Butternut Squash?

[yoppdk]

My wife is looking through seed catalogs and has decided we should try to grow butternut squash next year. At 100 - 110 days to mature, I wonder if they will do okay up here (Grand Rapids). Has anybody tried these with any success? If so, any tips? Thanks!

[hydro]

I grow them every year here in Buffalo (just a little north of Mpls). They will do just fine in northern MN, very tasty too! One hill/three plants will produce about 10 squash. They will keep several months in a cool dark cellar.

[KEN W]

I've also grown them.I prefer buttercups which are drier.Butternuts are the best keepers of the winter squash varieties.Here is one you might try....matures in about 80-85 days....

http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=03616&c=147&p=Canesi+Hybrid+Winter+Squash

[yoppdk]

Thanks, I appreciate it and will give them a try! Good to know they grow up here. I was thinking they mostly came from down south, probably because those we get in the store have Mexico labels on them ...

[delcecchi]

One thing. Watch the vines for squash borers. You can dust/spray, or just cut them out.

http://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/docs/M1209.pdf

or as html

http://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/

http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/CUCS/vinebor.htm

[Dotch]

Butternut squash are highly unlikely to be bothered by squash vine borer. My own experience would confirm that. Other types I've rarely if ever seen squash vine borer on would include acorn type squash, delicata type including Heart of Gold. This may be contrary to what the publication says but it could be because I usually grow a wide variety and they prefer the buttercup type given the choice. Buttercup or buttercup types such as Mooregold, Sunspot and Autumn Cup on the other hand can be squash vine borer candy if you or someone else has been growing them in the vicinity. They were nasty on the buttercups this past season here.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I absolutely love acorn squash and have tried to plant them the past couple years around here. Dotch is good and Dotch is wise, but every year they get destroyed by vine borers. Or so I'm told it's vine borers. I never see any little critters but at the base of the vine, right where it goes into the dirt, it looks like something literally ate the vine. My peas and cucumbers which are planted right next to the squash are not effected. So, what can I do to get rid of whatever it is that's eating my squash vines?????????

Thanks.

[Dotch]

Rumor has it they are attracted to the smell of frying bacon but there's nothing in the literature that would confirm or deny that. Peas are not a host and cukes are seldom affected. Is this happening early on or are they appearing later once the vines have begun to spread? Early on it could be cutworm. If it's vine borer, they typically hit the plants once they start to "run". You'll usually notice the frass or worm poo on the outside of them the stem. You can slit the stem with a knife and attempt to remove the larva then mound up soil around the affected area on the plant. This is sometimes tougher to do with a harder stemmed plant such as an acorn squash. Sanitation or removal of the vines and tilling the soil in the fall is probably still your best bet. This doesn't mean you won't get them again next year though if someone in the area doesn't follow suit. Chemical treatment is difficult as it will likely mean repeat treatments and if your busy schedule precludes that from happening, well, you'll get few(er) squash. We normally will have 40 - 60 hills of squash of various types. The softer stemmed Hubbard and buttercup types are still by far the most attractive to the vine borers. This year due to the crazy year weather-wise and otherwise, we wound up buying squash and horse trading winter radishes for them. Farmers markets are always an option in a pinch.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Rumor has it they are attracted to the smell of frying bacon but there's nothing in the literature that would confirm or deny that.

If that's the case it's the farmers market for me. Some things I'm just not giving up.

It seems the squash vines do just fine until they start really climbing the fence and making squash. That's when whatever it is seems to eat away at the vine, right were it goes into the dirt.

I normally only plant aboot 6 or so vines, and I do them in a row along a snowfence I have set up in the garden so they can climb up and not out.

[jentz]

Eric try butternut,Dont plant them in the area you had acorns

[CANOPY SAM]

I plant buttercup in NW Minnesota every year. I harvest and sell 250-350 fruits each year, and don't recall ever once having any issues with insects.

I am fortunate at this?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Eric try butternut,Dont plant them in the area you had acorns

I'll give it a shot. I need to rotate things around a bit anyway so the timing works. I'll plant them where I had the tomatoes last year and put the tommies where I had the squash. Pretty much opposite ends of the garden. Thanks.

[Dotch]

I plant buttercup in NW Minnesota every year. I harvest and sell 250-350 fruits each year, and don't recall ever once having any issues with insects.

I am fortunate at this?

You might be. One can only speculate. It could be you are isolated enough that many of the insect pests haven't located you, yet. We've been raising stuff in the same general area now for over 25 years and have neighbors 1/4 to a mile away that have maintained garden areas longer than that. Since squash vine borer and others are mobile pests, even rotating isn't going to guarantee they won't come from a nearby garden plot here. You may also be following cultural practices that keep insects such as squash vine borer at bay. Being as far north as you should be an advantage. We most likely have populations of striped cucumber beetle that are overwintering in areas of So. MN now, something unlikely to be occurring where you're located. More reading on the IPM implications of squash vine borer indicate that there are some natural predators including tiny parasitic wasps and ground beetles. A lot of variables to squash vine borer equation. From the WI Master gardener site:

http://wimastergardener.org/?q=SquashVineBorer

[minky]

Great info on squash, I am going to try plant some this spring.