General information and discussion about cultivating melons, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and gourds.
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June 21, 2014 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Toronto
Posts: 413
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Suggestions for pruning/training squash and cukes?
I have some space, but not enough space to let all of the squash and cukes that I planted to sprawl. I think I have 12 squash plants in the ground, 6 varieties/two plants each. Ideally I'd like to ensure that I get some production from each variety, and although I have some room to allow some sprawling I'm curious about the rules/method to follow for pruning squash plants, i.e. could I limit each plant to two main vines and allow branch and squash growth on those two and remove any suckers/additional vines without sacrificing photosynthesis of the main vines?
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June 22, 2014 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: zone 6b, PA
Posts: 5,664
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Don't know if you can prune curcurbits but I've tried to trellis them and have had good luck with growing cukes vertically. Not sure if that's still an option for you.
At least this will bump your post back up to the top. |
June 22, 2014 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Toronto
Posts: 413
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I usually find that cukes grow themselves vertically by clinging to my tomato plants! But for the squash plants I think the weight would be too much. I do have something I could use as a trellis for some of them but I think space will still be a bit of an issue.
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June 22, 2014 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 130
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Whenever I cut a cucumber vine or leaves off , the entire plant wilted and died. Same thing with my squash plants.
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June 22, 2014 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: zone 6b, PA
Posts: 5,664
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I just meant that I had much more trouble trying to train squash plants on a trellis. The heavy fruits could still be attached to a strong trellis but they had thicker and more brittle vines than the cukes and small melons that I still trellis; their leaves, being larger, sustained more damage because of getting stuck in the trellis; and they just seemed determined to resist my attempts to keep them off the ground. I grow Butterbush because of its relatively shorter vines.
For the future, you might want to try some bush cucumber varieties. |
June 22, 2014 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WI, USA Zone4
Posts: 1,887
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Don't remove squash leaves. I'd keep the best plant of your six varieties and cull the other six out if you don't have enough room.
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June 23, 2014 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Toronto
Posts: 413
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I'm not talking about removing leaves, I'm talking about removing individual vines from each plant. I had no problems with doing this before (either intentionally or accidentally as the vines were brittle as Kath noted). Seems to be the same thing as removing vines from tomato plants, each are independent, but I'm no expert on the best method for squash which is why I am asking. If I let two main vines go and let them grow ad nauseam is that better than letting four main vines go and remove any squash that are too far off from the plant...I can only assume there is some information/formula/ideal growing method other than just letting the entire plant sprawl. At what point in the season should I remove smaller squash that will likely never mature. Do the leaves on one stem have any role at all in feeding anything happening on any other stem. Lots of questions along these lines...and I want to get some mature squash from each variety so I don't want to eliminate any. Had 6 butternut squash plants a few years back that yielded about 60 squash in total and took over the ground space in the garden and much of my patio and part of the lawn, so planning on that again this year, slow start so far but a few plants are putting out vines now and they are starting to do their thing!
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