butternut squash question

Hiya,
Just after some advice from you knowledgeable peeps please!
I saved the seeds from a store bought butternut squash a few months ago, and bunged them in some compost on the window-sill a few weeks ago.
they've grown!!
but will they fruit?
I'm waiting until the latest lot of cold weather passes before I plant them outside, but wondered if they will flower and fruit, or will they just be energy gobbling plants that wont flower?
thanks for any advice,
Sue

 

Almost certainly, but commercially grown squashes are likely to be F1 so not likely to produce squashes like you bought, and it gets even worse as they cross breed with any other variety of squash in the vicinity, including pumpkins and marrows (which can result in 'mumpkins' and 'parrows').

Butternut squash like to have their roots in warm soil and be planted out after risk of frost has passed, which reckon is about 9 weeks from now, so they might be somewhat leggy by then.

OK For a bit of fun, and this can be how new varieties are produced, but I wouldn't rely on it for my butternut squash harvest, considering a packet of seeds from ebay only costs 99p delivered.

 

As Scrungee says, butternuts from collected seed will most probably flower and produce fruit if you can get the growing conditions right.

Here are some of my attempts from seeds collected from Morrisons butternut squashes:

2014 Three butternut squash plants in 14L buckets placed inside car tyres.


All produced one decent sized squash with a smaller underdeveloped second on the main vine. This was my one:



The plants received about 4 hours of direct sunshine before being overshadowed by the overhanging tree canopies.

I would say that about 6-8 hours of sun for about 70 days is optimum for fruit production. The fact that the plants still produced meant that 2014 must have been a good year weather-wise, which, indeed, it was.


2015 Two plants in a square meter plot along with the Jalapenos.


Both had set 5 fruits each.



This plot was the optimum place to harness the sun. Unfortunately, there was no harvest as all 10 were pilfered long before they had even reached maturity.


However, I had better success in 2017:

2017 GROWING THREAD

But, it could have been much better if it didn't rain so much. Twelve set fruit but most were aborted due to the cool, wet weather.

 

Hiya Sue, I’m glad you mentioned this, as I did the very same myself from a shop bought squash a few months back.

As mentioned above I hold the same reservations regarding whether they come from F1 stock. If that be the case then I picture some kind of Frankenstein harvest, which after a season of love and care, would be a disaster.

I think it’s a case of don’t try, won’t know. So I am going to see what happens and whatever the outcome, I’ll learn something... I hope haha

Good luck Sue!

 

As a side line I regularly grow sweet peppers from seed taken from supermarket fruit, I tend to think the F1 hybrid thing is a bit overdone regarding results.
Only difference between the two could be that the peppers are likely to have been grown under glass and possibly self pollinated.

Squashes are probably grown out side so cross pollination is possible, but most plants grow male and female flowers and are unlikely to have been pollinated by anything else.

 

Well, last year we dug two new veg beds. When hubby gets round to helping me bring the big planks up from the bottom of the garden, they will be raised beds. But at the moment they are dug out about 3 foot, filled with horse manure and home made compost .

We love butternut squash; I compost as much as you can....

So 2017, when I topped the horse muck off with home compost, and planted courgettes and peas, I thought nothing of it. Then amongst the courgettes were some slightly different leaves, with tendrils. They seemed to trail, and root, and trail and root... we grew 5 full-sized squash, which ripened, and have stored well. A couple more didn't come to fruition. But we were well-pleased!

Give it a go! But remember they are hungry plants!