# how far apart for different squashes



## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

I want to plant summer squash, butternut and acorn. there is not a problem planting them near each other is there? 

acorn and butternut are too heavy to trellis?


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## upnorthlady (Oct 16, 2009)

I don't know what others will say, but I can tell you what I did...........planted the acorn and butternut about 10 feet apart. I had no problems at all, and ended up with a pick up truck load of squash - really! I usually plant yellow squash and zucchini about 3 or 4 feet away from each other with no problems either. There wasn't any kind of cross pollination to create weird squash and I have 8 beehives. Guess in all my years of gardening I never had any problems planting squash near each other.


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## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

Squash are naughty. They interbreed like crazy. You will get the squash you planted this year, but if you save any seeds, you will get a mixed plant next year. If you are not saving the seeds, then plant them together since the pollinating insects wont have to travel far.

If you want to save seed, bag the female flowers before they open. Find a male flower (without the bulb at its base) and use it to make babies. Then bag the female again. Once the bulb swells and the flower withers away, you can unbag and let it grow to maturity. Just be sure to mark that fruit with a bit of coloured string so you will remember which one you want to have for pure seed.


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## Gabriel (Dec 2, 2008)

You're fine with those three, you can save seeds. The summer squash will not cross with the other two and the butternut is a C. Maxima, the acorn is a C. Pepo. 

Last year I followed the commonly given advice about not worrying about distance unless you save seed. Well, it was a flop. I had nothing but crosses with the exception of the butternut which was planted so far ahead of everything else it was no longer flowering at the same time. Could it have been bad seed? I doubt it. I bought it all from Johnnys (I understand them to be reputable) and the crosses looked like the ones planted next to them. They didn't taste all that great either, although the pigs didn't complain. I sure wasted alot of space and time though. Not a total waste, I learned something...


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Need to know exactly which summer squash is involved. Most zucchini are C. pepo.

Martin


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

if you are saving seeds plant the same species around 50 to 100 feet apart, if you aren't ..no problemo

yes you can trellis heavy squashes and pumpkins..if they tend to tear away, make a sling for them..but they should be fine on a trellis..maybe not a 100 pound pumpkin !! whap on the head ??


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

ronbre said:


> if you are saving seeds plant the same species around 50 to 100 feet apart, if you aren't ..no problemo


Recommended distance for minimum purity among same squash varieties is one-half mile. Anything less requires hand-pollination and measures taken to prevent access to any insects.

Martin


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## frankva (May 21, 2009)

rileyjo said:


> If you want to save seed, bag the female flowers before they open. Find a male flower (without the bulb at its base) and use it to make babies. Then bag the female again. Once the bulb swells and the flower withers away, you can unbag and let it grow to maturity. Just be sure to mark that fruit with a bit of coloured string so you will remember which one you want to have for pure seed.


What material do you prefer for the bag?


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## rileyjo (Feb 14, 2005)

I'm always on the lookout for cheap sheer curtains at thrift stores. I just cut it into squares and tape it around the blossoms. I dont have much of a bug problem here. I plant so many pollinator friendly flowers, that it is less work for a bee to fly to another plant, rather than chew thru a taped on bag.
I've also used scraps of muslin from my quilting. You can also re use the floating row cover stuff (reemay). It is a good way to use up row cover that has been damaged or torn.
Brown paper bags work too, if theres no rain or heavy dew in the forecast.
Corn bags and sleeves can be purchased online. I'm pretty frugal so I tend to just go with what works that I can scrounge up at home.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Bagging after pollinating, as mentioned by Rileyjo, is one way of doing it but entails cost and preparation time. The way I was taught is the most simple. As directed above, find mature female blossom which has not opened. Pick a male blossom and remove the petals. Open the female blossom just far enough to insert the male blossom and leave it there. Then slightly crush the female blossom in your hand. That will damage the petals enough so that they will never open. Guaranteed results with minimum cost and effort. 

Martin


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

If you save seeds, there can be some positively strange crosses. We had a melon/squash cross one year in Florida. I've never had problems with cross-pollination of the fruit bodies from store bought seeds, and I plant butternut, buttercup, crookneck, zuchinni, watermelon, cucumbers, and three or four types of pumpkins all within 50' of each other.

One tip that really helped me out last year - when the squash was about 4" tall I sprayed the plants liberally with Sevin, making sure that the bottoms of the stems were almost white. From that point on I didn't use any insecticide at all, and had minimal squash bug problems until the very tail end of the harvest. Killing those first breeders is like stopping a nuclear reaction, and the amount of total insecticide used is minimal compared to waiting until there is a problem. It takes time for squash to grow, but it also takes time for each breeding cycle of the squash bug. Get the first couple of cycles and then be sure to dispose of the vines at the end of the season and minimize overwintering.


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## Ladyhen (Aug 28, 2004)

Harry Chickpea said:


> One tip that really helped me out last year - when the squash was about 4" tall I sprayed the plants liberally with Sevin, making sure that the bottoms of the stems were almost white. From that point on I didn't use any insecticide at all, and had minimal squash bug problems until the very tail end of the harvest. Killing those first breeders is like stopping a nuclear reaction, and the amount of total insecticide used is minimal compared to waiting until there is a problem. It takes time for squash to grow, but it also takes time for each breeding cycle of the squash bug. Get the first couple of cycles and then be sure to dispose of the vines at the end of the season and minimize overwintering.


Did you use powder or liquid?

I lost almost my ENTIRE crop last year to squash vine borers. Only the patty pan type squash survived. I was considering ONLY planting patty pans this year!


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Liquid. I wanted it to get in and coat, since the previous year I found the bulk of the borer damage was right in that general area. If a borer hits a vine away from that area, I'll just cut that vine off, but I've rarely had to do that. The squash bugs are more of a problem here, and the borers are less a problem until late in the season.


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