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Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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Posted by
ladybug80 6a (
My Page) on
Sat, Jun 19, 10 at 19:18
| Hello Everyone,
Has anyone ever trimmed back their squash plants? I have a little 4 foot by 4 foot vegetable garden, and my squash plants just keep spreading and shading over my other veggie plants (tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers). I'm afraid my other veggie plants won't get enough sunlight if they are being shaded by the giant squash leaves.
Advice? Comments?
Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| I do it all the time.I try to only trim 1 or 2 at a time on each plant and try to cut it near the stem. (repeat in a few days).....I would not get crazy with it so bugs will not start. |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| I think squash require a minimum of a 4' x 4' space just by themselves, not shared with other crops. If I had only a 4' x 4' space I would grow 2 tomato plants and 4 peppers, or some such combination. That would be a pretty crowded garden. Jim |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| Jim, I honestly didn't realize how big squash plants grow. This is my first veggie garden so I'm learning as I go. Somebody was telling me this morning that they have moved squash plants before to a new bigger location. Would doing this hurt the plant now that it is already producing squash? |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| I've trimmed mine for years and it's never hurt them. |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| If they're already producing, I wouldn't move them now, but I've had lots of success moving smaller plants. When I say "smaller" I mean ~12" in diameter and less. I had to do it several times last year, as I direct seeded a bunch of squash into a bed that I had tomatoes in, then moved them to another bed, then realized they were STILL going to be too crowded and moved them a 3rd time. I'd go with others' suggestions at this point, and just trim, although trimming squash personally makes me nervous because of the big, gaping holes in the stems still attached to the plants. |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| "I honestly didn't realize how big squash plants grow." It's one of those miraculous things that make gardening fun. How does such a big plant come from that little seed in such a short time? Jim |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| Jim, it's definitely a miracle to me how HUMUNGOUS these squash plants are, and how much squash they are producing. I just picked 6 fully grown squash in the past two days, and many more will be fully grown soon! Mmmm... grilled yellow squash makes my mouth water. :) Well, I put one of those wire plant stake rings around each squash plant in an effort to hold the leaves back from my other plants. If the leaves continue to grow out over my other plants I'll trim a few stems back I guess. Thank you all for your advice! Much appreciated! :) |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| Perhaps you could trellis them. You could put a large wire cage over the center of the plant and then tie the vines to it. They should then begin to put out tendrils and grab on. Ideally, you should locate the cage as far away as possible from your tomatoes, etc. |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| at the risk of posting a redundant question: now that i know it's ok to do it... HOW do you actually trim it?? i hear all the time that you should not cut it in a way that exposes the stalk, but then... what is it that your cutting exactly? and i need help on this ASAP because my zuc and straight neck have COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER!!! i have peppers and tomatoes and basil in this bed and they're getting NO sun. i had actually forgotten all about my basil!!
i'm a newbie and just didn't know i could trim them. please help :) |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| Take a sharp knife, like a paring knife, and just cut the leaves off close to the bottom of the plant without cutting into the main trunk (for lack of a better word), and you should be fine, as long as you don't hack off too much of it. |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| ok, so not at the tip, where the 'stem' and the leaf meet? cut where the the 'stem' (stalk??) come out from the big clump (mass!) of stems at the bottom, where it's coming up from the dirt? can you tell that i'm nervous about this, lol! thanks! angela |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| I've tried it for the first time this year. So far, so good. Also, the stems are EDIBLE!!! I cut off the leaf at rubbed a paper towel over the stem until all the stickers came off (for some pesky stickers, I used my thumbnail from behind the safety of the paper towel. They steam like asparagus or can be snipped in to pieces like green beans. They taste like a combination of green beans and the squash. They are DELICIOUS cooked up in eggs. They don't store long, though, maybe a couple of days in the fridge before the shrivel and loose all their moisture, But then you can use them like a dried vegetable as they weren't moldy, just shriveled. The leaves are edible too, but I haven't figured out a way to remove the stickers from them. They just tear underneath the paper towel. Some sites say you can peal them, but really, how do you peel a leaf??? Also, if you boil them in soups the stickers aren't supposed to be an issue, but its too hot out here for soups, so my leaves have been finding their way to the compost heap or the trash if they're spotty. |
RE: Trimming straight neck yellow squash?
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| Oh, and yes, I've been cutting at the base of the stem where it comes out of the main stalk of the plant. The stemps are hollow, so it's scary. You'd think anything could crawl in there and infect your babies, but the bottom stems tend to turn yellow and brown and rot off anyway, and the lower leaves are the first ones most likely to get diseases, so removing them has to be good for the plant too. |
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