[Remy]

I've got two butternut squash that seem to be swelling quite well but don't have the normal shape.
I got the seeds from the Dig in webiste on the BBC.

I'm not to bothered if they don't end up looking like regular squash but just wanted to know.

[Steve.B]

Mine looked the same but as they got bigger they lengthened.

[Remy]

Cool, Some of the other fruits that where forming are dropping off, any ideas what might cause this?

[Steve.B]

No expert just my 2nd year growing them, could it be not enough water?

[Remy]

Well I've watered them every week and we had a couple of downpoor so I don't know.
They just rotten on the stem.

[Steve.B]

Too much water?

[mumofstig]

My Hunter b/nut that was round stopped growing and turned colour a bit, so I thought i might as well eat it. When i cut into it it had no seed cavity............how weird is that. Usually if there's not going to be seeds ( not pollinated) then there is no squash
It was still quite small, just like the kneck end of a proper b/nut but it tasted just as it should, so i'm not complaining

[galen]

Could be they weren't fertilised. Small fruits form behind the female flowers, when they are not fertilised, they sometimes grow a bit but fall off. Had it this year with Pumpkin, BNS, and Courgettes

[Muddylou]

This is my first year of growing, I also planted BNS with seeds I received from that BBC programme.
I have six fruit and four of them look similar to yours, I'm happy to hear that they may grow into a normal shape given time.

[mumofstig]

Could be they weren't fertilised. Small fruits form behind the female flowers, when they are not fertilised, they sometimes grow a bit but fall off. Had it this year with Pumpkin, BNS, and Courgettes

It was deff bigger than those baby fruits behind the flowers .....about as big as a grapefruit i reckon, and it was the first fruit to form weeks ago, just never got any bigger

[galen]

MOS with my pumpkin the first fruit got to about tennis ball size before it gave up the ghost. I was most disappointed, especially as in the end I only got one fruit (basketball size mind you  ) from the plant before it decided it had had enough!

I've also had a similar problem with one of the courgette plants recently, although I think in this case the fruit was just buried under all the foliage and never saw enough light. Unfortunately that appears to be the last from that plant as well 

[barbarella]

I got my seeds from the BBC too and they are the right butternut squash shape.  There are five on one plant and the other one I am not sure about as it is a bit hidden behind netting - so much so that I have forgotten to feed it with Tomorite, so it probably hasn't got any.  I've also got a couple of Potimarron squash growing well.  I  put a trellis up to support them and to save space on the ground. 

I'm not sure when they will be ready to pick though, or whether to remove any leaves covering the fruit, as Galen has made me wonder.

[Steve.B]

I have not removed the leave as we have light fingered person on our site! and want to keep them hidden.

[barbarella]

This is the first year I have grown squash, but I have heard from other plot holders that squash and pumpkins are the veg most likely to be nicked, especially as Halloween approaches.  So I will bear that in mind - hopefully they will be ready to harvest before then.

[Ivah]

This is an interesting read on Butternuts and shows some shape variation.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/documents/ButternutSquashAGM.pdf