Allotments 4 All

This year has been a bad one for pumpkins and squashes. They are all small and the level of slug damage is very high. I don't usually see much slug damage on them as I always think they have too tough a skin for the little munchers.

Anyone had  a similar experience this year?

Yes, definitely. They seemed to take ages to get going, and most hardly produced anything. My pattypans literally only started fruiting two weeks ago - they look like they would have done really well if they'd been earlier but of course it's far too late now.

Some courgettes have done well but most of the winter squash were very poor, making one or two tiny fruits which got decimated by slugs.

The star of my garden is Thelma Sanders. Compared to the others it's done brilliantly, with one plant producing five or six fruits that look like they'll generously feed 4 people each - that seems pretty good for this year - and lots of little ones that we've been eating like courgettes. They taste lovely.

I also have two Georgia Candy Roaster fruits on one plant which aren't that big but certainly better than nothing.

Yes, a poor year here, too- I think others said the same in another thread. Ah well, here's to next year!

Certainly not a good year. Yellow courgettes did better than green bush in same bed. Still pulling sizeable marrows from another bed that I directly sowed quite late.

Yes my courgettes did OK but seemed to finish early.
The only thing that did well was the Sharks Fin Melon. Got it from Garden Organic a couple of years ago. It's not really a melon, more a type of squash, but slightly different from other squashes in that it doesn't cross pollinate with them. Tastes nice stir fried or traditionally is made into a soup.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita_ficifolia

Poor year for me too.  Planted them out in full sun in May and then we had an unseasonal cold, grey spell and they struggled to get going and then we had a  drought.  The one decent big orange pumpkin got chewed from underneath by slugs and I got 3 edible sized fruits from the others but by then the labels had gone and I have no idea what they are - small, round and green.

I shall try again next year and be much more careful about watering and feeding and keeping them warm when first planted..

No pumpkins at all.  Courgettes got mould on leaves even vatieties which do not notmally.  Milk on leaves did not work
Tromba OK. 
All mine were protected with plastic bottles.  Several good sized plants but fruit did not set.

Yep mostly all smaller and fewer than normal - though flat white and berrettina piacentina seem to be ok. I've only got enough by dint of having waaay too many plants.

Only the festival types produced a worthwhile crop for me this year... 

My Uchiki Kuri did fine but the butternuts were late and small..

After many, many aborted fruits early on I ended up with 4 butternuts from 3 plants and 7 Autumn Crown from 2 plants - enough for me for the winter but not for friends and family!

Have to hope for a better season next year.

Tricia 

yes yield has been down a little even here on the sunshine coast still got 30 butternut from 6 plants but all of them over 2 kilos beast of squashes but it will see us thru but as mentioned not enough to give away

Sorry to hear that you have had a bad year folks, I seem to have been lucky and got some great crops
Never expected it with the cold slow start but then off they romped

Our squash have had a mixed performance this year. The trial variety Bush Delicata came to nothing, slow, late and rotted off at the base in the end (will try Musquee de Provence as a trial next season). The Uchiki Kuri only produced one small fruit although it is a reliable cropper most years.

On the other hand the giant Pink Banana squash have done very well indeed, thirty squash in all from seven plants.

Perhaps generally not quite as large as usual but in this case large is relative - mostly ten to fifteen pounders against the usual fifteen to twenty.

The largest weighs 28 pounds so all in all enough for a daily, or almost daily, helping of squash throughout the winter and well into next spring.

Good job we really like squash!

Poor cold wet start down here and then no rain for ages so very late getting going. Got some small butternut which are finishing off on a window cill. Sweetcorn were the same but managed to get a few good cobs off 3ft high plants. Always next year,

Our Butternuts produced about 2 per plant and were very small.The Sweet Dumpling were very late ,we usually put a couple into the shows in late August, but not even a female flower until September , although we finished the season with a dozen or so from 3 plants.
The mini Pumpkins and the big  Pumpkins for some reason both grew to the same size so we have Large minis and small bigs ,so to speak.

Very mixed here

Courgettes, excellent and long production.

melons all died early on account of not being watered during drought.

Cucumbers recovered from the same problems as the melons but didn't last long - died of mildew after producing 3 or 4 each.

Delicata - Good crop, better than last year's actually.  Around 18 for 3 plants.  Tasty.

Triamble - The most astounding plant, literally wanting to take over the entire plot.  It grew so rapidly that its main stem split and a third was drooping in July.  I cut that third off and it carried on rambling all over.  I thought to train it and only grow 3, but it was so big I allowed 6 in the end.  All a good size and ripe.  All waiting to be eaten in a month or more's time.  Some of it is still growing with one left on - just for fun.

Gelber Englischer Custard Squash - Disappointing.  Grew well initially and developed some sizeable squashes, although not the freaky shapes I had imagined.  It seems that only happens if you let them grow too big to be edible.  Had some to eat from it in July, but they just looked like standard-ish pattypans.  It didn't like the August gloom and just grew miniatures from then on, many of which rotted off.

Shishigatani - Hopeless.  Another extraordinarily large squash plant, but no valid fruits.  Just small ones which rotted off.

Swan Gourd - Hopeless  Just small rotting off fruits

Giant Bolivian Achocha - Hopeless 3 small fruits

This has been my worst year ever for pumpkins and squash. Usually I have had so many courgettes that I have struggled to know what new things to do with them.  Not this year however, as I have had very few.  I put it down to the cold nights here, and the unstable weather we have had this summer. Hoping next year will be much better.

I had a really late start with mine this year, not sowing any until I picked up a new weedy half allotment in July. I planted some on a manure heap and got some cracking ones. Others were devoured by slugs. Really big squashes eaten down to look like loofahs. I've never seen them eat the fruit before. Blue banana did particularly well. Pics of my winter squash allotloots
http://abseeds.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/interim-allotment-harvest.html :-)

Quote from: ajb on November 06, 2015, 21:53:28
Pics of my winter squash allotloots
http://abseeds.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/interim-allotment-harvest.html :-)

Allotloot - love it!  The mystery long squash looks like a very overgrown courgette.  Courgettes do grow to marrow proportions and they are often forest green with white stripes.  Not saying if definitely is, but it could be and you know whether you planted a marrow/courgette.  On the other hand, it could have been coming up by itself from the compost heap.

Nice haul and as you say, so encouraging to persevere with clearing the plot a few square feet at a time :-)