Squash germination

[annie8]

Growing crown Prince and uchiki kuri for the first time. Had planted the seeds in individual 3 inch pots a week ago. Very pleased to see some of them have germinated this morning but was bit thrown by the fact that long roots are already coming out of the pot. How quickly will I need to pot these on?

[quanglewangle]

I grow kabocha Japanese squash and I don't 'pot on'.

Just sow them in a 75mm pot and plant out when first true leaves look big enough. We use a mound with a core of last year's compost covered with last seasons dug out greenhouse bed.

We do courgettes same way.

[Plot70]

I am just about to start chiting squashes and beans.
I usually use single use pots so that any roots that come out of the bottom do not get disturbed during planting out.
Last year I put the seeds directly into an unheated green house ahead of tomatoes while the compost was settling.
The mix was local clay and horse manure.

[Jungle Jane]

If roots are coming out the bottom of the pot you could pot it on now. How quickly to pot on,maybe three days I don’t know,there’s a risk the root could get thicker & get stuck in the hole,keep the root shaded from the sun.

[ameno]

Squash roots go straight down, so there is no need to repot yet. If you try to repot them you will find that 95% of the compost has no roots in it yet.

In fact, I wouldn't bother repotting them at all. I never do. As with quanglewangle, I just sow into 9cm pots then plant them out when large enough (and risk of frost has passed), no repotting. I sowed too early last year and they reached some 8 inches tall before planting out, and were a little pot bound at planting. They still grew away just fine and cropped well.

[SimpleSimon]

I do the same as ameno. 9cm pot and straight into the ground from there. I've not sown mine yet though. I try to time it so they go into the ground in late may just about when the root ball is holding the compost together but only just. So probs sow around 5 weeks before the end of may whenever that is. But it's always a relief as it marks the end of the relentless sowing marathon that started in Jan! Well mostly, I'll still sow some beetroot, spring onions and lettuce but the main stuff is done once I sow the squash.... Until I have to start again for the autumn/winter crops haha.

[annie8]

I usually end up putting them in a bigger pot before planting them out partly because I need to wait a long time here before the risk of frost has gone. Was just surprised to see it coming out so quickly. Will leave for now and let the roots fill the pot more. Strangely I see one of the onion squash ones has what looks like a root coming out the top of the pot.

[quanglewangle]

To give some idea of size, these will go out tomorrow. There are butternut, kabocha, courgette and loofa. Sown in these pots

[annie8]

So left them in the original pots. They are growing fast though! Will start taking out to the gh during the day in the next few weeks. Looking really healthy. There are also a few courgettes in there.

[ameno]

They look very healthy.
If you're going to repot them at all, I would wait until they have at least 2 full size true leaves. Any sooner and they likely won't have enough root yet for the compost to hold together when you turn them out.

[Plot70]

I like the way these courgette seeds are all looking the same way apart from one that left its husk under the soil.
They remeind me of those china ducks over fire places.

[Bren In Pots]

I'm growing squash for the first time Patisson gagat seeds that came with the magazine, is anyone else growing them?

[annie8]

They sound interesting. I potted on my courgettes and squash today. It’ll be a while before they can go outside and they were getting pot bound. Really good roots when I took them out.

[annie8]

One of the courgettes has what look like flower buds appearing on it.

[annie8]

Red kuri and crown Prince growing like mad and the red kuri seem to be liking growing up the frame we built. Just wondering if I should limit the number of fruits particularly for the crown Prince to get some hope of rip fruit. We don’t have a long season here and they both seem to be setting lots of fruit.