Spacing for vertical summer squash

I would like to try to grow my zucchini and yellow squash up stakes this year. It seems somewhere I saw you could plant them in one square, but I didn't know if that was crazy to try. I did my winter squash on a trellis last year and gave them each 2 squares. I could do 2 of each if I only used 1 square, but there's no much point if they are too crowded to produce well. Looking for advice from others who have grown it vertically.

Kate888 wrote:I would like to try to grow my zucchini and yellow squash up stakes this year. It seems somewhere I saw you could plant them in one square, but I didn't know if that was crazy to try. I did my winter squash on a trellis last year and gave them each 2 squares. I could do 2 of each if I only used 1 square, but there's no much point if they are too crowded to produce well. Looking for advice from others who have grown it vertically.

Would like to try that method of growing zucchini vertically as well but have not seen any advice on that yet.

Wonder if I put on in a corner and wrapped a trellis around it giving it a 2 Square foot vertical area to climb?

Somebody has had to try this as they are very popular but need a lot of room

here's a link from another post....https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ogPfOrJM0Ho i tried it last year and it worked, but my plants were small, so maybe not the best test...

I'm trying it this year. (What aren't I trying in the garden this year??) I planted in the corners so if it doesn't work, I can let them fall over the side.

5-7-13


5-24-13

I'll be trying three types of vining summer squash on my trellises as an alternative to zucchini. I'll post how we like them, I'll be curious to see how your staking attempts go.

southern gardener wrote:here's a link from another post....https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ogPfOrJM0Ho i tried it last year and it worked, but my plants were small, so maybe not the best test...

Yes, this is the one I saw before that made me think I could do it. He doesn't specifically say, but even as tight as those are, it looks like I should probably give them 2 squares. Thanks!

[quote="sanderson"]I'm trying it this year. (What aren't I trying in the garden this year??) I planted in the corners so if it doesn't work, I can let them fall over the side.

Well, then I won't be alone in experimenting. I have 2 squares at each of the ends of my 3x6. So one corner, but the other is the middle on each end. I will have winter squash along one long end and the other squares are all lettuce, hoping the shade from the squash will help them last longer into the summer.

I'm always trying to squeeze in as much as possible.

jmsieglaff wrote:I'll be trying three types of vining summer squash on my trellises as an alternative to zucchini. I'll post how we like them, I'll be curious to see how your staking attempts go.

I've done the winter squash on a trellis, but didn't know if it would work as well for the summer. Plus I'm pretty tapped out on garden funds at this point. Stakes will be free or cheap. :-) I'd love to hear how it goes for you.

I worked on my summer squashes this evening. Trying to grow them vertically. I used a sharp knife to slice off all lower leaves and failed fruit. Boy, it sure made it easier to see what's what.

I have no idea if my experiments will work. But who knows? At least it makes it easier to hand-water.

Plant #1 after I cut off lower stems and failed fruit - plant really leaning


Plant #1 re-tied to stake


Plant #2 After removing lower stems and failed fruit


Plant #2 Re-tied to guide stake using a leaf stem


Plant #2 - I'm trying to get it over to the corner where the electrical conduit is located


Plant #3 before removing lower leaves - plant was really leaning


Plant #3 after removing lower leaves and re-tying to stake

wonderful.

Thanks. I sure hope it works! I could use more male flowers, too many fruits are failing!

I just cleaned up our yellow squash and zucchini like this. I have been waiting for the main stem to be long enough to attached to our trellis. I waited too long as I had to remove some new shoots off the main stem, but now they look a lot cleaner. Hopefully, this will help pollination as they were to congested and had little air flow.

Post Scrip:  Don't cut off the leaf right beneath a fruit.  It is needed until you harvest that fruit.  Or the fruit falls off!!   I hope this principle is visible in my photos.

I just replanted my zuchini that were killed by pickle worms. I'm going to try this method.

