Vining vs Bush Squash

[@Fabermorrow]

The realest, most detailed gardening channel on youtube.. You really are doing gods work on here, have been watching for a while and I dont think there is anyone else putting this level of detail and energy into anything like this... Thank you for passing your knowledge down to us youngins, i promise there is a lot of us eager to do projects like this with their time... Some of us just lack the means of getting the land and money to start.. but i will get there eventually i know that for sure

[@REDGardens]

Wow, thank! 😊 hope you get the land soon!

[@JamCamel]

It's absolutely astounding. Such a fantastic resource, it's well presented, and has immediately applicable information.

[@demetriuspowell29]

Extremely detailed

[@Willhewellie3514]

It was such a miserable year for squash. I was inspired to grow squash a few years ago after watching this channel. My numbers were growing year on year but this year despite having over 5o strong seedlings in April, nothing planted outside survived! In total harvest was 4 squash from 2 plants grown in the pollytunnel. The outside squash was eaten by slugs or killed by wind, rain or cold weather. I'm jealous of the harvest here! Thanks for making the videos- they give me Hope that next year might be better and provide great info on variety and management!👍

[@bonniepoole1095]

Same here in the PNW of the US. Really poor squash yields.

[@REDGardens]

Ohh, that is a tough season for you! Hope next year is a lot better!

[@briandavies7456]

Slugs also ate all my outside squashes, just the few in a tunnel survived. It's been too wet and cloudy in the UK this year to grow anything but slugs!

[@heyy13]

Commenting for the algorythm. Excellent as always.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@josi7836]

We allow our vining varieties to grow out into our rough meadow. This saves space on our vegetable plot. The rough meadow grasses are unaffected and we get a good harvest of squash. If you want to mow the grass, you can pick up the vines and move them around. Towards the end of the season we mow less.

[@REDGardens]

Sounds like a good approach! They can be such big plants!

[@ClaudiaOfTheWorld]

your videos are such an incredible resource! thank you 🎃

[@jobangor7930]

Great video once again, thank you for all the information and inspiration, so helpful and I love how you structure eveything with so much detail. We grew Potimarron for the first time this year, 600ft up near the Irish Sea coast on the slopes of western Eryri, North West Wales. There was slow growth due to awful light levels and cold in Spring, then almost exclusively only female flowers for about a month, then poor pollination with rain often filling the upturned flowers and cold making the pollinators less mobile. There were 4 plants spaced at 1m between each in a new no dig bed made this year with lots of homemade compost and supplemented with regular applications of a seaweed-based organic fruiting veg liquid feed. They picked up growth in the second half of summer, and started producing more male flowers per female flower, but too late to fully develop most of the pollinated fruits. We will try again next year as I love the description of the flavour of this variety and can't wait to try the first of the small number of fruits that did fully develop! I have two questions. Firstly, this is the first time I've seen any cucurbit produce huge numbers of female flowers early in the year and virtually no male flowers. Is this normal for this variety or the conditions this year? Secondly, at 11:38 in this video you show a squash leaf with yellow mottling round the outer part. I saw this on the Potimarron even on the first true leaves, with some plants more affected than others, and it continued to affect leaves through the first part of the year. We've grown Crown Prince and Hungarian Blue in previous years and not seen this. What is it, is it a problem, and if so have you had any success treating it? Thanks again 🙂

[@REDGardens]

The pollination issue can be a big one. About your first question, I don't know if this is normal for the variety or prompted by something. I often find that with the courgette plants I grow, lots of female flowers, but not enough male. It might be a hybrid variety thing. About your second question, that is a mottling on only one plant. I have seen similar on a courgette plant with yellow fruit, so I suspect it is an abnormal leaf colouring that comes through with varieties with unusual colours, but I dont know.

