butternut trellis
Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2023 2:41 pm
I went back to a trellis for butternut this year. The first year I grew butternut it did really well on a trellis, and did so again this year. I used 3 five foot sections of CRW A trellis and tied them up. I installed the A trellis over already growing onion sets, and seeded butternut under the west face of the trellis and delicata under the other side. The delicata never climbed much but the butternut went up easy with a little help.
Butternut on the ground for me, takes up too much space and way too much damage here at the comm garden from squash bugs. This seems like the way to do it. But the trellis did overshade the okra to the east, and some vines ran in there too. The vines into the corn were acceptable and even planned for, but the okra side was not. I should have chopped them all. It was mostly delicata but some butternut crossed over there and laid a lot of vine for little return.
The onions came out last month, a little smaller than I hoped. And the groundhog hole is still there. But the butternut did well and set 29 on the trellis and 11 more on the west side ground where I ran it across the walk and under the corn. So 40 good butternut, some only 2-3 lb but a lot that look to be 5 lb or more. Very little bug damage on the ones up on the trellis. I did find a single butternut on the ground that has some little silver-gray things mobbing the stem - I guess some brand of Aphid?
The delicata did not do as well. They grew across into the okra and it does indeed look like they have some SVB damage. Quite a few have holes in the fruit and the vines were destroyed at the base.
I'll just put most of these pics up, they're lightweight.
edit: They don't really look like aphids as I know them, no segments on the shell...but I've yet to find a match online.
Butternut on the ground for me, takes up too much space and way too much damage here at the comm garden from squash bugs. This seems like the way to do it. But the trellis did overshade the okra to the east, and some vines ran in there too. The vines into the corn were acceptable and even planned for, but the okra side was not. I should have chopped them all. It was mostly delicata but some butternut crossed over there and laid a lot of vine for little return.
The onions came out last month, a little smaller than I hoped. And the groundhog hole is still there. But the butternut did well and set 29 on the trellis and 11 more on the west side ground where I ran it across the walk and under the corn. So 40 good butternut, some only 2-3 lb but a lot that look to be 5 lb or more. Very little bug damage on the ones up on the trellis. I did find a single butternut on the ground that has some little silver-gray things mobbing the stem - I guess some brand of Aphid?
The delicata did not do as well. They grew across into the okra and it does indeed look like they have some SVB damage. Quite a few have holes in the fruit and the vines were destroyed at the base.
I'll just put most of these pics up, they're lightweight.
edit: They don't really look like aphids as I know them, no segments on the shell...but I've yet to find a match online.