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The pack of Green Hubbard seed from Thomas Etty says:

'It is important never to stop the vines; they should be allowed to grow in their own way. Leaving fruit on the vines to ripen acts as a direct check to further production.'

Do you pinch out winter squash, or not, and why? ::)

I had one Waltham in the ground and two in pots on frames and Gordon had one in the ground at his place. I only pinched out one in the ground when it fruited very late - in fact the fruit didn't ripen to the creamy brown and don't have much flavour, so I'm using them up first in curries and suchlike. Gordon's plant on the other hand, had 8 huge fruit which ripened beautifully and I have them in front of the patio doors curing before they go into the shed until needed.
The ones on the frames in the pots only produced 3 fruit in all, so I am rethinking my space for next year.

Tricia

So Tricia, let me get this right... Gordon did pinch his out and got lots more fruit... would make sense I suppose as the flowers are on side shoots..(?)
???

I tend to when fruit has been formed and I think energy will be wasted in a mile long trail with nothing on it, but on others that I forget about doesn't always seem to make a difference  :-\

Sorry Saddad if my post was a bit confusing. No, Gordon didn't pinch out his plant at all. It was MY plant, which went mad very late in the season, where I took off side shoots in the hope that the 3 fruit which had formed would ripen rather than see more fruit form and come to nothing so late in the season.

Next year I want to have a frame to grow the squash vertically, but am not sure what shape to make it. My veggie plot is so small - just three new raised beds 175cm x 80cm (last one completed this evening with the help of bright street lighting ;)) and one made last year 170cm x 135cm. We salvaged quite a bit of wood from a skip today (with permission 8)) so all we need now is a design. Any good ideas out there? I have a space I could use about 160cm x 70cm which isn't in full sun, but my garden has a kind of micro climate, being walled on three sides (house takes up fourth side).

To get back on topic - I guess one would HAVE to pinch out to some degree if growing squash up a frame - or not?

Tricia

My West Indian Pumpkin was the only squash I had that really went mad; there weren't many fruit, but it grew like crazy. I just kept turning it round so it didn't cover the entire garden.

Nope, I leave them to it and they seem to do just fine.

I pinched out the ends not the side shoots towards the end of the season. This made the side shoots develop and I also took off any late developing fruit on vines that already had several squash, so that more effort when into producing bigger fruit.