[@llanitedave]

Interesting seeing Bruce's observations and those in the comments. Here in southern Nevada, we had the opposite problem, but similar results. June came in like a blast furnace, and the heat remained intense -- even for us, for over two months without a break. The plants themselves survived, but fruiting was suppressed, and I didn't start seeing much production at all until September. Now that it's going to freeze in a few days, we're finally getting a number of buds! They won't last. We ended up with a few butternuts and a couple of green cushaws, but very little of anything else. Better luck to all next year!

[@REDGardens]

That is something I want to understand more, the temperature range that pollination will actually happen in, with both male and female flowers at the same time, and without the plants aborting the fruit.

[@GardensforLife]

Great video, thank you! I usually only grow the Uchiki Kuri, but this year i added turks turban with good success.

[@REDGardens]

thanks! I have yet to be able to grow turk's turban squash that was ripe.

[@StevilKanevil_]

From Wicklow here, prepared my first outside squash bed this year and it was a disaster! I had nice big young plants in pots sown in the tunnel but around 3 of them died after a heavy wind the day or two after planting outside. Another 5 or so were demolished by slugs and the few that survived died in the early frost we got here in late August. None of my crown prince survived but I've got more for next year so I hope some make it through. Great video as always!

[@REDGardens]

That is a tough year! They are quite delicate plants. I find I need to cover them with fleece and/or crop cover for about a month after transplanting. Hope you have better luck next year.

[@BalticHomesteaders]

We had a good year with squash mostly because the wet weather that ruined everything else was good for them. We actively manage plants purely because of the short season and to get vines to concentrate energy on ripening rather than extending. It’s a little bit crystal ballish as we have no idea when the first frost will come of course, this year it was well into late September.

[@REDGardens]

I’d like to do the same next year, to actively prune some of the plants to see how much it can impact how well the squash ripen.

[@demetriuspowell29]

We didn't get a frost till late November here in georgia

[@PR.Hobbit]

Thank you for that analysis!!! I tried growing squash in a couple of different ways this year: they do not grow well in containers is my biggest take away

[@kirstypollock6811]

I've had decent luck in the past with Sweet Jack in big felt containers. Compact plant and got 2 medium sized fruits. Just remember water and maybe fertilizer top up.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I'd say containers would be problematic. They have such big root systems!

[@stefanklein7500]

Even though it was relatively cold here (Germany) too, the variety "Baby Bear" was ripe very early. Presumably it's selected for small size and looks, they are quite photogenic, so I'm not sure they fit your needs but as said, they where very fast.

[@REDGardens]

Good to know, thanks.

[@joemcbrien1192]

Thanks Bruce Keep up the great work

[@REDGardens]

😁

[@kenjohnson593]

Squash flowers are really tasty and pretty in a salad, or just for munching in the garden.

[@littleglasshouse5797]

i grew one Butterbaby butternut squash plant this year, (Fingerlakes area of New York State). it produce phenomenally. all of the other singly planted squash plants that I grew, produced poorly at best. It was very dry and hot. Good point about the pollination, maybe next year, limited varieties and at least two plants of each type will in order. Great video and observations.

[@REDGardens]

I would love to get a butternut variety to actually produce here. Always seem to be very few fruit, and never properly ripe. But I keep learning, so might try again.

[@timclark7507]

I had problems with squash vine borers. I grew butternut which is a resistant variety (Cucurbita moschata) and got good yield. I recognize the crown prince as sweet meat variety. Those succumbed to the borers too.

[@REDGardens]

I am glad we don’t have that pest here! Sounds like a tough one to deal with.

