Fleece - whole plant or just fruits?

[Seahorse]

I'm going to fleece up my unripened sqaushes to see if I can get them anywhere near edible before the frosts hit but I'm not sure whether I need to cover the entire plants or just the fruits? Any advice?

Claire

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Seahoorse,

I have been covering the whole plant at night, not sure if that is right? But the plants are still with me.

Mandy

[Flummery]

I would think that you need to keep the whole plant alive or the squash itself won't continue to grow and ripen.

[veg4681]

I'm having the same dilema. My courgette plant has lots of baby courgettes (not big enough for eating) and I would like to save them if I can. Not sure how you can protect runner beans though as they're too tall.

My immediate thoughts are you need to protect the whole plant but I could be wrong. Do wait for further advices from our expert viners.

I don't have any horticultural fleece at the moment, can you use any other sheets e.g. large plastic.

[mandyballantyne]

I'm having the same dilema. My courgette plant has lots of baby courgettes (not big enough for eating) and I would like to save them if I can. Not sure how you can protect runner beans though as they're too tall.

My immediate thoughts are you need to protect the whole plant but I could be wrong. Do wait for further advices from our expert viners.

I don't have any horticultural fleece at the moment, can you use any other sheets e.g. large plastic.

In a panic last week (big frost) I used the green under lay for laminate flooring on my potatoes, seemed to work fine with no ill effects.

Mandy

[Seahorse]

Thanks - I will put fleece over the whole plants then

Claire

[veg4681]

In a panic last week (big frost) I used the green under lay for laminate flooring on my potatoes, seemed to work fine with no ill effects.

Mandy

How about using a duvet

[Snadger]

I made the mistake of building a little mini greenhouse around my pumpkin...............result, because of the increased humidity, all the covered leaves got mildew!

[Peter]

The fruit will withstand a slight frost.

Remember you have to cure them for them to keep and that involves toughening the skin by exposure to sunshine, ideally in a cool greenhouse.

The plants are so sappy they almost melt when frosted, so even when covered they are likely to die quickly.

Squash does freeze quite well, peel, deseed, chunk, bag, freeze.

[bazzaboy]

oh this thread reminds me of one of my fave gardening jokes that I often bore people with... My uncle was a keen veggie gardener and the night before a big show he was horrified to hear a frost warning that could ruin his prize marrow. So he borrowed a sleeping bag and slept alongside the mammoth specimen. When he didn't appear for breakfast the next morning we went out to see how he was and found him DEAD! "Frozen to the marrow!" bm bm.

But no, don't sacrifice your duvet, Veg4681 - however it's a good reason to collect all those bits of bubble wrap that otherwise end up in landfill, you can always staple them together if they're not big enough. I've even protected a newly planted tree with bits of bubble wrap - it looked a bit strange but (unlike Uncle) survived.

bb

[Paulottie]

Peter is right, a little frost should not affect the ripening fruit, The plant will usually die off or get mildew, but while small fruit is not going to develop, the existing squashes will continue to ripen.

You can tell when they are ripe because the stalk goes brown and dry. In a cool frost free place they will then store astonishingly well-we finished up the last of the butternuts a couple of weeks ago.

Our buttternut supply is not going to make it to the end of this October this year!...pathetic...have Got some quite good pumpkins and some summer squash called 'Pattisons' in France.