Growing squash from seed

by Dandelion 18th April 2012, 5:49 pm

My butternuts are growing, the patty pans are looking good, but the Japanese squash (Uchiki Kuri) I planted have just not sprouted. Has anyone got any experience of growing them? I got fed up and dug the seeds up - they were just quietly doing nothing.) They are in small individual pots in a heated propagator - all the other squashes have grown under these conditions.

by Dandelion 21st April 2012, 12:30 pm

Right - I've just planted some more. This time I've used a more soil-based compost (sounds posh, but actually it's soil/bark chips from the chicken run which has been 'matured' and sieved, giving a mixture of loam and composted material. It's a closer texture than the New Horizons which is what I usually use, which does tend to have a loose grainy texture.) I've made sure the seeds were on their side to prevent rotting and put two to a small pot, so I can (hopefully) pull out and discard the weaker seedling. The soil is damp but not sodden and the pots are now in my little propagator. Can't think of anything else I can do apart from reading them bedtime stories - if this doesn't work there's something wrong with the seeds!!

by Chilli-head 23rd April 2012, 11:35 am

I have grown them in the past, I'm sure - I went through a fair range of different squashes, and I don't recall any difficulties with them, so maybe poor seed ?

I have now converged on pumpkin Conneticut field and butternut type squash (eg Hawk, Harrier etc); the pumpkin because it is good for carving, and the butternuts because of taste, smooth texture (makes better soup), size and keeping properties.

by Dandelion 24th April 2012, 6:00 pm

After having bought the Uchiki Kuri, because they looked so beautiful in the seed catalogue (I know, classic mistake...) I found out from a veg growing website that they can be a bit seedy. Oh well, if nothing else I can have some beautiful squashes in the garden - who says we have to eat them???

by warlock1 20th January 2013, 10:14 am

i grew them last year and got around three fruit but i saved the seeds and have around 50 or so . will try again but i had more success with spagetti
squash where i had one weighing 5 pounds and had a number of acorn squash . i had a harvest of 34 squashes last year it was the first time i had
grown it .

by Dandelion 20th January 2013, 1:41 pm

Am looking forward to better weather in 2013 (we can but be optimistic...) so that the squashes and tomatoes do better.

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Growing squash from seed

Growing squash from seed

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