While there are bush butternuts, the standard variety grows vines 6-10 feet long depending on the fertility of the soil and the nature of the weather. If you try to prune it to 3 feet chances are that you will get no squash at all. You can direct the vines to grow in a convenient direction and you might even be able to direct it up a trellis (you may need to support the fruit with hammocks of stretchy material), but winter squash need elbow room and you can't change that.

Hello, gwguest. I could not see your picture. Everytime that I pasted your link, it took me to http://s186.photobucket.com for whatever reason. If you are having a watering problem (defined as not enough water), the edges of the leaves will turn brown and -eventually- the rest of the leaf will too. Camellias should be mulched heavily with about 4 inches of acidic mulch up to or past the drip line. To determine if you need to water, use this method daily.... Move aside the mulch and insert a finger to a depth of four inches. Choose a spot between the main trunk and the drip line. Than determine if the soil at that depth feels dry, moist or wet. If it feels dry or almost dry, water. If it feels moist, do not water. If it feels wet, determine why it is wet and take appropriate corrective action (if any is needed). After a while, you will notice that you water on a certain frequency, such as every two/three/etc days. At that point, stop checking manually and set the sprinkler to water on the same frequency and to deliver the same approx amopunt of water that you now apply. Check daily again if the temperatures change between 10-15 degrees and stay there. In the fall, you will need to water less. And in winter, watering once a week should do it. Does that help you? Luis

I have had branches fall off of a jade tree before. It generally left a clean 'scar' on the trunk or branch. Like this - When that has happened, my plant was too wet. It can be a problem for me during the wet and rainy summers with high temps (which can also cause the jades to sort of shut down for a little while). You may want to be sure your pots are drying out well between watering intervals. On the left side you can see where I had trimmed a branch. It is rougher, but healed over well. You can get new growth from that area where the branch was jettisoned. (a different plant here - I guess I've had it happen a few times!) And of course, after pruning you will get new growth. This jade plant looked similar to your plant. Its branches were shaky or bouncy or floppy acting, too, because all the leaves were at the end of the long branches. So I gave this one a good whack. It looks pretty good now - about a year later. You can clearly see a pruned area that has branched with new growth on the upper right. Like Rina said, I like to leave some leaves on the plant when I give it a good whack. I don't think it is necessary, but I feel like the leaves help feed the plant and lead to a faster recovery. And after the plant recovers from the first cuts (as marked by Rina or others of your choosing) and start showing new growth, you can go back and prune more from other branches if you choose to do so. I have the advantage of keeping my plants outdoors all year long. So adequate sunlight is not a problem. Be sure you are getting the best light available during the winters. If it can go outside during the summer that would be great. Just introduce it to full sun slowly so it doesn't burn. Good luck! I'm sure things will work out fine for your jade.

It is best to post this in the forum 'name that plant'. It has many knowledgeable people check in often to answer such questions of identification. Good luck with it.