[@demetriuspowell29]

​@REDGardens extremely pesky ive seen people use tulle netting to reduce damage

[@VashtiWood]

It's so interesting seeing how the one (family of) vines can produce such variable fruits! And interesting how many i recognised by sight (I'm Australian) only to learn that it's not that variety after all! 😜 Here, we have an all-time national favourite called the Queensland Blue which looks identical to your Crown Prince Hybrid, except it's the exact opposite. I mean, it's as old fashioned, open pollinated as you can get and had become accustomed to long, hot summers we get here, Down Under. And they're at least 3 or 4 times the physical size of your hybrid, although the vines are just as vigorous! When i was growing up, everyone had a pumpkin patch, whether they wanted one or not 😜🤣 Kitchen scraps not feed to the chickens would be thrown into the compost pile, from which would spring the obligatory pumpkin vines every year. 🎉😍 My Granddad's pumpkin patch was SO fertile, he kept him and my grandma AND reach of his 3 kids families in pumpkins for the whole season! We would even be reading last year's pumpkins when harvesting the current ones! And then it would be pumpkin at every meal! 🤣 I wonder about the origin of the Queensland Blue, and of the Hybrid you favour. 🤔

[@REDGardens]

I suspect that the hybrid does come from the Queensland Blue, but quite different as well!

[@TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

Thanks for all the info and observations! cheers! 🌱

[@REDGardens]

😁

[@StSdijle]

Thanks! Nice content as always. till now I considered squash as a plant and com back to harvest crop, giving me food and time to care for other more finicky stuff. Maybe I should chance at least a bit. What I learned from you: I will keep my patch of butternut and red curry mass production patch, but will look for bush type plants, for a bit more variation in the kitchen.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I usually feel the same. It is nice to have a crop that I don't need to think about for most of the summer, but still get something most of the time.

[@bonniepoole1095]

We had our first killing frost last week in PNW of the US . Still some tomatoes and cabbage in the greenhouse. I also had a poor year for squash- - I'm going to try black plastic and top-open cold frame set ups next year. I love to talk about the garden after it's gone to bed for the winter! Time to order seeds!

[@REDGardens]

Yes! Time to order seeds! On to the next season!

[@jvin248]

Since you have an idea of which squash you have the most success with, start saving those seed so you can adapt those squash to your local season and methods. Joseph Lofthouse Landrace Gardening techniques enabled him to adapt squash to his high elevation short season. Put them outside the tunnel and replant the survivor seeds so you don't adapt them to tunnels. Commercial seeds are adapted to their supplier's locations (often other continents) and what chemicals they use.

[@REDGardens]

Unfortunately the ones that work are all hybrid varieties. I have been interested in the possibility of developing a land race, and started the process with an interesting cross bred plant that appeared. Unfortunately all of the 2nd generation plants didn’t produce anything really similar or edible. So I abandoned that. Might start again if an open pollinated variety looks promising.

[@Thrymheim1]

My squash did terribly this year as well. I have found for me both crown prince and spaghetti squash give the highest yield is with very few plants in a huge area. Both varieties will give over 60kg per plant if given 10 plus meters. I found this out when slugs ate 90 percent of my seedlings. I do not fertilise and the area had not had compost. The crown prince get quite large 5 kg ISH with this method so that is also something to think about.

[@maxvizard8840]

Very interesting. Similarly poor year here in nearby south Laois. I use similar methods to your simple garden, in two beds outside, separated by the tunnel. I also mix varieties per bed and agree that's probably not the best for pollination, will take that onboard for next year. Tried the heritage Old Boer White from Seed Savers this year and it has good flavourful fruit but did not fully ripen this season, would recommend it for your future trials. Even the butternut variety inside the tunnel only set 2 fruit and are only coming ripe now. Next year will start a bit earlier, delayed a bit too much for fear of late frosts which actually seem less common in recent years. Very insightful and useful video as always, would love if you included sowing and planting date info in future please.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for the recommendation, I’d like to give that variety a try. I have never been able to get a good crop of butternut, even in the polytunnel, but might try again. You are right, I should include the planting dates more often. I keep meaning to do it as a little note, but often forget.

[@sansbury95]

I'm in US zone 5b (New England) and I had my best winter squash results in the past 5 years with a hybrid Delicata varietal called Jester, which is a 1-2lb fruit, short-vine type. The vines ran 4-8 feet out of my raised beds, with ~2 fruit per vine, with good disease tolerance, decent flavor, and I think they'll keep fine for 4-6 months at least. Waltham squash have more flavor but these aren't bad.

