Butternut squash

[Nicola_D]

My MIL gave me a butternut squash seedling, which I've planted into a largish pot on my patio. It's been doing really well, but this last week I've noticed the lower leaves have started going a paler yellowy green. It's affecting about half the leaves from the bottom up. Could I be over watering it, or is this just because it's putting it's engery into new growth and fruit.

There's a flower bud at every juncture along the main stem and the lower ones have opened and dropped off. I'm guessing, as they look very similar to courgette flowers, that they have male and female flowers and indeed last night I noticed the last two flower buds have little butternut squash shaped green lumps behind the bud, so I'm hoping the flowers will open at the same time as male ones are so they can pollinate.

I'm a novice to veg growing in general and so have a few questions....

Is it normal for there to be just one main stem with large leaves coming off it all along the length or should I have been pinching out the growing tip to make it bushier?

How much water do they like? I've been watering everyday in warm weather and every 2 to 3 days in the cooler weather and i've been feeding with tomato feed once a week

When the female flowers open should I force pollination? or leave nature to it, there's not been many bees about in my back garden this year

What's the best way to support it? Butternut squashes seem kinda heavy in the supermarket!

When will it be ready to harvest? I think it was probbly planted in late March/early April as I got the seedling at the start of May.

[Ace]

Hi Nic

All seeems pretty normal to me. Butternuts definitely grow out on a long winding stem that crawls along the ground. You can stake it if you like to make it stay in some kind of control.

The actual squashes start to appear somewhere down the long stem and not really near the central stem that is rooted in the ground. As the growing stem snakes outward it will also re-root itself long the way.

You will start to see a number of cute little squashes forming (see my previous thread "DIY Veg Planter" for some pics). I had about 7 of these at one point. The flowers as you say are much like courgette. Hopefully the bees and other insects will pollinate them. Then you will find that most likely 2-3 of the squashes start to grow whilst the others don't. Ideally you only want 2-3 on the plant so it concentrates its energy on those. So be prepared to remove some of the others later on. They will go soft and bad anyway.

The plant gets quite big, be warned. They need maybe 4-6 feet of space.
Since posting the pics of my tiny squashes in the other thread, I now have 3 that are approx 10" long and 4-5" wide. They look really good

Keep an eye on the leaves. I think you may find that the first younger leaves do look yellowish and are much smaller than the main leaves which will be large and green. Mine have recently developed some powdery mildew so I've sprayed them with milk/water solution.

Water you squash every day, but I would leave tomato feed until the squashes start to grow properly. Pollination shouldn't be a problem but if you're worried just snip off a male flower (one without any tiny squash behind it) and poke the stamen into the female flowers.

As I said the plant will get big and want to spread out so a pot really isn't ideal The squashes are likely to grow on your patio stones unless you provide some other support. If you can introduce another pot or better still a trough and stake the growing main stem into it where it will re-root and have support. Once you see squashes starting to grow properly, put straw beneath them or something similar to keep them off the soil otherwise they can get damp and rot.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Ace

[Nicola_D]

Thanks Ace, that's load of help, do you think it would like to grow along the top of a picket style fence, it's currently in front of the fence anyway and I'm thinking the fence might then support the weight of the squashes

[Ace]

Originally Posted by Nicola_D

Thanks Ace, that's load of help, do you think it would like to grow along the top of a picket style fence, it's currently in front of the fence anyway and I'm thinking the fence might then support the weight of the squashes

Not sure Nicola. Squashes are not "climbers" as such. By that I mean that they don't put out vigorous tendrils like say peas do for clinging to things. The squashes are quite heavy so I think they specifically need the support. You'd need to rig some kind of hammocks to the fence to cradle the fruit as they grow I think.

I think you're better to use an additional pot or trough and let the fruit grow in there, keeping them off the soil with straw or equivalent.

[Nicola_D]

Ok,will give it try