I'm training a patty pan up the trellis.  I've never grown vertical squash...or patty pan:

It's in one square and sharing a trellis with cucs & watermelon, which is getting windblown the moment due to a cold front stalled off Cape:

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:I'm training a patty pan up the trellis.  I've never grown vertical squash...or patty pan:

It's in one square and sharing a trellis with cucs & watermelon, which is getting windblown the moment due to a cold front stalled off Cape:

CC

Oh good luck and tell us how it turns out! I just tried patty pan squash for the first time last year and LOVED it ... and I'm rarely too thrilled about squash. These actually had some flavor I could detect(!!) and the edible skin was a big plus in my book -- both cuz you could eat it and because it preserved the really beautiful look of the squash on the plate. (The family and friends I cook for are all very "visual" eaters and a pretty plate makes a big difference.)

I have ... umm ... four? ... patty pan squash plants growing and I would just love a good harvest. Two I am letting sprawl in a neighbor's yard where all my squash flowers get destroyed by earwigs, and two in my own yard, where squash seems to grow a lot better, to judge by the great butternut squash plant I had going last year before our litter of puppies took all of 20 seconds to destroy it.

Anyway, I hear delicata squash are absolutely superior in flavor and I personally like patty pans a lot, so I'll enjoy hearing about your adventures, warnings, commiserations, or whatever!

P.S.: Grrrr ... 2 cubic foot bags of cedar mulch were on sale for 3 bucks per two bags, so I loaded up and broke a couple squash leaves when pouring it out. Thank goodness I've seen the way people in this thread have brutalized their squash plants and still had them survive, or I'd be singing the broken-squash blues at this point.

CC - One of my vertical squashes is trained up the trellis pole like yours is, with cucumbers climbing up the mesh.

Marc, One of my vertical squashes got away from me. I didn't keep up with trimming the lower leaves (right close up to the stalk) and tying it to the stake as it grew taller. It fell over and the stalk broke. Well, it survived. Enough vertical zylum and phloem left for transport of nutrients and water. After three weeks, I said, "what the heck". I trimmed the new lower heavy leaves off and retied to the stake. Still growing like mad.

No need to sing the Blues.

Awesome. Gotta love that durability.

I'll keep updating my vertical Patty pan provided that she lives.  The PM & humidity is wicked here this summer so I may lose her, but I'm working hard not to. 

I hope everyone else will keep us updated on their vertical squashes also.  It's all so interesting, isn't it?

CC

Definitely.

I trained a couple a couple of cucumber plants up my fence today for practice. The pattypans aren't big enough to train yet. I started them pretty late, and they also germinated extremely slowly in Jiffy pellets.

Lol. I guess I should have planned a bit better and put in a higher trellis for my tromboncino squash.  If you're looking for a good climbing and easily trellised squash, I suppose this one would do nicely! This is the first time I've grown it, and can't comment on the taste. Hopefully soon   I know there are members here who have loved it. I can say, it climbs with ease...quickly once it gets going!

Rooster, I've never seen tromboncino squash seeds in the stores here or even heard of it.  It sure climbs well!  Let us know what you think of the flavor once you try it.

Vertical patty pan update:


CC

RoOsTeR wrote:Lol. I guess I should have planned a bit better and put in a higher trellis for my tromboncino squash.  If you're looking for a good climbing and easily trellised squash, I suppose this one would do nicely! This is the first time I've grown it, and can't comment on the taste. Hopefully soon   I know there are members here who have loved it. I can say, it climbs with ease...quickly once it gets going!

wow Rooster, I wanna try that one on my arch trellis!! My yard long string beans and "regular" string beans are ALMOST touching at the top of my arch!! wahoo! that squash looks like it would do it in no time! How tall is your panel?

Thanks CC and SG   The squash is fun for sure, and I hear great things about it. I can't wait to try it myself.
The trellis is no where near tall enough! Without going out and measuring, I would say close to or a hair more than 5'. I think the trellis should be at LEAST 8'. I had to scrounge up a scrap piece of cattle panel to place on the other side, and it's now growing down.
The picture above was a week ago. Here it is today:




As you can see, it has no problems climbing...at all! It is also growing out along the ground.
If you're looking for a climbing squash, this one will do it!
Here's a shot of the squash starting to form:

Tromboncino squash - what is the flavor closest to, yellow squash or zucchini?

CC - I did a double take of your photo as your squash looks like one of mine.  How do you like vertical growing?