Help needed with my squash, please

[Somerset_newbie]

It's probably because they are two different species. Musquees are Cucurbita moschata and red Kuris are Cucurbita maxima. The moschatas really need hotter summers than the maximas to do well.

I hadn't considered that as a factor. Naive or what!

[Somerset_newbie]

It's a miracle!



Came back from a weekend away to find the musquees have finally flowered!!! No idea whether this would have happened anyway, or if it's the potash, rock dust, windfalls and banana peel that's done it. So if we still get some sun and warmth, there might be some big squashes this year after all!

[Yasai]

It's a miracle!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]75872[/ATTACH]

Came back from a weekend away to find the musquees have finally flowered!!! No idea whether this would have happened anyway, or if it's the potash, rock dust, windfalls and banana peel that's done it. So if we still get some sun and warmth, there might be some big squashes this year after all!

Not sure how common it is but I discovered, last night, that some woodlice-looking insects (but smaller) have been munching on the flesh of the only blue kuri that has grown to a respectable size, so it might be an idea to try to cover any of yours that start growing. The leaves of the plants are a good 90% dead by now but I read that it's best to leave the fruit to mature on the plant; wish I hadn't read that because my instinct was to cut them off and, if I had, they'd still be in tact. Very gutting. Good luck with yours.

[no_akira]

Having seen crown prince squash grown in a commercial greenhouse where the fruits were hanging off a grid mesh platform and doing really well.
When they hang by their umbilical cord it stretches and hardens becoming super strong. It seems to me these hanging fruits grow robust, keep their shape and are away from the creepy crawlies

[Somerset_newbie]

Not sure how common it is but I discovered, last night, that some woodlice-looking insects (but smaller) have been munching on the flesh of the only blue kuri that has grown to a respectable size, so it might be an idea to try to cover any of yours that start growing. The leaves of the plants are a good 90% dead by now but I read that it's best to leave the fruit to mature on the plant; wish I hadn't read that because my instinct was to cut them off and, if I had, they'd still be in tact. Very gutting. Good luck with yours.

Sorry for the late response, I've only just seen your post. Thanks for the heads-up - I obsessively inspect the only two squash that seem to have fruited on my MdP plants, and have seen no sign as yet of any nasties. The plants are still looking incredibly healthy - no mildew, vigorous green leaves and shoot growth (though I have now clipped them to make the plants concentrate on maturing the fruits). The MdPs got very busy around the August bank holiday, putting out lots of female flowers, but despite my best efforts at hand-pollinating, these just didn't seem to want to take. It's now a race against time to try and get my two babies (obsessed or what??!) to mature before autumn proper sets in.

[Somerset_newbie]

Having seen crown prince squash grown in a commercial greenhouse where the fruits were hanging off a grid mesh platform and doing really well.
When they hang by their umbilical cord it stretches and hardens becoming super strong. It seems to me these hanging fruits grow robust, keep their shape and are away from the creepy crawlies

The two red kuris that fruited this year (two seems to be the not-so-magic number for me this year) have certainly grown very strong umbilical cords. Next year I think I'm going to train most if not all my squash up off the ground, as we have a serious slug problem here - they've been nipping the flower heads off the fruit buds on the ground-trailing vines. Disgusting things.