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Surrey, United Kingdom

MY BUTTERNUT SQUASH PLANTS ARE GOING MAD DO CUT BACK SOME OF THE RUNNERS AND LEAVE THE MAIN STRONGER SHOOTS WHICH ARE APPROX SIX FEET IN LENTH




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Squash plants do tend to take over and fill a lot of garden. Try to treat it just like a melon plant.
If you treat your butternut squash just like melon plants and grow a single 'leader' until it reaches about ten feet, then pinch it out, and stop each side shoot at around 3 or 4 feet. In theory this should get lots of flowers on the sideshoots and a lot of fruit set around the same time (as you try to do with a melon plant), and after that you can just keep pinching out each new shoot as the fruit ripens and grows.
In theory you could keep the plant as small as you like as long as it has enough growth to support the number of squash you want. Many people grow them up a wigwam to save space. It works well if you tie the shoots well in and have a sturdy structure to support the weight.
If you want to try something REALLY rampant just for amusement try growing the fig leaved gourd, cucurbita vicifolia. When I did a single plant covered about 50 sq metres!

31 Jul, 2010

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