[blackberryjam]

This may be a dumb question, but can you grow butternut squash in a grow bag.
My daughter is thinking of trying it next year and training  it up a trellis.
 

[mumofstig]

You could but it will need a lot of feeding and watering. Perhaps best to stand it on end so the bag is more like a big pot, rather than laying it flat

[Growster...]

And you may need to allow for supports for the fruit when they get higher up, but it's not a bad idea if there's plenty of food and moisture as Mum says. Can the growbag go in a watering tray underneath?

[blackberryjam]

I'm sure I could find something she could use has a water tray, an old dustbin lid maybe.
Feed would be the same as tomatoes, is that correct or would it need something better.

[Growster...]

I'm sure I could find something she could use has a water tray, an old dustbin lid maybe.
Feed would be the same as tomatoes, is that correct or would it need something better.

Good idea using a dustbin lid!

I don't think feed has to be anything special, Tomorite is quite expensive, but I'd have thought any general NPK stuff would be fine, but as Mum says, lots of water and not too much feed each time, as they'll grow very fleshy, and it sounds as though you may be short of space if you want to grow it up something!

[blackberryjam]

My daughter has an American friend who has grown them this way. Weather it would be work in our climate im not sure, but it's worth a try. A experiment I suppose 

[BabbyAnn]

I have a pallet fence round my squash beds, and I have found that the best butternuts I've harvested have been the ones where the fruit have set suspended in the air and developed where the vine has climbed up - even the large heavy ones have been fine but keep an eye on them, and you will need to make sure the trellis is really heavy duty and solidly constructed so that the weight of both plants and fruit doesn't bring it down (especially if you add a wind factor depending on the weather)

To ensure good pollination, I think it might be an idea to grow more than one plant as the male and female flowers on a vine do not always open at the same time (you can hand pollinate - some people transfer pollen on to a brush and keep in a fridge until the female flower is ready ... have to confess I'm a lazy gardener and let nature do the work for me so hand pollinating is not my thing and I'll gladly let someone else tell you more about that)

Re: feed - if it was me, I'd probably put a handful of chicken manure pellets in the planting hole as this will give the plants a boost when the vine is growing before starting a liquid feed when the flowers are out.  I've grown pumpkins in growbags (pre-allotment days) and been successful - most important of all, make sure the plants are somewhere in full sun and sheltered as butternut do better in warmer conditions, and do keep well watered especially during hot weather

In case you did not know, there is a bush type (rather than vine) variety called Butterbush - the fruits are not big but I got a couple about a 1lb in weight this year

[blackberryjam]

Thanks babbyann, it will be in a sheltered spot out of the wind and in full sun, didn't know about pollinating by hand, but like you ill let the bees do that for her. It will be a strong trellis her dad's  building it. :blink: