ABOUT SQUASH

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

And while it's not true that squash will cross-pollinate with pumpkins, it's best not to try saving seeds of any C. Maxima (which includes Hubbard, banana and turban types) that are planted near other squash varieties, because of the high possibility of cross-pollination.

By midsummer, when winter squash will have set all the fruit they will have time to mature, remove all the flowers to conserve plant energy for ripening the harvest. It's also a good idea to pinch off the growing points of trailing vines when they reach about 60 inches, in order to encourage fruitbearing side shoots.

What to Watch For

Squash are usually trouble-free, but a number of pests will occasionally attack the plants. The two most common are squash vine borers and squash bugs. The inch-long, white, caterpillarlike vine borers tunnel into the stem and can go undetected until a vine wilts. However, if you spot an entry hole surrounded by sawdusty droppings at the base of the plant, cut a slit in the afflicted stem, and remove and destroy the larvae inside. Afterward, hill up dirt around the plant's stem so it can reroot and continue growing. Invasions of vine borers can also be avoided by periodically dusting the plants with lime, wood ashes or Bacillus thuringiensis.

Harvest everyripe squash so the plants will continue to produce.

Reddish brown, three-quarter-inch-long squash bugs (also called stinkbugs because of the smell they give out when crushed) can be controlled by handpicking and by destroying their red-brown egg clusters. For epidemic outbreaks, use pyrethrum or rotenone. The adult insects can be banished with diatomaceous earth, or boards can be set out at night; the bugs get trapped underneath and can be destroyed the next morning. Planting radishes, nasturtiums or French or African marigolds may lure—or chase—them away.

Though cucumber beetles aren't as common a problem, they carry bacterial wilt, a disease that can cause the whole plant to wilt and die. (Any infected plant should be removed and destroyed immediately.) These one-quarter-inch-long black-headed beetles with green or yellow wings can be lured away with radishes, which they adore. You can also lay thin cheesecloth, or one of the modern mesh row covers, over young squash vines until they are well established, or plagued gardeners can plant summer squash later in the season. Mulching the vines heavily and dusting them with pyrethrum or rotenone can be effective too.

Mildew occurs in damp weather and is spread by aphids, but these little pests can usually be destroyed with hard hose sprays, garlic sprays, diatomaceous earth or wood ashes. Other deterrents are to catch them in sticky traps or to introduce aphid-eating ladybugs into your garden.

Aphids and cucumber beetles spread yet another squash-destroying disease: mosaic. It results in rough, mottled leaves, stunted plants and whitish fruit. Again, destroy any infected plant, and battle the pests with one or more of the above strategies.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print