dumb, but what are roof batons?  Are they wooden posts?  What dimension? (e.g. the square equiv of diameter?)

Looks from Lizzie's photos that the leaf growth is very dense, so I may upset any new lottie holder who takes on the neighbouring plot if I use the entire length of my plot... (equiv of a 5 foot hiigh fence between plots to shade theirs???...)

mat