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Butternut squash, planting out

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  • Butternut squash, planting out

    Hi experts, My wife has been given a butternut squash plant in a pot. When can I plant it out in the garden? Also, is it liable to be attacked by the slimy little munchers (A.K.A. slugs)?

    Regards, Mikey

  • #2
    Hi Mikey.

    I have just planted out my pumpkins, they are part of the same family and you treat them the same, mine went into the veg patch a couple of days ago and are doing well.

    Harden them off for a week first if they were grew indoors. Dig a hole fill it with compost or some other material, heep the compost up and plant out the squashs on top, water well and they should be ok. I dont know how they stand where slugs are concerned.

    Hope that helped.

    Greenwitch

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    • #3
      Greenwitch, Many thanks, just what I wanted to know.

      Regards, Mikey

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      • #4
        Yep in answer to your question the slimy little crop munchers do like butternut squash as they have munched one of mine back to a little stump in the ground!
        Luckily kept one in reserve, have got some slug stoppa which is an organic barrier to put around the new squash plant so you could try that around it. Aldi sell it cheaper than anywhere else.
        The other thing you can try is coffee grounds or crushed egg shells which work really well too.
        Good luck with yours.
        When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. ~Author Unknown

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        • #5
          Thanks for that Miffy. Forewarned is forearmed.

          Regards, Mikey

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          • #6
            I've found that if I prop up the leaves on something (anything will do!), they get muched less. I learnt from last year not to plant out too early, so I waited until there were about 3 inches of stem with the plants this year and propped up the leaves on bits of partly rotted horse poo! Seems to have slowed the munching!

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            • #7
              I have waited this year to plant out my b'nuts as well. They were all very well established, to stop the slug carnage I suffered last year, probably close to a foot tall before I stuck them in the deck.
              They are in a raised bed that has been manured, but once in, I just leave them to get on with growing, watering if really dry.
              Bob Leponge
              Life's disappointments are so much harder to take if you don't know any swear words.

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              • #8
                I planted out my butternut squashes last week and they are like a heralding trumpet for slugs. I use slug tocks (shame on me) cause i can only visit the plot weekly (darn job) and when I got back this weekend there was slug carnage surrounding the poor critters. They survived though. Hopefully soon they will be big enough to withstand the slug onslaught.

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                • #9
                  Other than the slugs though, I forgot to say, they seemed happy with the temperature, but they were a bit dried out from the sunny weather. They seem to be very thirsty plants, so next week I'll upturn a few 2 litre bottles with perforated caps next to them.

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                  • #10
                    Thanks for the replies people. I'll repot it and wait until its much bigger until I plant it out and surround it with machine guns for slug defence!!!!

                    Regards, Mikey

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                    • #11
                      Cheers for asking the question Mikey I was wondering the same.

                      My pumpkins and Squash have been hardening off gradually and I am excited about planting them.

                      I found that the slug stoppa tape did not work very well and the organic slug pellets were much better. But to be fair the cold weather we had during the winter killed alot of slugs and snails off I think, but that in turn made ofr hungry pigeons so I covered my peas up very well with netting.

                      Good luck to all our Squash & pumpkins!!
                      Those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it!

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