[wistow-wizard]

Planted seed early in pots and kept indoors. Healthy growth to 6inches high and then started putting outside for a week in late April to harden.
Dug farmyard manure compost into trench and planted out in sheltered garden in early May.
Plants deteriorated from bushy green to thin sick yellowing plants.
I now have a few flowers which have been pollinated and I have small squash but still on sickly plants.
This year I put three other plants into another part of the garden, straight into soil and same results, so not soil or location.
Two years ago plants went into grow bags and grew brilliantly.

Any butternut wizards got any words of advice!!!

[Trillium]

It's certainly odd that the squash didn't like all your hard work. I guess the solution is to keep growing them in growbags. Obviously there's something in the 'soil' composition which they like.
Personally, I do exactly as you did for all my melons and squash, and they love it.
Perchance, you soil doesn't happen to be too acidic or too chalky, does it? Or something different about the water you use?

[gobs]

I don't know what is the problem there, but for one I don't sow them till early May time and never plant them out before June and still they just got cold damage on them.

[vegmandan]

It's still early for Squashes outside so it could just be overnight cold or being too wet that's doing the harm,you want to be planting out in early June rather than early May as cold weather will just send them backwards.

Is the farmyard manure well rotted or reasonably fresh,because if its pretty fresh then it'll do you no good.

Try planting some more if you have any in a biggish hole filled with compost in your garden,this may help now it's warmed up. :?

[compostqueen]

I put two butternuts out today in very wet, sloppy manure. Mind you it's old but just wet through although it's been rotting for yonks. Made a hole in the manure, filled it with growbag compost, then sat the squash in that so and topped it up with the compost so no manure was touching the stems.  Hope that's enough.

[wistow-wizard]

Latest, weak plants have flowered and produced fruit which has gone yellow died.
Lesson learned, very early.
I was given three plants by a friend and they are thriving in the same compost so, early birds dont always get the worm!

[Bernard]

I think there must be something about squashes' requirements that is not recognised.

At a previous house I used to grow squashes with a marvellous result for both winter and summer. This was heavy clay soil on a south-facing slope.

For the last 18 years I have been still on a south-facing slope but with more 'average' soil and I have never had any success here with squash. They just don't grow.