[@TobyRobb]

Still a good harvest? Just wondering if you tried plucking off early fruit and flowers which I have found at home encourages much more flowering. I also try to limit my Vines to one central leader and two laterals. Not always easy.😂 Anyway love the channel. Keep going mate!

[@REDGardens]

I should try that. Thanks!

[@friedastrong4160]

Down here in West Cork it was my worst year for growing squash ( 2024) I have grown pumpkins for more than 20 years . My favorite is Rouge d’etampe

[@REDGardens]

It seems a lot of people have had a tough year growing squash. That is a nice and productive variety.

[@MHrrs78]

With vining squash and pumpkins i would bury some of the nodes along the long vines. They tend to root a bit and this help support large plants needs.

[@REDGardens]

I have seen this done, especially people who are growing huge squash, but have never done it myself.

[@steveme120]

excellent as normal thanks

[@REDGardens]

😁

[@paulm2380]

Thank you

[@REDGardens]

😁

[@dagrin0707]

Great trials and reporting as usual! I love the straight forward and self-critical testing, it helps more than you can imagine. Curious, in Ireland, do your squash or georgette plants suffer from squash bugs or vine borer beetles? They are a terrible menace in the States that I struggle with every season. I am nearly at wits end, having tried wrapping the stems at and slightly below the dirt, planting "off peak" times during the season, spraying with soapy water, and neem oil sprays with a bit of soap for emulsion purposes. I have yet to find something that works other than pesticides. Next season, i plan to try out Spinosad sprays to see if that works.

[@REDGardens]

Thank you! We don't have those pests here, thankfully, but I have heard they can be a real problem.

[@davefreier7738]

Vine borers are a huge problem for me in west central Florida. I've only had any success with Moschata varieties outdoors. Pepo and Maxima varieties require extreme measures or growing in an enclosure.

[@kirstypollock6811]

I have amazing luck with my "house brand" yellow squash. Saved seeds from a spaghetti squash that i think got crossed with Sweet Jack. They are a bit variable, but quite similar being more orange and more round-blocky than spaghetti squash. They mature pretty early. One plant was compact (similar size to my Green Machine zucchini) with 6 huge fruits (and it 'aborted' 3). I'm saving the seed again, hoping to get that compact plant again. The fruits from this one are not as dense as some others, so long term i am aiming to get the prolific bush with early maturity but denser flesh. I also grew Crown Prince and Kuri and Giesdorfer Ölkürbis for the green seeds. Got max 2 fruits per plant on each - though 3 of the Crown Prince were very large, over 5kg. The plants developed 5 fruits actually, but 'aborted' them at a small medium size. Not pollination failure, they got much bigger first Nothing was as prolific as my "house brand". I'm in N Germany, so a little warmer and usually drier but not this year! I plant lots of mixed flower mix in among squash to encourage bees. I also have few enough plants that i also hand pollinate when I'm out there (every day) - I'm not sure it helps to be honest.

[@REDGardens]

That is so cool having your own variety to develop. I tried that with an accidental cross a few years ago, and all the 2nd generation plants were completely different. I am really interested in the idea that the plants will abort fruit, even if pollinated, and it is something I want to explore next year, marking the flowers that I hand pollinate.

[@kirstypollock6811]

@@REDGardens yeah, I had no idea that fruit dropping of partly mature fruits could happen for squash. I know fruit trees will do it, so I guess I was not too surprised. One nice variety of mini-squash that was awesomely prolific and climbed well (looked like a Jack B. Little) did NOT breed true at all, and the plants this year got hit by slugs when young, so I only got 2 fruits from one plant! I will nonetheless try them next year in hope. ElseI will just grow Jack B Little up my front garden fence. My neighbours have expectations! 🙂

[@colinandgillianayre796]

great vid

[@REDGardens]

thanks!

