How many squash per plant? There are many reasons why we make a vegetable garden. But one major purpose of creating a garden is to have a source of food.
When you plant vegetables, those vegetables can be a good source of food for the family. Some vegetables are in the form of leaves, seeds, flowers, stems, and roots. Botanically speaking, squash is a fruit but in culinary it is considered a vegetable because of its taste and uses. Most of the fruits taste sweet while the squash has a different taste.
How Many Squash Per Plant?
A single squash plant can produce 6 to 12 squashes. It can also produce up to 40 fruits when the plants grow very well. The number of fruits is a little bit lower compared to other plants like tomatoes and eggplants.
Tomatoes and eggplants can bear a lot of fruits on a single plant every harvest. Even though squash plants may bring less fruit, it is still worth it to grow because a single fruit grows big and many servings can be made per fruit.
If you want more harvest, you should grow more plants. But it is hard to do especially if you have less space. The squash is growing wide because the vines are crawling. Good spacing is needed so that those plants will grow well. Making plants crowded in one area will affect the overall growth of the plants.
Why Does Squash Plant Bear Less Fruits?
There are a couple of reasons why squash plants bear fewer fruits. Some of the reasons are; lacking sunlight, lacking water, lack of nutrients, less pollinated flowers, pests, and diseases. Those are some of the possible reasons affecting the squash plant to produce fewer fruits.
Also, squash plants don’t really fruit a lot so when your plant doesn’t have that much squash maybe it is just normal. Look for a good variety that is suitable to grow in your area and also a variety of squash that will give you a lot of harvests.
Lacking Sunlight
Squash plants need sunlight to grow better and produce more fruits. At least 6 hours of sunlight per day is needed by mature squash plants and at least 4 hours for young ones.
The sun plays an important role in squash growth. Without the sun, the squash plant will not be able to make their food. When the plant is lacking sunlight it will grow stunted. Some leaves will curl and some may turn yellow.
The good thing about squash is the plant crawls. When the vines lengthen they will look for the sunlight and will stay in it. Growing squash in a partial shade is fine as long as when the vines grow longer, the vines should receive more light.
Lacking Water
To maximize the growth of squash plants, they should get enough water. Squash plants need water at least 1 to 2 inches per week. When the weather is hot, the soil dries faster because water evaporates into the air.
The plants should get adequate water during those periods to keep them hydrated. But even if the squash plants don’t receive much water, they can still thrive because squash plants are a little bit drought tolerant.
The hot weather will not affect them much because the plants can retain water. If rainfall is abundant then the plant will be good.
Lacking Nutrients
Another reason why squash plants bear fewer fruits is because of lacking nutrients. You need to keep the soil quality in your garden. Some soil is already rich in nutrients but if in your location the soil is lacking nutrients, you need to improve it by adding fertilizer.
Some good fertilizers ratios are; 10-10-10, 5-10-10, or 4-8-5. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium will gonna able to help the squash grow better. There are many chemical fertilizers you can buy at the nurseries or in some markets and they are good to use.
But if you are practicing organic farming, then you must use organic fertilizers. Some stores sell compost and you can use them in your garden. The soil will improve and a lot of plants will definitely grow well.
Pests And Diseases
Pest control for squash is needed to prevent pests from attacking your plant. Some of those pests are; cucumber beetles, squash vine borers, pickle worms, aphids, squash bugs, and whiteflies. They can damage the plant which may lead them to grow poor.
You need to take care of squash plants by protecting them. You can use pesticides or insecticides to control them. When there are no pests, the plant will grow excellently which will lead to more harvest and will increase squash fruit size. Aside from pests, diseases may also attack the squash plant and you can use fungicides as a treatment.
How To Increase The Yield Of Squash?
If you grow squash you definitely want to have a good harvest. To have a good harvest the plant should bear more fruits. But what are the ways to improve the yield of the squash plant? What do you really need to do to increase the number of squash per plant?
Pollinate More Flowers
The squash flowers are pollinated mostly by the insects like bees. The wind can also help pollinate flowers but in a lower percentage. So if there is no wind and no pollinators like bees, you need to do hand pollination.
All you need to do is get a male flower and brush them on the female flowers. You can also use a brush and use them to transfer pollen to the flower’s stigma. There are more male flowers than females so you will be able to pollinate most of the female flowers.
When the flowers are pollinated, more squash is going to grow on the plant. It will be exciting when the squash plants bloom because fruits are going to show up soon.
Plant More Squash Plants
For you to achieve more yields, you can grow more plants. For example, if one squash plant bears 12 fruits, then if you have 10 plants you can have 120 squashes to be harvested. You can have more fruits also if you have a good land space. The bigger the space the more plants can be grown and it will be fun to harvest squash.
But one question is how long does it take to grow squash? Summer squash can be harvested earlier around 60 to 70 days, while winter squash is around 90 to 120 days. It can also be earlier or later especially when there are factors affecting the plants’ growth.
If the squash plant does not fruit, you just need to wait for the plant to become more mature. Also, if more flowers and fruits are falling you need to pollinate more flowers. Pollination is the key to having a good harvest.
It is great to know how many squash per plant. There will be 6 to 12 squash fruits per plant but there are also other factors that may affect the yield. If the plant grows consistently, you can get more fruits from the plant.