re: 2023 Spring Garden Thread

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I imagine you’ll have to support the fruit?

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I've never grown butternut squash on a trellis.

However, I've grown them numerous times on the ground; and the vines have always (with minimal care by me) produced a very large harvest without failure.

By the way, I've never had any problems with squash borers or found any need to use insecticides growing them.

I really doubt you'll have any problem growing them on a trellis, as long as the trellis is sufficiently sturdy to support the weight of the vines and squashes as you've indicated. These squashes have an extremely strong stem that isn't easily broken. As long as the vines hold firmly to a trellis with the numerus tendrils the vines usually make, I think you will succeed very well growing them on a trellis.

The only suggestion I have is I think you'll likely need to periodically add some fertilizer several times to adequately feed the vines and squashes. If the vines were grown on the ground, I think they would likely not require quite as much and as frequent applications of fertilizer, because on the ground they would send down additional roots along the length of the vines that would help feed the vines and squashes.

All the Best to you growing them on a trellis!