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| I have a patch of butternut squash that, in the spring, produced a bountiful harvest in June. But in the fierce heat that followed (near 100F every day for weeks at a time), the well-mulched plants started to suffer, and didn't even bloom any more. I watered frequently, but the stems looked like they were crisp, brown, drying up and falling apart. The plants looked like they were simply dying. One or two did. I threw some mulch over the stems to see if that would encourage them. The weather cooled (it is now in the mid-80s), and the patch is now lush, healthy, with a bunch of new squash on the vines. What happened?? I'm reluctant to blame it on SVBs. Butternut is not immune to SVBs, but it is pretty resistant, and I had canteloupe nearby that were doing pretty good. The SVBs would have gotten them as well. Never saw any obvious SVB damage. I've seen this before, in previous years, but I just thought the plants were done. These were not. I'm going to get a lot more fruit. If the plants want to sulk a little during the heat and not flower, that's fine, but I'd like some reassurance if they're planning on perking back up. |
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| I've had a similar experience in a much cooler zone. All summer I patrolled my butternuts against the squash bug and managed to harvest in very early Sept 11 beautiful, big squash. I missed a few eggs and over the summer also killed a number of hatchlings of various sizes that were feeding on the plants which looked a little sickly but still kept going. After harvest, I ignored the vines. The hatch was over, and the vines, which were not terribly healthy, managed to recover and to grow a few small squash that might actually make it to maturity if frost holds off. Never seen anything like it. |
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| I have had this happen when a soaking rain came along just as the first crop of squash was finishing. |
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| My squash plants will often put out a 2nd flush when cooler weather comes and the first crop is ripe/picked. Problem is getting them to maturity before the first frost. Right now, I'm picking off new babies to concentrate growth in the few that have a chance. OP shouldn't have that problem, in that zone. |
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- Posted by daninthedirt 8b / HZ10 Cent. TX (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 14 at 10:18
| Yes, I'm wondering if burying the vines in mulch allowed them to re-root. But the mulch I used was just ground up (as well as not so ground up) leaves, which is not a very good rooting medium. I'm reluctant to go digging around to look for new roots. I guess the basic question is what causes the vines to dry out and start to fall apart when there is no obvious vine damage from SVBs. Now, I've never seen any squash bugs, but I thought those don't attack the vines. They attack the leaves. It has occurred to me that one heat-resisting strategy might be to train the vines along rows, and then fill in the rows with soil as the vines grow, burying the vines but not the leaves or the flowers. That way, one has loads of roots to support the plant when the heat sets in. Anyone done that? |
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| It sounds like a good idea. I've always grown squash on the ground instead of a trellis, just for the rooting advantage, But I've noticed that a hard wind will push the vines around and unroot them. And mulch is likely to harbor squash bugs. So I'd think training the vines along a furrow and then filling it in might be a good way to go. |
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| It isn't uncommon to notice a second wave of squash. What happens is the plants grow to a certain size to support fruit, then the fruit are set and most of the energy of the vine is directed to maturing the fruit. Once the fruit are either removed or the fruit are fully ripe and no longer an energy drain, the plants will attempt to produce more. |
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- Posted by daninthedirt 8b / HZ10 Cent. TX (My Page) on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 13:32
| That seems reasonable. It may be just a coincidence, but I notice that in this "second wave" I have a lot more female flowers. In my original crop the M/F ratio was probably around 10/1, while now it's about 2or3/1. Not sure what would account for that. My plants seem a lot happier making female flowers. |
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