How to Prune Squash Plants: 11 Awesome Tips for You

Learn how to prune squash plants – ensure that all your tools are disinfected so that you do not harm your plants.

Using the pruning tools, cut unwanted shoots off your squash and dispose of the cut parts. To learn the step-by-step process to successfully cut your squash, read this article.

How to Prune Your Squash in Six Steps?

To prune your squash in six steps you must identify the main stem and lateral shoots, select the shoots you will be pruning, cut them, and remove the dead and diseased leaves. After you are done you should dispose of diseased branches properly and then water and fertilize your squash.

1. Identify the Main Stem and Lateral Shoots

Before you start pruning your squash, you have to identify and differentiate the main stem and lateral shoots. The main stem is the thickest and you will see it growing directly from the base of the plant. However, lateral shoots grow as side branches of the main stem.

When it’s time to prune your squash, do not touch the main stem. The lateral shoots are what you will prune. Pruning the main stem can lead to the death of your squash. As for the shoots, avoid the ones with fruits as well.

2. Select the Shoots You Will Prune

Now that you know the type of branch in your squash to prune, it’s time to decide what you are cutting off the plant. Prune the shoots that are overcrowded and growing too close to others. Also, you can prune off the shoots that are not growing in the right direction.

By default, you know that you have to remove the weak or thin shoots as well. Also, remove the sick ones with discolored or spotted leaves. Finally, you can prune off the shoots without any fruit. Just make sure that the plant is already fruiting.

3. Start Cutting the Shoots

When you have identified the shoots that you’ll prune, start cutting them. When cutting shoots, cut them very close to their base (i.e., the main stem) but ensure that you do not damage the stem when pruning your plants. You can use a pair of scissors so that you can easily reach the stem but not cut it.

Please make sure that you use clean tools. Your squash are most likely already fruiting, so you do not want to expose them to harmful microbes by using dirty tools. This means that you must disinfect your tools first before you start pruning the squash.

4. Remove Damaged or Diseased Leaves

After pruning the shoots, it’s time to get extra careful. Remove all the discolored and spotted leaves from the plant, even if they are growing very close to a developing fruit. This step is optional but will help eliminate the chance of your winter squash and other squash getting attacked by harmful microbes.

If you know the cause of the spotted leaves, now is also the time to fix it so that other leaves can stay safe. If you do not know the cause, just keep your plants clean and well-fed.

5. Dispose of the Pruned Shoots and Leaves

After pruning your summer squash plants and other types of squash, it’s time to remove the squash leaves. Removing squash leaves can prevent powdery mildew and other microbes from attacking the plants.

When you keep the cut leaves close to your plants, the leaves will start to rot and this can affect the plants. Microbes that can decompose the leaves can also harm your squash, so keep the leaves far from the squash.

You can throw the squash leaves into your compost pile or make organic fertilizer with them. However, just make sure that the process of decomposing does not happen near your squash. Keep your squash clean.

6. Water and Fertilize Your Squash

Congratulations, as you are done with pruning your squash. However, you still have a few things to do. Water your plants deeply so that they can stay hydrated. Remember that they can lose some moisture through their fresh cuts. Also, fertilize them.

Fertilize them if the raised garden bed is low in nutrients. This will help them continue fruiting. However, if the substrate still has a lot of nutrients, watering your squash is simply enough.

How to Know When Squash Need Pruning?

To know when squash need pruning you should observe whether the plant is fruiting or overgrown. You can also prune when you want to increase the yield, if it seems too little, if there is a fungal infection and it seems that diseases are spreading.

– Check if the Plant Is Already Fruiting

When your squash are already producing fruits, they must send as many nutrients as they can to their fruits. However, with the presence of so many shoots and leaves, the plants may not give their fruits a lot of nutrients (at once). To fix this, prune some shoots without fruits so that the plant can send nutrients to the fruit alone.

Sending nutrients to the fruits alone can help plump and ripen the fruits quickly. This means that if you are growing your squash late in the growing season, you can speed things up by pruning the shoots without fruits. Just ensure that you do not cut too many leaves so that the plants can continue photosynthesizing.

– Prune if the Squash Plant Is Overgrown

Except if you are interested in the leaves of your squash, you do not want overgrown squash. A squash plant grows too many leaves when the substrate is nitrogen-rich. However, this heavy vegetation does not mean that the plant will be more productive than others.

As you already know, the presence of too many leaves can inhibit the quick development of your squash, so keep the size of the plant in check. When you grow zucchini and other types of squash, prioritize the ones that can produce more fruits over the ones that can grow more leaves.

– Observe Where There are Disease Attacks

Aside from increasing the nutrients that the fruits will get, pruning the leaves of your squash will also increase air circulation in the plant. Air circulation prevents the attack of powdery mildew and other types of fungi.

Most microbes prefer very humid places and when a plant is too crowded, it becomes a suitable habitat for these microbes. However, before pruning the squash, ensure that they are growing with a trellis or anything to help them properly spread their leaves.

– Prune to Increase Yield

What if the plants are not producing fruits in the first place? Some plants in the vegetable garden may delay in flowering or fruiting for various reasons. However, pruning such plants is one method to fix them (though there are more reliable methods).

To know why cutting the shoot of squash can increase fruit yield, consider the phases in the growth of your squash. Maybe the squash is not old enough to start flowering (even though it has a lot of leaves). However, stressing plants has been a secret of farmers to encourage flowering in the plants.

When you prune plants or shock them with temperature or humidity, they will start flowering. When their flowers get pollinated, they will produce fruits. Therefore, if you want to encourage flowering or fruit production in your squash, prune them or find a way to shock them.

– Prune Before Diseases Start Spreading

If some of your squash vines have bacterial infections, you can prevent these infections from spreading by pruning off the vines. Keep the diseases in check so that your squash can grow their fruits successfully. After pruning the diseased vines off, dispose of them very far from your squash.

Conclusion

Pruning zucchini plants and other types of squash will surely be easier for you now, right? Remember these points before you go pruning your plants:

• Do not cut the main stem off your plants when pruning them. Only concentrate on the shoots.
• When pruning your plants, remember to prune dying and diseased leaves so that the plants can stay healthy.
• After pruning your squash, water and fertilize them so that they can continue growing.
• Prune zucchini to increase production, as the plants will send nutrients to only their fruiting shoots.
• You do not need to prune your plants when they start growing squash fruits.

Now you know how to prune butternut squash and other types of squash. Remember to use only clean and disinfected tools to prune your plants!