Butternuts!!!

[nooby]

Hi all.

Exciting time of the year!

A bit of advice. I have some Butternuts in pots on my windowsill and they bursting. I have repotted them in bigger pots but they are massive and have a fair few big leaves on them. Too big for my sill anyway.

What do I do? The seed packet says plant out in May-June???

[Small pumpkin]

This will be no help to you at all . I haven't sown any varieties of squash yet, because they do that. Unfortunately you're going to have to live with a triffid for a few more weeks .

[burnie]

If you had a greenhouse it would still be a bit too soon, I haven't sown my seeds yet.

[Bren In Pots]

Most of us have made mistakes sowing to early its what gardeners do, any frost will kill them so they do need to be indoors until the frost dangers passed. Do you have more seeds to sow later?

[Scarlet]

You could try slowing them down by taking outside during the day?
After a few more weeks you could chance them ( make sure you sow more) and wrap up at night and put a plastic dustbin over the top. I use buckets for cloches in my GH but they will be too small.
If you can keep them going you will get a lovely crop

[nooby]

Apologies for the delay in replying! But thank you all!

I do have more seeds... I planted direct in May last year but only got a few small squashes so I thought I would get ahead. I have a polytunnel is it worth putring them in there for the next few weeks?

[nickdub]

Depends on the luck of the weather if you get away with putting them in the poly-tunnel or not. If we get frost free nights then they'll be OK, if not then they'll likely be killed. Maybe keep some bubble-wrap or fleece next to them and then if a frost is forecast you can give them some extra protection but that won't save them if we get another "beast from the east" event

You could put some of them out and see how they go, at least you'd have a bit more space for the ones still inside.

[Lumpy]

I had a go at normal butternut years ago. They completely took over the garden without many ‘nuts’ to show for it. I now grow Butterbush. They really are whooping little plants.

[Muddy_Boots]

I have about 20 Butternut plants in a tray that I'm transferring to plastic coffee vending cups, they only have the seed leaves for now and they aren't growing very fast as they are in my unheated back bedroom. Hopefully when there is less risk of a frost I can transfer them to the greenhouse to harden off a bit more before planting them out.

[smallblueplanet]

I had a go at normal butternut years ago. They completely took over the garden without many ‘nuts’ to show for it. I now grow Butterbush. They really are whooping little plants.

Has anyone else tried Butterbush F1? Just about to stock up on winter squash and we normally grow Barbara F1 which are really tasty but massive plants, plus they're expensive seeds. Previously tried other butternut varities before Barbara but didn't get any fruit.

[Jimmy]

I grew a couple in the greenhouse one year. I only got 2 or 3 fruits. So given the space and effort required and the fact that they are cheap in the super markets I don't bother any more. The space can be used for better purposes.
So I recommend you treat them like flower plants and relegate them to the COMPOST HEAP.
Regards Jimmy

[poly]

I grew Butterbush F1 a few years back with disappointing results. I grew some in pots and others in a raised bed, only a few fruit between them and small. Perhaps they would do better in a warmer/sunnier part of the country. Though I won't bother with them again. I'm glad Lumpy had good results with them.

Barbara are fab! Yep, big trailing plants but I find they deliver the goods and taste great. These are my first choice for butternuts. I have to agree the seeds are pricey, T&M currently have an offer, seeds for one pound a pack which included Barbara F1, I think the offer lasts for a couple of days. I've stocked up on a few packs.

A bit of an outsider but another variety I found fruited well is Sonca, Ok production in an iffy year and pretty good in a better year. Vines aren't so rampant as Barbara. Though I found their flesh has a slightly stringy, like bottom of trifle, feel to it, I only grew them twice, I wanted to love them but texture wise they weren't for me but they were productive and the plants were pretty (well for squash they were). I've likely some seed left for these if you want to give them a whirl, though probably at their grow by date.

[smallblueplanet]

Barbara are fab! Yep, big trailing plants but I find they deliver the goods and taste great. These are my first choice for butternuts. I have to agree the seeds are pricey, T&M currently have an offer, seeds for one pound a pack which included Barbara F1, I think the offer lasts for a couple of days. I've stocked up on a few packs...

Unfortunately they're now £3.99/pkt of 5 seeds. I've bought some butterbush to try in the garden, along with some other winter squash. If they don't do it this year then it's back to Barbara next year. Can't imagine why they're not more popular tbh.

[poly]

Glad you are sorted for seeds now. Perhaps it's their stripes or the seed price!
Sorry about that, I clicked through from an email that said all seeds £1, I just assumed it was on the whole site. I've just checked and they also give a code of which may work TM_TN1455W.

[Gillykat]

Perhaps have a look on Premier Seeds and/or Simply Seeds websites and see if they do them a bit cheaper?