What can it hurt.I have seen lots of other people do it.... --------------------------------------------------------- What can hurt is that if there are several squashes hanging down from a vine and then you get a wind blowing ... then the vine might not be able to hold on. Luckily, butternut squashes are not very big, in comparison to other winter squashes. but still not a good practice, IMO. You trellis cukse, summer squash, because they are smaller AND are harvested in a week or so. But winter squash needs to stay there for months.

Since we're on the topic of squash, I'm going to (pardon me please) do a mini hijack. I'm growing pie pumpkins and Table Queen acorn squash. I've NEVER had one grow! I get tons of gorgeous, dish sized blooms, then nothing. SO, I'm assuming it's a pollination issue?? I've decided to hand pollinate in case that's the problem but I see that squash have worms..ugh. Well, figs have wasps, lol. So, if I actually coax a squash out, should I put it in a nylon stocking? I buy them all the time for tying plants, so I have several. I'd planned on trellising anything that vines in my southern raised bed because it'll stop getting enough sun by Dec. I use the stockings as slings for any fruits that need them. I love squash, but I'm the only one that eats them, so I'm only planting a few but would hate to lose the one's I do get. I'm in Central Fl, just north of Orlando...any suggestions as I undertake my first winter squash venture?

I don't know how long it takes but it should be on the seed package or a seed site online. I leave them in the field until after the first light frost, oh yeah, you're in Florida! ( sorry, I forgot. lol!) You'll have to go by the number of days. The little curly thing near the fruit should be dead when it's ready, or you can thump it to see if it sounds hollow. (I have never been able to get that, myself. ) When I lived in Ontario I kept my squash in a damp stone root cellar under the very old house spread out on wooden pallets. Many didn't last very long, occasionally one would keep into Jan and the mice nibbled on them, even with two cats. Here in BC, I live on the top floor of a house, our office is on the ground floor and there's a large basement under that. I kept the squash in the office, closed in the wintertime, on an open wire shelf unit with the heat set at 10c to keep the pipes from freezing. It's much drier here than in Ontario also. They all kept much longer. We cooked the last one last week and it was still hard! Last year I left them out in the garden to harden in the sun for a few weeks after cutting off the vine, rolling them every few days or so then brought them in. I didn't do that in Ontario because of the fall rain and the damage from deer running over them, which happened a lot. I'm doing it again this year. I'm impressed with how long they lasted here last winter! I have read that they keep well at a cool room temp so if you have a cool room in your house, I would look at storing them there, someplace with good air circulation and spread out so not to touch each other. They're space hogs.

I've used both methods, but this year I will put the bottom of the panel 24" above ground so I will have a true 6-6.5 height. I'm sure butternut will still go up and over and even back up, but it will eventually go into the rest of the garden. I love them, they are just space hogs!