[@beentheredonethat6584]

Very interesting observations. 2024 was a disaster year for my squash too. Several varieties grown in a 6m x 12m plot performed poorly in contrast to previous years. Cool June weather certainly slowed growth and delayed fruiting. In terms of yield, the 8 Kobocha "Sweet Mama" produced the largest numbers (20kg) but my 2 Pink Banana (Candy Roaster) produced the greatest weight (~30kg). I grew one Green Hubbard that gave me two fruits totalling 22kg. As with your experience, overcrowding contributed to fewer bush variety fruits. Courgette plants on the edges of the plot produced prolific numbers (1 per day per plant) but those inside the perimeter produced almost nothing. Pollination was not an issue. Longer season plants like butternut squash "Waltham" started to fruit far too late due to the cool June weather. My 4 Hokkaido plants gave only 6 fruits between them (opposed to a 'normal' 6-8 fruits per plant). Even with all the disappointments my 24 plants produced a huge weight of squash, far in excess of what I could use. Next year I will grow fewer plants with greater spacing. By the way, I have come to believe that removing healthy leaves signals to the plant to grow more leaves. Good luck next year!

[@REDGardens]

Nice to know you had a good crop from “Sweet Mama”. Interesting observation about the courgettes, and thoughts about pruning leaves. Thanks.

[@EventHorizon34]

Same here in the southern US unfortunately. I grew tetsukabuto and speckled pup as a pollinator to tetsukabuto because without a kabocha type winter squash they won’t produce fruit. Lots of big beautiful foliage and flowers as a result of the mushroom compost and Agrothrive organic fertilizer. A lot of small developing fruit but only a few were pollinated. The yields were not good, just a bad year for winter squash overall.

[@REDGardens]

Haven't heard of tetsukabuto before, sounds like a good squash. I hadn't heard before of a variety needing to be grown beside other squash for pollination. I wonder if it is because the tetsukabuto doesn't produce male flowers, or is the pollen sterile because of the hybrid nature of the variety?

[@EventHorizon34]

@ The male flowers are sterile. So it definitely has to be grown near butternut,kabocha,Hubbard, or buttercup squash to produce fruit. It’s commonly used as a rootstock for Beit alpha type cucumbers too. It’s an amazing winter squash but because of your climate I’m not sure of the outcome. One thing about it though it’s definitely a heavy feeder! It grew a huge vine! Had to use a lot of mushroom compost and organic fertilizer for it and the pollinator.

[@FrozEnbyWolf150-b9t]

Lost a lot of butternut squash plants to the highly erratic weather in the spring, along with rodent pests digging out all the seedlings. Barely got 1/5 the yield of previous years. At least I got a couple volunteer pumpkins, and my angled luffa and bitter melon did rather well. Also wanted to add, if you do prune your squash next time, don't forget the leaves can be eaten.

[@REDGardens]

I found the leaves to be way too bitter. Perhaps a variety thing.

[@bobaloo2012]

Have you tried Butternut? I've grown dozens of varieties of winter squash in several trials, but over the years I'm mainly growing Butternut. It's a nice size for use, has great flavor, almost no seed cavity so the actual yield of flesh is huge and it grows well here in Oregon with a cool maritime climate. There are dozens of different strains, both vine and bush, to experiment with.

[@REDGardens]

I would love to be able to grow butternut, but every variety that I try fails to ripen properly, if it produces fruit at all. With the things I learned this year, I think I might try again.

[@justinciallella4724]

That's really surprising, I've had butternuts produce in just 2 months. They also are impervious to the dreaded squash vine borer that we have here in the Eastern US.

[@kirstypollock6811]

I also struggle with Butternut. Got Ok resuts in a hot year with a plant that grew 3m+ up a fir tree. 54N and temps rarely over 30C. Probably far less heat and sun power than anywhere south of Alaska / Canada. Europe is surprisingly far north... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_parallel_north

[@口口口口-n1c]

Crazy idea grow vine squash like you would vine tomatoes on wire with fruit support

[@gcc2313]

Didnt have much luck with squash either this year. Partially my fault, not enough fertility and care. And partially the weather this season. Let's hope next year will be better

[@REDGardens]

Next year! Definitely 😁

[@bernadette6211]

I grew a good crop in humanure, the variety was naked green pumkin. I'm in Co.Kerry

[@REDGardens]

Nice! I will keep an eye out for that variety. Thanks

[@ClaudiaOfTheWorld]

oh and those hokkaido squash - i’ve grown them in central London so warmer than where you are and yours look like an incredibly good size! i don’t think they get much bigger than that?

