squash question

Pepper 7/15/2012, 5:18 pm

I am prepairing to make a new MM bed 4ftx8ft for winter squash among other things. I am wondering (my book is loaned out) if I can plant one per square in the two northern most rows and put a single trellis between rows 3 & 4 for both rows to use? The trellis I am concidering will be EMT about 10 ft tall with welded wire (2inx4in) strung between all the way to the top.

cheyannarach 7/19/2012, 4:04 pm

It sounds to me like this would work just fine!! Happy growing Pepper Very Happy

boffer 7/19/2012, 8:10 pm

Hopefully, my pics will give you an idea about you're in for. These two trellises are about one foot apart, and four feet wide. There are 4 squashes planted on the outside of each trellis, for a total of eight. What a jungle!
squash question Dscn2110

As you can see in the bottom pic, even though all the vines are going up the trellis, the leaves are going to encroach a lot into the neighboring squares on your row 3. I don't know how much you could prune them, or support them out of the way.

It will be very difficult to weave the vines through 2x4 wire fencing. I'm using a nylon trellis with 7 inch squares, and I still break an occasional vine trying to thread it, but maybe that's just me.

I don't know if the vines would just cling to the fencing and be able to support themselves with the weight of the squashes; they might need extra support from you.

J_in_HamiltonON 7/19/2012, 9:54 pm

Depending on what type of squash you grow, you might also consider accessibility to the bottom the plants to check for / deal with squash vine borer. I just spent an hour today digging the pest out of several squash plants Evil or Very Mad

and I was thankful they they were easily accessible along the edges of my beds.

Squat_Johnson 7/20/2012, 9:44 am

I still use the trellis method, but wanted to throw this in. These vines are now about 20 feet, and starting to show heat stress.

from this thread:
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t12925-invasion-of-the-butter-squash

Squat_Johnson wrote:This is an example showing vines "spilling out" of the box.

I have some squash that are really taking over. Here's 6 weeks ago. The Aussie Butter Squash is lower right, red circle highlighted.

I moved the fence 6 feet to make room. I don't think I need to highlight it in this photo. They are probably 15 feet long, going up and down the hill.

Sponsored content

squash question

squash question

Re: squash question

Re: squash question

Re: squash question

Re: squash question

Re: squash question


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.