Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Joe Hicks on August 01, 2019, 13:10
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Hello,
I have two Crown Prince squash plants growing freely on my allotment. One is ~2.5 x 2.5 or meters and the other about 1.5 x 1.5 meters. I am looking for advice on two things: 1) how many squashes to allow to grow on each plant to ensure they all mature and reach a good size, and 2) whether to pinch out the growing shoots on the assumption this would direct energy into growing the squash, and if so when to do this. I have found a few threads that have touched on this, but nothing that helpful or clear. I live in North Yorkshire so my growing season will be shorter than down south by a couple of weeks or more.
Note: I have already reduced the number growing on the larger plant to five as there were a dozen or so golf ball sized or bigger plus a lot more tiny ones coming through. The five I've left on consist of two that are roughly the size of coconuts, one that's about two thirds that and the other one is tennis-ball sized. Then on the smaller plant I've already removed all fruit except two, but both are only a bit bigger than golf balls. I've not done any pinching out of stems yet though.
I'd be really interested and grateful to hear of any relevant experiences, e.g. the maximum number of fruits on big plants that people have found work well, ideally in the north.
Thanks
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Hi, welcome to the forums.
I had two Crown Prince plants last year - the flower setting was poor (mainly due to their habit of producing all male or all female flowers at any given time); in the end one plant produced 1 relatively small squash, the other one 2 absolute giants (see pic.)
They were far too big for a one-person household to deal with comfortably - I would suggest 3 or 4 per plant is a good target, and you may find they are a more manageable size.
To do this make sure the fruits are developing properly (i.e. have been pollinated) and then pinch out the growing tips (there will probably be several) and any other set fruit when you have reached your target.
That should be a fairly safe bet where you are, although I'm not going to guarantee the weather will help or hinder their development! ;)
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There is always someone who will ignore what is said ;) but hey thats why I am a punk!
I have two plants on the go, I leave them to grow and grow and grow and grow, the last count I had nine squash on the go that are maturing nicely (remember I live in tropical Blackpool).
In all the years I have grown them I have never done anything but train the runners in the direction I want them to go.
I do a lot of prep, the planting hole is 2 feet by 2 feet deep, full of good rotten manure and then as they are growing I feed, feed and feed them, I think Monty said "you cannot over feed squash"
They will knock off fruit themselves and put the energy into those that are maturing, I would say my average crop is around 13 off two plants.
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Thanks JayG and Aidy.
Interesting to hear differing opinions and tips from similar climates. Aidy when you say you get an average of 13 from two plants roughly what sizes do you get on average and how variable are they? At the moment it's looking like I'll get four from one plant and one from my other plant, but they should all be football (or even slightly bigger) sized beasts.
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I find that for them to be a good big size and, most importantly, to ripen properly about 3-4 per plant is good.
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Similar see photo (size 5 footy)