[@SameAsTheMail]

thank you Bruce, very helpful. I wonder if the vine plants might grow better with bush plants if the vines go vertical ? gonna try it next year I think - thanks !

[@REDGardens]

That might work well, if you have the space.

[@roxanned.625]

you mentioned you have a lot of wind so perhaps trellising the vining varieties is a problem in the garden but would it be reasonable to try it inside the poly tunnel to help maximize space, easier access for pollinators or hand pollination and also pruning and air flow to reduce mildew?

[@REDGardens]

I have tried growing them up a trellis a few times in the polytunnel. It did work, but was still a fair amount to manage setting up the trellis, training the vines and cutting them back so they didn't take over! I remember that pollination was an issue, but it was easier to hand pollinate. I haven't grown them like that in the polytunnel for a while, I guess mainly because I want to focus on the crops like tomatoes.

[@neilprasad007]

I've been growing 2 types of Delicata for several years and they have never given more than 3 fruits. Maybe 2 per plant on average. Lots of female flowers which I hand pollinate as well but the plant will terminate almost all of them. It's just the nature of this variety.

[@REDGardens]

That is interesting. I want to test that next year!

[@cervasaman1]

Tahitian squash My best ever and best taste!

[@REDGardens]

Haven’t tried it.

[@cervasaman1]

@@chrisgartenn I don't know either, But I've grown it 60 miles north of Pittsburgh PA USA

[@kime.7285]

Can you tell me a good one to grow for sweetness.

[@ListersHatsune]

What were the qualities of Squash that made them a good thing to grow in the simple garden under the compost? Would other vining crops also make a viable choice such as sweet potatoes or those close relatives like courgettes?

[@REDGardens]

The fact that they can sprawl out over the ground cover fabric is a great benefit, with 8 plants planted down the middle able to fill a big space, most other plants can't do that. And the roots of the squash seem to really like growing in among all the decomposing compost, they are well know for growing in a compost pile. I am not sure many other plants thrive in those conditions, but I haven't experimented with that.

[@julianvanostrand3275]

I noticed you don't seem to harvest winter squash as the season progresses, but rather seem to let all fruit grow and only harvest at the end of the season. I have found I get higher yields when I pick Waltham Butternut periodically but of course a small risk of harvesting too early....any thoughts?

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I do let it all grow. Picking anything earlier seems a waste to me as I don't like eating it before it is mature, and generally in this climate that isn't until late in the season. But I haven't tried it with most varieties.

[@chrisgartenn]

Where did you get the bush delicata seeds in Ireland? I couldnt find them anywhere. Btw there is also bush squash 'Amazonka' and ' Gold Nugget' which are nice.

[@REDGardens]

I got them from Bingenheimer seed company in Germany.

[@userunknown7675]

Squash/pumpkins did terrible for me this year. Well there is always next year.

[@REDGardens]

Always next year 🙂

[@garychilds1130]

Bees can travel over half a mile maybe more

[@REDGardens]

Yes, and they seem to very selective about what followers they go to.

[@benjaminbarber2840]

Could you give me a rough idea of how long the sheet mulching takes to break down and do you wait for breakdown or make space and plant into sheet mulch ? I understand that environmental conditions effect breakdown but based on your climate I can roughly gage mine .

[@REDGardens]

I start loading organs material the previous autumn, from general cleanup, then pile on a lot of the early growth in the spring, and might add grass clippings in the early summer. It decomposes all year with the squash, and I leave it covered over the next winter. Before planting potatoes in that bed for the next crop rotation, I rake off anything that is not decomposed, but most of it is gone. So the squash feed off it while it is still decomposing, and the following crop gets the rest.

[@benjaminbarber2840]

@REDGardens thank you for the info .

[@chadeller5588]

Some of your plants were grown over plastic. Did this interfere with the roots that grow at nodes along the vines, or did you cut holes for these additional roots?

[@REDGardens]

I didn’t worry about it. In some cases the roots found their way through the weave in the plastic.

[@Mustang314]

The biggest issue I had this year was vine bore... ruined everything

[@REDGardens]

I have heard that is a tough pest. So grateful we done have to deal with it here.

[@kirstypollock6811]

@@REDGardens I absolutely hope it never makes it over into Europe

[@Salomaeful]

To be honest - i never realised there were "bush" variety squashes, i had assumed all were vining!

[@REDGardens]

Same here!

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

I really do not like the bush varieties of any squash/pumpkin plant. The yields are noticeably smaller, even down here in South Carolina. I'm a fan of parthenocarpic zucchini, as I get more fruit and personally I prefer the taste of zucchini to squash. My point is I do not think it's a matter of heat so much with the bush varieties, they are just inferior to their vining cousins in terms of yield. The plants are quite pretty though, especially bush pumpkin plants, although I've never gotten more than one pumpkin from a bush variety. To me there is nothing more beautiful than a pumpkin plant, so I may be partial! Your squash yield diagram resembles a normal distribution chronologically. That is curious. Hopefully that pattern breaks next year.

[@REDGardens]

Good to know, thanks. I suspected that might be an issue, and so far my experience has been similar to what you describe, especially with a few of the varieties. But I am popgun that the other varieties can be encouraged to produce well in the limited space. Interesting observation about the normal distribution! Hope that is just a coincidence, and not sign of something else going on!

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

@@REDGardens Keep up the great work! Hopefully the yields go back up next year. This was the worst year I have ever had here in South Carolina. We got hit with two hurricanes. The second one wiped out all my replants. I have a field of floret broccoli, but everything else succumbed to the torrential rain.

[@MistressOP]

the land race wheat is still going on right?

[@REDGardens]

Had a failed crop this year and last, birds got them all!

[@MistressOP]

@@REDGardens Aww :(

[@DaveSmith-pm2yq]

Make a landrace Read Lofthouses book.

[@kirstypollock6811]

I'm doing this! My "house brand" is already noticeably more successful after just 2 years!

[@REDGardens]

I tried that a few years ago, and the second generation plants were all inedible. Felt it was a waste of time and space last time, but might try again.

[@DaveSmith-pm2yq]

@@REDGardens Sorry to hear that. The website "going to seed" has a community of people who probably can advise on how to prevent that from happening again.

[@ScouseJack]

People seem to "manage" their tomato plants and let their squash run rampant.

[@REDGardens]

That is what I do 😁 I think part of the difference is that I want to harvest tomatoes regularly, but the squash is something I can forget about for most of the year.

[@Tippler0611]

I tried to trellis squash. Worked well with butternut, but unexpectedly large pumpkins broke the 4x4 support frame. I've not bothered since

[@mjbarczyk]

Second!

[@REDGardens]

Woo!

[@garychilds1130]

Don't you get cross pollinate

[@REDGardens]

If I saved any seeds, yes. The pollen only affects the seeds, the squash is entirely based on the ‘mother’ plant, assuming there wasn’t cross pollination last year.

[@garychilds1130]

@@REDGardens I learn something every day thanks

[@OMNIBEAST550]

First comment :)

[@REDGardens]

Yay!

[@opperhoofdgeilebizon]

We grew zero squash plants this year. Slugs ate all our seedlings 😬🙄

[@REDGardens]

That is tough! Hope you get a crop next year.

[@kirstypollock6811]

I had to replant some many times. Cucumbers were hardest hit. My "house brand" yellow squash were not touched at all!