Squashes - when to stop them / pinch them out?

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

On to brighter subjects after my tomato blight troubles yesterday!

I'm growing four different types of squash:

Uchiki Kuri, Butternut (Hunter F1), Spaghetti, Serpente Di Sicilia (Cucuzzi)

They're all doing pretty well, with the Uchiki Kuri growing at a phenomenal rate. One of them has around seven or eight small fruits. What I wondered is:

- When do they need to be "stopped"/pinched out?
- Is this necessary to help make the existing fruits ripen?
- Would the same apply to the other squashes, or is each squash dealt with differently?
- Any other squash related tips?

Many thanks as always

Max

[Snoop Puss]

Brilliant question, Max. Just the info I need too...

[roitelet]

I stop/prune mine when they have set sufficient fruits i.e. 5 or 6 per plant. I am quite ruthless and stop the vines about two leaves beyond the fruit and cut off anything that hasn't set anything.

[Geordie]

2 squash tips - make a slight hill, bury a pot in the middle and plant seeds round the outside, the plants are trained outwards and the pot sends water straight to the roots. Plant hairy vetch between the squash plants, as a legume (green manure) it fixes nitrogen into the soil to benefit the squash and also surprises weeds.

[Mr Bones]

Hi Max, it's all a bit of a gamble. Firstly, do you want a few larger fruits or maybe more but smaller ones. Then place your bets on whether you feel we're in for a nice late summer or an early autumn. A late summer will give squash time to mature and ripen so you'll get away with more per plant, but in an early autumn nipped out plants will have a better chance of maturing just a few fruits.

[forgetmenot]

Im experimenting with mine by allowing it roam free and hopefully provide mucho squash babies. One is already running the whole width of the plot!

[Zelenina]

I never pinched any of mine out and they ripened fine. The vines usually die off eventually anyway. If there's new immature fruit when it's time to harvest them you can use them like courgettes.

[1Bee]

NEVER! MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa! They must take over the WORLD!!!!

*further maniacal laughter*

[Snoop Puss]

I'm the same. I never pinch them out either. They can go a bit rampant...

[bario1]

I always feel like the more leaves there are to soak up sunlight, the more energy the plant will have to grow/ripen the fruit?