This may seem a silly question, but it's something that has been bugging me.
Most squashes produce long shoots or feelers from which flowers and thereby fruit grow.
If one prevents these growths, will the plant produce flowers closer to the main stem ?
I ask as my garden isn't very big and the squashes took up far too much space.
Thanks in advance for any answers.
Squashes
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Hello Ron
You don't have to let a squash just ramble everywhere, you can prune the vines to get some sort of order to the growth. You could also grow them up a frame but supporting the heavy fruits might be a problem. I'm assuming you're talking here about the winter varieties.
From what you say though I think that your best bet is to look out for some of the semi-trailing or semi-bush varieties. More of these are becoming available now.
Tuckers have a good selection of squashes and pumpkins:
http://www.tuckers-seeds.co.uk/productl ... 1&subid=54
and a quick run down their list finds Butternut Chieftain and some acorn types, Table Ace and Table Gold - there are probably others - which are compact growing.
John
You don't have to let a squash just ramble everywhere, you can prune the vines to get some sort of order to the growth. You could also grow them up a frame but supporting the heavy fruits might be a problem. I'm assuming you're talking here about the winter varieties.
From what you say though I think that your best bet is to look out for some of the semi-trailing or semi-bush varieties. More of these are becoming available now.
Tuckers have a good selection of squashes and pumpkins:
http://www.tuckers-seeds.co.uk/productl ... 1&subid=54
and a quick run down their list finds Butternut Chieftain and some acorn types, Table Ace and Table Gold - there are probably others - which are compact growing.
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
Hello again Ron
Forgot to mention 'Orange Dawn' which I got from T&M. This is also a semi-bush type. Its a kabocha sort and did well for me this year - the fruits were about grapefruit size with good depth of flesh.
John
Forgot to mention 'Orange Dawn' which I got from T&M. This is also a semi-bush type. Its a kabocha sort and did well for me this year - the fruits were about grapefruit size with good depth of flesh.
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
-
WestHamRon
- KG Regular
- Posts: 376
- Joined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:46 pm
- Location: Grays, Essex
Thanks very much for your help John. "Compact" is definitely what I'm looking for. 
-
Colin_M
- KG Regular
- Posts: 1182
- Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:13 am
- Location: Bristol
- Been thanked: 1 time
Some good points there John.
Something we tried this year was to train the squashes in a spiral, to try & contain them. To an extent this worked: our Bon Bon's stayed within 2 sq metres and Crown Prince within 1. However it wasn't such a good summer and you might need to do a lot more pruning if you got more growth in a good year!
All the best Ron - you just need to find a variety in West Ham colours now!
Colin
Something we tried this year was to train the squashes in a spiral, to try & contain them. To an extent this worked: our Bon Bon's stayed within 2 sq metres and Crown Prince within 1. However it wasn't such a good summer and you might need to do a lot more pruning if you got more growth in a good year!
All the best Ron - you just need to find a variety in West Ham colours now!
Colin