Butternut squash in tubs

[p.penn]

Has anyone ever grown squash in tubs? My first plant (grown lovingly from seed) was eaten first night by slugs. :cry: I have bought another and popped it in a large 12-14" tub and so far seems ok.

I have never grown squash before but belive you more or less leave them and the fruits lay on the ground. Will I have to stake it? And will the fruits be too heavy?

Any ideas really appreciated

[Johnhson]

I've not done it myself but it can be done. The thing to remember is that it will put on a lot of foliage and then a lot of fruit so it requires a lot of feed and water to do well.

I'd feed with a general purpose liquid fertiliser like Miracle Grow, every other watering. When it starts to fruit, then switch to a tomato feed every other feed and then every feed.

This will give lots of nitrogen to help it put the foliage on and then lots of phosphorus and potash to form the fruit at the right times. You may need to water two or three times a day in hot weather. Just stick your finger in the compost to check it's not dry.

Train the leader (main stem) around the tub in a circle to save space. You can pinch out the leader if you want when you've three or four fruits forming or see how many you can get.

No need to stake. The only thing with the fruits is to try and avoid them sitting in water and take precautions against slugs. I've grown them with the stem onto palettes to keep them off the ground but I've had success without.

Hope that helps.

[mikey]

Yes, have grown one in a tub, only got two fruit of it but that more than covered the cost. very nice as well. lots of water and feed needed

[Meanqueen]

That's interesting, I have 3 Butnut plants grown from seed from one I bought at the supermarket. They are in pots at the moment, I need to move them to bigger pots all my beds are full.

Ilona