Butternut squash- but no sign of fruit
nin
Posts: 216
in Fruit & veg
I have given butternut squash a go this year two beds with 4 plants in each and they are romping away huge plants but have no fruit.
My pumpkins in the bed next door to one lot are fruiting and my courgettes in the bed near the other lot are the biggest have ever grown.
What do I need to do to get these to fruit ?
They are in new veg bed and had plenty of really old and old manure which has served my other squash very well. Have fed to some extent but as the soil has had slow release feed and so much rotted manure did not want to overdo.
Any advice will be greatly received
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Do you have flowers on the plants? I have two plants and one has a large butternut squash on it but that's it, there are plenty of flowers but the only other one that set withered and died. I grew butternut squash last year and had loads on one plant but I did notice then that they grow very quickly once the flowers have set. It could be this cooler wet weather that is affecting the fruit set.
Mine aren't doing brilliantly this year either. Most of them only have one or two fruits.
This is the first year I've grown butternut squash too. A friend gave me one of her spare plants. Like yours, mine has rampaged around the allotment, joining up with a cucumber, further along. I have had flowers and small fruit appear but when they get to about six inches, start to go rotten at the end. Perhaps I should train them up off the ground? Like you, I planted in manured ground, but must admit have only watered since then, not fed at all.
Squashes tend to rot like that if they get wet. Keeping them off the ground is a good plan put a tile underneath, sloping so it drains. Butternuts are climbers but the fruit, if they do well, are heavy, so the supports need to be strong.
I wonder if it will hybridise with the cucumber?
I briefly wondered that too Steve, but I think it's unlikely. I had a zucchini plant that produced a two tone fruit a couple of years ago, so I hopefully tried to seed save, but they were not viable. I've got a photo somewhere, but will need to do a search later. (Not quite 6am here).
Once the plant is established it's wise to fertilise with something higher in P and K than N. Too much nitrogen will only encourage vine and leaf growth.
Thanks Steve, I'm off to my plot this evening armed with stakes and canes to see what I can cobble together to get them off the ground.
A cuquash would be interesting!! but only if they keep well like squash.
We have them growing at one end of the squash bed and prop up a stout A-frame on the plastic pipe arch that until recently supported the net over a blackcurrant.
(Hmmm...that's a bit of a convoluted description but I'm 300 miles away from it at the moment so can't post a photo...)
Good luck!
I still have flowers but no crop not one.. very disappoind Same problem with marrow, cucumber and aubergine.. Think its the weather conditions.
I have noticed in the last couple of days that mine have set some more fruit and they look to be growing ok the weather's set fair for a few days so the plants could set some more, I'm still feeding them and the plants themselves are growing well.