Small butternut

[Dorothyrouse]

Any ideas why my butternut squashes remained so small this year? They were in manured ground, well watered, and fed regularly, and in the sun, but only grew to about 6/7 inches.

doubt if even edible!

[Snadger]

Can't help you there Dorothy but mine are just the opposite and huge looking things! Mine were just planted through cardboard covered with home made compost and topped up with grass cuttings. Its like a jungle with three plants growing and thee few I have spotted through the jungle look to be the size of marrows. I'll wait until the foliage dies off to hav a better look..

Not much help I am afraid.

[Dorothyrouse]

I’ll ‘swap you’!

[Plot70]

It has been my second go at butternuts this year.
I got two fruits per plant that are a bit smaller that supermarket ones.
At least they have ripened.
Marrows and turban squashes planted either side did very well.

[Ms-T]

My butternut squashes only got to about 3" then died , but the Trombo's have been really good.

[Snadger]

Mine have grown huge, but they haven't ripened yet.

[Mr H]

Mine are still tiny even now. Each plant produced plenty of flowers but few set even when i tried to polinate myself.

[Dorothyrouse]

I don’t know why mine didn’t grow, I took the up few ago, roasted them and the dog enjoyed a few pieces! The rest got chucked!

[burnie]

Mine have been poor too in the greenhouse, I have one half sized and a couple of small ones still growing, still my only failure really.

[ameno]

I've said this to people before, but it's really better not to grow butternut squash in this country.
Butternut squash need a warmer, longer summer than we can reliable get here, especially further north. Other varieties of winter squash are much more reliable, not to mention usually heavier cropping, keep longer, and most importantly are just as tasty.

[burnie]

That's why I grow both my squashes and sweetcorn under glass, usually work just fine, just the squashes seem to have suffered from a cooler late summer.