Growing Butternut Squash - Help, I planted them too close to eachother.?
Question:I planted about 6 plants together in a small garden and they are growing like weeds, they are taking over my garden! Should I dig some up and spread them out or will they die if I do that? Any suggestions, this is my first time growing a garden.
Answers:
I would just thin them out instead of trying to transplant them. Digging them up will probably disturb the roots of the ones you leave in the ground. Just pinch or cut them off at ground level.
For the ones that remain, try trellising them on a fence if you have one, or a sturdy teepee made of 6-foot-plus bamboo or hardwood stakes (you can get them at Kmart or any garden store). You can also pinch off the growing tips of the vines to keep them contained - this also allows the plant to put its energy into making fruits (the squashes) instead of vines.
Finally, don't worry if they don't all thrive. You'll still get plenty of squash and you'll be a pro by next year!
Six plants are way too many for one family anyway. Just remove them and re plant, if they die you won't really lose anyway. You can let them climb up a trellis ladder or fence.
For sure, you will want to thin them out. I suspect your seed packet would tell you to do that. One plants them closer in the event that some do not sprout. So it's a given that you will 'sacrifice' some, unless you have space to give the thinned out seedlings a new home.
you can dig them up if they are not already too large. i have transplanted them when they have been about two feet long but pinched the blooms off and water the soil throughly making sure you do not get water on the leaves. you can also use a water soluble root nutrient to better aide the plant from going into too much shock if you want. transplant in the late evening or very early morning for better results.however if i am right it sounds like your plants are pretty big and it would not be wise to try transplanting. i would just pull out some plants and give the others room to have air circulation. good luck!
Thin it down to 3 plants
Normally yo can all you can eat off from 1 plant
Yeah, you got a "six pack" didn't you? I always tell my friends to get 2 of the singles when buying any kind of squash. Just thin them, even with only 2 or 3 you'll be giving away butternut this fall. They aren't as prolific as the summer squashs, but that's pretty relative. By the way, if it looks like you'll have more squash than you want, pick some of the blooms. You can stuff and batter fry them, great way to thin a crop.
I see some very good answers here, but I think everyone else doesn't have the same bug problems I do!
We don't spray our garden with anything and try to keep it as natural as possible, mostly because we tend to each it straight from the vine/plant while pulling weeds!
If your area doesn't have a squash bug problem then the thinning and frying up the blooms is great, but if the bugs are bad, then you'll be lucky to get one or 2 squashes off each plant. And wish all those plants were still around. As for the transplanting, squash don't have a great root system and they may not come out of the stress of being up-rooted well.
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