[Lincs Lottie]

Hi, went to the allotment yesterday and most of the leaves on my squash plants have died.
They have brown marks on them and appear to have shrivelled.
This seems way to early for this to have happened because it's usually October time.
It has happened to my Crown Prince, Honey Bear, Spaghetti Squash and Turks Turban. The only squash not been affected is the Butternut (yet!).
I've not grown these varieties of squash before (except for the spaghetti and butternut) so perhaps this is usual but I am pretty certain last year my Spag squash didn't die back until much later.
I'll try to take photos next time I'm up there but before then, could anyone shed any light on this please?
Many thanks.
LL x

[RJR_38]

Mine are doing it too. I just assumed it was because it is colder than it should be for August - more like late September round here!

[JayG]

Butternut squashes are often a bit marginal in the UK, which is another way of saying they are often well behind other types.

Apart from some sort of pest attack, which could be slugs chewing through the stems, it may be that given the good summer, if they have set fruits which have developed OK the others think their race is nearly run.

How are the actual fruits themselves?

[mumofstig]

There's a lot of mildew about this year (caused by dryness at the roots) and the plants tend to die back quickly once they have it.

[Lincs Lottie]

Thanks for all your replies.
I've not grown Crown Prince before and have 3 plants, one fruit per plant, not as large as a usual pumpkin.
Spaghetti squash I grew last year and I think we had many more fruits last year, they are only slightly smaller in size than last year.
Honeybear I think we have 2 per plant, about the size of a grapefruit. I thought these would be black when ripe but at the moment they are very dark green.
Turks Turban I think are the correct size, some have turned orange whilst others are still more yellow.

Should we harvest now the leaves have died back or leave until we need them?

Also our yellow courgettes haven't been as prolific as previous years. Leaves look okay but can only see a few male flowers but no more fruit. Only had 5 fruits from it so far!

Butternut are fine and definitely not ripe yet but leaves are also fine.

Thanks x

[pigguns]

My squashes were looking like that too this morning (Buttercup, Q Blue, potimarron) was thinking about pulling things up earlier this year.  Have chopped the leaders back to the set fruits as no more will make it now (annoyed that I damaged the stalk turning my biggest QBlue).  Took off some mildew leaves from the yellow courg, although have had a good harvest from it, it's still producing like mad.

Corn stalks nearly all up, compost looking full already 

[R@bbit]

I take any bulky biomass, like sweetcorn stalks and squash vines home and mow them before bringing them back to the compost bins or just strewing as a mulch - less bulk on the plot.

[Steveharford]

My marrows are doing the same. They have done really well though so I have lots in store  I guess they have just run out of steam. Early though. Like everything else this year so far.

[yorkiegal]

Should I be removing any tiny squashes now and just focusing on the larger ones?
Also I know I should be removing the leaves which cover the fruit to allow them to see the sunlight but when I did that earlier the rain just destroyed the squash.

I'm new to squashes and didn't realise what monsters the plants are when it comes to infiltrating the rest of the plot if you leave them for a couple of days. It's like a flipping triffid.

[sunshineband]

TBH I usually just let the plants get on with it, yorkiegal, and don't bother to remove small fruits, unless we are going to eat them like courgettes of course  Overhanging leaves stay where they are. The only thing I do is put a brick or a piece of wood underneath any fruits resting on the ground, as they get larger.

This year though I have grown Turks Turban, Butternuts and Thelma Sanders on a big frame, and most of their fruits are hanging, where they get plenty of light too. Been worth the effort I reckon  Larger squash types might not cope with this though 

The onset of the autumnal weather has affected plants' growth, especially as they have had a long warm season and leaves are definitely dying off. Some of our courgette plants are destined for the compost bin pretty soon, from the look of them yesterday.

I have one NZ sort of squash which I stuck in one the end of a bed and the stems are about 5m long. Luckily the leaves are not massive though. I have trained stems along the paths either side of the bed so that the leeks there can still get some light and air  Triffids indeed 

[devonbarmygardener]

I'm just tippy toeing through the plants as they take over my plot!!

I have 2 large Thelmas, plus 2 more tiny ones getting going, plus 8 sweet winter dumplings that are at various stages of growth.
The sweet dumpling squashes are planted next to the base of my compost bin - it only occurred to me this morning - no wonder they're doing so well!

[sunshineband]

Those sweet dumplings usually give an excellent crop, so yours will be especially good I should think  :

[Markw]

I have had one Butternut Squash do the same. it had got so big I decided to cut a lot of it back and leave only 5 fruits on the plant, it has now picked up and is looking much better, it might be worth a try. The way I look at it is the plant had got completely out of control and was unable to get what it required to keep it going.