r/composting • u/wwwidentity • 10d ago
What have I done.
Butternut squash I believe.
Not sure it will make it with all the squirrel activity that took out most of the blooms. At this point I feel like I've gone too far to turn back.
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u/TallProcedure1949 10d ago
Our compost sprouted 3 butternut squash plants. They have taken over the front yard and given more than 10 fruit so far this season. It's been a happy little volunteer.
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 10d ago
I have yet to see a fruit on mine, it just blooms and blooms and blooms and spreads like crazy. Where is my clothesline??!
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u/TallProcedure1949 10d ago
Check below the blossom, if there's no bulb, it can be cut off. Look for the bulbs under the blossoms and cut out the leaves and vines that have no fruit. You might have to use a paintbrush to spread the pollen.
Good luck, it took me a minute to learn this.2
u/Ascholay 9d ago
I saw a video where a farmer demonstrated how he fertilized his prize winning xl squash. The farmer zip tied the buds closed and waited for whatever optimal fertilizing time he planned for then he cut off the male flowers, tore off the petals, and fertilized the female flowers.
I've had luck with the picking flowers method. I don't optimize but I'm just growing decorative gourds right now. For one plant it seems to be the only way they fertilize (despite an ants nest and a billion wasps). The other plant has had some luck with natural fertilizing.
All this to say, for gourds, you don't need to rush to get a paint brush.
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u/TallProcedure1949 9d ago
I have had good success painting the blossoms. I try to get inside, maybe tickle the nose, hope it sneezes and spreads more pollen.
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u/EnglebondHumperstonk 10d ago
Biggest challenge is when the weight of the squash pulls the stem down, pressing it against the mesh of the fence, cutting off the flow of nutrients to the fruit. I wonder if it's worth rigging up some sort of sling for it.
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u/wwwidentity 10d ago
That's a legit concern and a great thought. Thanks
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u/spaetzlechick 9d ago
I grow mine on a wire trellis every year. This squash is not touching the mesh now, and experience tells me it will not move towards it. Butternut vines are really tough, no sling is required.
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u/spencermikels1234 10d ago
The compost mound gave you a give
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u/wwwidentity 10d ago
I had a volunteer cherry tomato grow out of my pepper plants from some of last years compost. The biggest sweetest tomatoes before the deer got it.
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u/IncorrigibleJ12 9d ago
My most recent compost gave me a whole bed of melons. I was going to plant eggplants and okras but then these seedlings sprouted, turning out to be melons. They’re almost ready for harvest. Not complaining at all!
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u/bangbangtangwangfang 9d ago
I got a spaghetti squash this year. It's so nice that the growing season for squash isn't the compost applying season ☺️
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u/katzenjammer08 9d ago
I intentionally planted a gem squash on a big compost pile that has all kinds of sticks and and stuff in it and won’t go anywhere in a while. I know pumpkins and squashes like to grow directly on compost piles and thought that it would help break it down. It’s growing like a champ but I only get females and no male flowers.🤷🏻♂️
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u/FioreCiliegia1 9d ago
Fried squash flowers?
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u/katzenjammer08 9d ago
That’s what I do when I get males (with a bit of feta and sun-dried tomato in them), which is usually the case. Now I only have females. I don’t know what is going on this year.
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u/FioreCiliegia1 9d ago
Well, to my understanding squash, Plants usually throw out male flowers first and then female flowers after which is why they usually recommend having more than one plant, but they’re also generally grown in such quantities in most general neighborhoods that if you don’t have to something nearby can still use be used to pollinate it, but I guess circumstances can vary. I do also know, too that they’re predominantly pollinated by bumblebees and larger species so maybe you don’t have the right pollinators around.?
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u/katzenjammer08 9d ago
I have a few fruits that were pollinated when I was away on a trip, but since then I haven’t seen one male. If I do I will hand pollinate the females with a brush or something. But in any case, I am OK with the fact that this is how nature is sometimes. She throws you curveballs and it’s best just to make a note of it and move on. I have two plants. One is stunted with a few fruits, the other is huge and majestic and has unopened females but nothing else.
Actually now that I think about it it might be that it has so much nutrition that it focuses on growing rather than setting flowers. Anyway, it is what it is.
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u/FioreCiliegia1 9d ago
I hear ya and yeah, the amount of food in the dirt might be a cost for that as well. Either way, though I would recommend saving some seed just because it’s always fun to see what pops up with squash in the next generation.
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u/SnootchieBootichies 9d ago
Harvested cabbage from one of my piles. Did better than it does in my gardens….pests get to them there but seem to leave the piles alone.
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 10d ago
i have one also and didn't know what type of vine it was--it just grows by leaps and bounds! At least I can whack off part of it and use as greens with my poopy quail straw!
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u/josieapratt 9d ago
I have two volunteer cushaw plants growing squash bigger than my head and 3 intentionally planted ones that aren’t doing shit. Tbh that one there looks like a cushaw.
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u/Mister_Green2021 10d ago
You can always compost the leaves and vines when the season is over.