Is Butternut squash a vining plant, or does it grow like Summer squash & Zucchini- around a central stem? I'm thinking of planting some around my corn patch. Will they be happy together?
Butternut Squash question
I don't know if butternut squash and corn will be happy together, but I have buttercup squash (don't know=they the same, or similar?) in my garden, and I'm going to have to either prune some off some vines, or trellis, or both. HUGE leaves.
If you want to grow corn, I saw in another thread that a climbing bean or pea would do well, as it's not too much weight on the corn stalk....but I'd get that verified before doing so, as this is my first growing season, and I'm learning as I go.
Nice to meet you. :)
most butternuts are vining atho there is at least one bush version. Vines are like pumpkin vines. They need sun and space.
Thanks- I guess they wouldn't do well in the corn.
I'm a newbie myself, but I think that some type of squash was grown with corn and beans as part of the Native Americans' "three sisters technique," which you can google to read about. There's even a wikipedia page for it. It may not have been butternut squash used in the technique.
Squash, pumpkin all belong to the same family and indeed the Native Americans did grow it with their corn so go ahead and plant it. Butternut is my favorite winter squash anyway. Hubbarb is also good and is often used as a substitute for pumpkin in pies!!!!
I grew up in NH, and we always had Hubbard squash for holidays- I remember my dad taking an axe to cut it- they were like rocks! Delicious---
I grow butternut (a favorite) and have grown buttercup too. As Dill said, they need space. They both ramble and branch. Mine have been known to escape over the garden fence and down the hill making for some humorous picking adventures. If you plant butternut or other winter squash with corn then you probably would need to grow a variety that can be spaced wide. When Native Americans grew corn it had not been hybridized to grow inches apart. Consider too that squashes need good air flow to reduce disease (mildew) problems.
This message was edited Apr 19, 2011 3:53 PM
One important advantage of the butternut varieties (the moschata) is that they have solid stems and are therefore not as susceptible to squash vine borers. Those are a real problem here, along with their evil cousins the squash bugs.
GG, I am really happy to hear that! SVB can be devastating.
IMO butternu stores better than acorn, buttercup or delicata. I don't think delicata stores well at all.
Maybe that's why it's called "delicata"?
Jo, silver plastic mulch has seemed to make a huge difference in the SVB problem, but once I had that somewhat under control the squash bugs came out in full force. If all you have ("all!" - hah!) is SVBs you can try that. I got mine from Territorial Seed.
Yeah, my main prob !!! I try to catch them and "squash" them! Little beggars are fast though.
I've been growing Kabocha squash from Johnny's Selected Seeds for several years. It's stores well and it is very sweet, dry and flavorful. I believe it originated somewhere in Asia although it looks similar to a buttercup. Try it, you'll love it!
Thanks, Helen, I've wanted to try it but haven't yet.