below average? butternut

[bretty666]

hi all, i planted out 30 butternut and got 21 plants in the end, i have a big space for them i have fed them and watered them yet i only have 15 fruits in total? any idea why as i think this is well below the average expectations of butternut, they are waltham ones?

[WilliamD]

Did you only get that many flowers on them Bretty? Or were there flowers that didn't develop fruit?

[PyreneesPlot]

Could be down to the weather - I have far fewer squashes, melons, cucumbers than previous years. Everything is about a month to six weeks late.

[muddyfeet]

I planted 3 butternut and only got 2 squashes. They were on the only plant that grew female flowers. The others were all male flowers. I think it might have been because of the very dry air in June and July while they were growing strongly.

[bretty666]

i have loads of flowers they still have some on, on closer inspection i found quite a few more baby ones earlier , i might just be a bit early considering everything is a bit late? i have some whoppers though?

[WilliamD]

IMHO if you whip the developed fruits off nice and young, those baby ones will grow well and the other flowers could yet come up with the goods.

[bretty666]

but would the young ones be edible? yeh they might be edible, but wdo they need to be ripe????

[WilliamD]

Good question, and seeing as I don't know the answer I'll defer to this previous post

[Vince G]

Similar problems here.

1 spaghetti squash: 1 fruit !
2 butternuts: 5 fruit
1 winter dumpling, several fruit, but only now getting going, doubt they'll all ripen

[Jimmy]

I tried them once in the GH
Only got 1 per plant.
Not worth the GH space.
And you can buy them quite cheap as well.
Sometimes Aldi have them at 39p

Jimmy

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

I have 5 plants and have 2 decent fruits and a couple smaller than tennis balls. having said that 2 are in growbags and the other 3 were just slotted in gaps. The ones in the ground have only recently started to sprawl.

If I have a fruit that looks ripe (ish) should I cut it off now or hold on?

[bretty666]

sorry jimmy but the price of veg here in france is just not the same as in the uk, i know aldi is a european venture but stuff still costs more most of the time

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

The Aldi offers are not every week either - also Aldi have started varying the super 6 offer prices. More often than not it is 69p especially when things like butternut are on offer and they are generally quite small fruits.

Personally, I am also put off doing butternut next year due to low yield - Next year I will try squash like Crown Prince and others that give fruit with similar properties but higher yield. I will of course keep a space for the odd butternut (I live in hope).

[Nes]

I strongly recommend Pink Banana Jumbo squash. I may only have one fruit per plant, but they are pretty big, have lovely dense orange flesh and make fantastic soup (based on last year's pickings).
Forgot to sow butternut this year, but last year only got 3 (1 medium, 2 small) off 2 plants, so no big loss and space taken up with other stuff anyway. The PBJ will keep us going for weeks anyway!

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Pink jumbo banana is on my shopping list for next year. They look ace.

For other people considering alternatives to BNS for next year, this thread might be handy.