Butternut ...

[Silver Ether]

my plants are looking feally sad ... and struggling ... I think they are really brave , not giving up. How can I make them happy and healthy ...

[Wombat]

Ummmm, it depends! Need a bit more detail mate!

Where are they growing, what is your watering/ feeding regime, how long have they been in etc.......

Nev

[Silver Ether]

Ok They are in big tubs .... Watered daily if they need it and fed once a week with a general liquid feed ..... grown pumkins this way and they did great ... never grown butternut before ...

[the.fee.fairy]

I had my butternuts growing against a trellis last year, and they really spread out!! I think it was about 6' x 4' by the time it succumbed to frost.

Maybe it doesn't have enough room?

[flower]

when you say 'sad' do you mean limp or are they funny coloured?

squashes are suseptable to mosaic virus
this shows itself by 'a green and yellow mottling effect on the leaves between the veins'

google mosaic virus (images) for pictures.
sadly if it is mosaic virus, all you can do is pull them up and burn them....and don't grow squashes or cucumbers in that spot for a few years

[Silver Ether]

Well I am glad to say that since I talked about them they have perked up they have all had some better leaves appear and are looking a lot happier so I am keeping my fingers crossed ... Thanks for the info though will come in handy next time ...

[Thurston Garden]

All squash like 3 things: muck water and heat. I still have not planted out my marrows or butternut, but my courgettes have been outside for a while now inside car tyres..

http://thurstongarden.wordpress.com/200 ... mpetition/

They are ready now - both inside the tunnel and outside in the tyres. I now have the glass off the tyres and will remove the tyres when this murky foggy weather lifts. Then I will be able to plant out the marrows and butternut using the squash.

Incidentally, in January I made soup with a squash which was harvested 15 months previous!

[ina]

I now have the glass off the tyres and will remove the tyres when this murky foggy weather lifts.

Possible ground frosts tonight up here in Aberdeenshire... Better wait a bit longer!

[Thurston Garden]

Ooooh

9C here tonight....

I need some sun though! I need to get the hoe going badly but it's been rain, rain and more rain. Guess what the forecast is for the next 3 days? Yep. Rain.

Am hardening off my marrows and squash though in anticipation of some better weather soon!

[Cheezy]

Having had m'muck delivered on Saturday (See here http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 1968#61968), all sense and reason went out of the window last night. It had been m'plan to turn it for a couple of weeks before letting loose my pumpkins,squash and melons in the hot box.....wellll I couldn't wait, and the poor pumpkin was looking cold (we've got the murky cool today in the N.E) and under nurished.

So off I tripped to the lottie last night under the premise of putting in m'celery and planting m'beans.

Some how one of the pumpkins found its way down there as well!, and well since it was there you had to put it in. I was suitably impressed as I dug the hole a git big steam cloud started to rise. I filled the hole with soil, then planted the pumpkin into that. Fingers crossed it's not too rich and early for the poor thing.

[hedgewizard]

Poor things - it's been a pisser of a year for squash so far. Mine have got downy mildew - mildew, I ask you! - because it's damp and they're growing so slowly. It isn't usually a problem until September!

[Silver Ether]

sad aren`t they .... I keep talking to mine .. telling them it will get better ... and they will soon be lovely and warm ... even the courgettes are struggling and I usually get sick of picking them as they grow so quickly ... and the forcast is set for really bad here theis weekend ....

(((((((((((((((Come on little butternuts hang on ...)))))))))))))))))))))

[red]

yeh mine are looking pretty sad too

[Millymollymandy]

Poor things - it's been a pisser of a year for squash so far. Mine have got downy mildew - mildew, I ask you! - because it's damp and they're growing so slowly. It isn't usually a problem until September!

Yes I just noticed whitening of the leaves on mine too, after reading your post yesterday! The only kind of mildew I have experience of is the kind you get when plants are too dry!

So what can be done about downy mildew, if at all? Are they doomed?

[Silver Ether]

Just been out to mine and they look a little happier ... they are actually sending out tendrils and more leaves coming on and all this with just one dryish day with a little sun ... but now we are back to the rain ...

Also just taken my first two courgettes off ... and not before time