Butternut Squash - how many on a plant?

[marchogaeth]

For the first time, I seem to have got it right for my BNS (home saved Ponca) and it has many fruit set already even though it is not yet a huge plant (although it clearly has aspirations). It is in the poly in a reasonable sized bed and does have access to the sub soil through the bottom of the bed as well as being well watered and fed. Should I limit the number of fruit it sets or should I let it set as many as it can before I pinch out the tips because I think it's big enough? Diolch.

[ChrisMath88]

I have a butternut squash plant up at the allotment a huge plant, a week or so ago I counted 11 fruit on it so I cut half of them off thinking it'll never be able to keep that many fruit going. But then more started to just drop off by themselves so I've now got just 3 big healthy butternut squashes left. So maybe leave it to it and it'll sort itself out... I could be wrong though this is the first time I've grown them


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[ButternutSquash]

I leave mine to decide. A lot fall off. Last year I had two and six from two plants. It can be good to place forming fruits on bricks to keep them dry. It does make it look like someone has stolen the wheels from your plant.

[marchogaeth]

What sort of size are they when they drop off?

[ButternutSquash]

Some were quite big, two or three inches long maybe.

[snakeshack]

I just let mine get on with it and pile on the feed while the weathers good.I have had over 20 from one plant


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[kt6382]

Oh mine started late and haven't got any fruit yet plants are only just starting to spread.. I love butternut but have a feeling they're a bit late and not going to get up to much this year

[marchogaeth]

Oh mine started late and haven't got any fruit yet plants are only just starting to spread.. I love butternut but have a feeling they're a bit late and not going to get up to much this year

Mine have been like this in previous years and I have limited them to 4-5 fruit on the basis I would rather have a few decent ones, it has worked.

[marchogaeth]

I just let mine get on with it and pile on the feed while the weathers good.I have had over 20 from one plant

I'll just pinch out to size I think and see how many fruit I eventually get.
Diolch pobl.

[kitchengardener]

can you explain " pinch out to size" please. ive never grown then before and have a couple of plants the are enormous!!! there are little tentecles that have started strangling other plants. i would say the plant is bout a metre and half squared with about 3 - 4 gobstopper sized balls on it so far.
Excuse my stupidity x

[marchogaeth]

My plant is in the polytunnel and is clearly set to take over the whole space given half a chance. I want to limit it to half a bed and so I will start to pinch out the growing tips to limit it's size and stop it setting even more fruit. I'll just keep pinching out any extra shoots as they get too long. Some people do the same with pumpkins and outdoor squash plants. Following on from the advice here, I'm not going to remove any of the squashes it has already set but I might thin them out later if I think there are too many for the plant to fill out. I limit my pumpkin to about 8 fruit.