squash question!

[squashysu]

i am growing butterbut squash and it is being fed and watered regularly, but my question is this, it is overtaking the garden, do i pinch out the ends to stop it growing, i had one squash and it fell off! but more are coming, i have so many flower heads on it, its untrue, so what can i do, never ever grown anything before, let alone squash!!

cheers

SS

[jackie j]

Cant answer your question cos mine is the same and I dont know what to do lots of flowers but no sign of any squash yet.
Glad you asked cos I was going to.

[queen of the cobs]

you can pinch out the ends, I always do this, and it will grow another growing tip from somewhere else along the stem, which you can pinch out as well ;o)

[Two_Sheds]

I haven't got Butternuts yet, but my Mars pumpkins were well on the way, with head-sized fruit. The plant was still rambling away, so I pinched off the growing tips, to concentrate it's energy on ripening the fruit that I had.

[squashysu]

excellent - thanks everyone, i will now pinch out the tips and hopefully some fruit will start to form, is it true when i get fruit i need to raise it off the ground? why is this??

cheers x

[Gwen11ian]

You need to raise the fruit off the ground so they don't rot sitting on the damp soil. Just use a brick or what ever else you might have around.

I've also read once you've got four or five baby squash started on the vine you should cut off the rest of blossoms so the plant can put it's energy into growing the fruit. Trimming out the end of the vine would probably be very useful as well, for the same reason. I haven't tried it myself, but it's the same idea that we all use for tomatoes.

[greenfingerrach]

i know that you shouldnt let 1 plant have more than 4/5 flowers on. or you'll end up with lots of piddely little fruits. so take the rest of the flowers off and all the goodness should go to the remainder of the flowers.

[squashysu]

ah ha - thanks everyone, i am going up the garden now to trim the flowers off and sort out the tip!

cheers again x

[amandaandherveg]

Can I jump on your thread while you're out trimming Squashy? First year growing squash of any kind.

I'm growing Golden Nugget and Sweet Dumpling (they grow grapefruit sized squash in a bush type plant). Should I limit the amount on these? and if so to how many?

I'm also growing Marina Di Dhioggia and they've taken off and can grow up to 10lbs on a trailing vine. How many of these should I allow and what's the best way to feed these beasties?