When is summer squash bad
How to PRUNE Summer SQUASH
good morning everybody since Danny from
Deep South homestead we've got a lot of
requests about pruning squash the summer
squash and I thought that I would take
this opportunity it's a nice cool
morning to come out here and to actually
do this because we have some that are
really needing to be pruned and what I
want to do is first of all we're going
to talk about some of the reasons why we
prune one of the first reasons we prune
is so that it can get open air can flow
through it because in our area here we
deal with a lot of humidity problems and
these humidity problems if there's not
good airflow what you end up with is
powdery mildew you begins to form on the
squash and secondly is if the squash are
not open where they can be seen good
then the bees have trouble pollinating
and you end up with squash at the end of
it looks like it's got a blossom in
right it just starts shriveling up
that's because it didn't get pollinated
because it's just too thick in here and
I guess if you want to say where we live
at there's another reason one is is it
when it's extremely windy the wind will
catch these and just start flipping them
if there's too many leaves on them
everywhere so one of the first things we
want to look for in the squash when we
go to prune leaves is leaves that have
an issue on them already
now I don't cut my leaves down close to
the stem of the stalk I cut them back
about four inches from it and a lot of
people go oh I wouldn't do that because
that leaves access to a bug to get in
there but it might but guys it is what
it is if you're gonna have bugs you're
gonna have bugs but why not promote your
squash because the squash even though
it's the summer squash she's actually a
vine and the more of the leaves you take
off that are bad the more of a tendency
it has to want to run you want to keep
your squash picked daily because the
more you pick the more it will bear so
we want to look in here first let's just
take a look right here first of all I
see a leaf right here
see this leaf this Leafs got an issue
it's not a good healthy leaf so that's
the first leaf we want to try to take
out I want to move around here I want to
find the base of it and it goes all the
way back to right here now I don't want
to cut it down here next to the stem
I'll come back about four or five inches
from it and I just take my knife and I
cut it off and I slide that I get that
leaf out of there and move it to the
side I look right here here's another
one down here they're laying on the
ground right here now this is on another
plant right here and I'll come back and
cut it like four or five inches right
there and I'll lay it out to the side
now another reason I cut nine four to
five inches long is because if you leave
long pieces out there it helps to
stabilize the plant if you cut them off
close to the plant then you end up with
no stability on the plant and it just
falls over so that's one thing we don't
want to do and another thing we want to
look for is leaves that cross one
another from plant to plant that
prevents ventilation from coming in here
now trying to find an example here
that'll be easy for you to see here's
one right here these these are all left
over each other in here and see down in
here these they're these leaves serve
absolutely no purpose they're hiding
everything under the plant in here
so what I need to do is find out that
this one here this one here comes all
the way back over to this plant way over
here I need to take this out and get a
little more light in here now here's
another one right here
this leaf serves no purpose back here
it's already been broken by the wind at
one point so we're gonna get rid of it
and we've got this little old bitty leaf
right here we're gonna get rid of it
and here's another one crossed over way
down in here I'm gonna get rid of it we
got one here just laying in the dirt
right here and it comes all the way up
to over to this plant will over here so
I'm gonna cut it off and we'll get it
out
and let's see here we got one land right
here that's laying in the dirt right
here you see I see how this one's
bracing the plant laying right here I'm
gonna cut it way back here because that
way it still got some stability to the
plant and we won't get this leaf here
look how bad looking that leaf is see
that leaf yes it has served no purpose
at all up under there now let's look on
in here just prepares one here and it's
not in good shape let me get a fine get
over here and find out where it goes to
it goes all the way around to the other
side of the plant and we'll cut it off
go get it out of there and you're not
hurting the plant that's one thing you
have to understand you're not hurting
the plant let me look here here's a leaf
here boy this one really don't look good
look at that one see that that doesn't
look good at all so we're gonna see if
we can figure out where that's at there
it is right there we're gonna get it out
here's one let's see here if we can find
something if there's any more right here
here's a leaf here that the wind has
broken so there's no need kids already
broke off on the wind so we're gonna get
it out of there and here is one that
comes way over here this leaf was just
looking for daylight basically it's
laying on the ground up under here look
how long how long that stem is
so here's another one here that's
crossing over I know you're thinking man
you're taking a lot of leaves out but
let me show you something not going to
matter look here now see how much more
open this is these flowers can now come
in the bees can find everything the air
can circulate around through here and we
actually have squash in there that we
didn't know was in there before because
the leaves had them covered up now I'm
gonna move down to another plant here oK
we've moved down one plant and I'll look
right here and I'll see see that in
there
I don't want that I don't like the look
of that in my thing and it's on the
ground so I'm gonna go in here and find
where it goes which right back here I'm
gonna cut that off we're gonna get that
one out of the way and we've got some
right here now this is a prime example
of leaves getting all crossed up you
look right here see how all these leaves
are all crossed here this plant comes
over here this plant comes over here
there's no way air can get up in through
here so I'm gonna take the very bottom
one first if we don't figure out where
is it at and it goes all the way back up
into here see that bottom one it was
looking bad anyway so we need to get
that out of there and then we have
another one coming from this plant over
here which is this one here it's up
under there
we're gonna get rid of it it's criss
crossing over we've got another one
let's see where we at right here this
one's coming out of there
see how these leaves they all look bad
on the ends now we have an open plant
here I see one more leaf here let me get
it out now this one right here
Oh bad leaf now we have a plant that's
open there is another leaf here let me
find it right there that's the one I'm
looking for
got an insect issue in the top of that
leaf right there that's why we want to
get that out of there see how that's
starting in there there's not actually
anything on it but there has been now
look at this plant once we get do these
little bad leaves I don't see how much
more open this is the bees can get in
here now the air can come through it the
Sun can get in here you've got a much
healthier plant when you do this now I'm
gonna show you here's another leaf right
here
see how when you look like that I like
that leaf is served with no purpose it's
on its way out a lot of people's
probably going to ask how often do I
need to do this well every time you come
to the squash patch look at your plants
check and see what they look like
like I prune this one a week ago and I'm
looking and today it really needs it bad
so I'm going to especially spend
probably the next 30 minutes or longer
just going through here making sure I
open these plants back up because a week
ago I had these plants opened up really
clean but in a week's time look what
they've done look how they've grown and
look at these are things we're gonna be
looking for see this here see this here
how the top of this leaf is here I don't
want that see this I don't want that in
my squash here because that could be the
beginning of a problem so that's an
older leaf as telling me so I'm gonna
come down in here and I'm gonna whack it
out look at what I just did see how I
just opened that up the bees can find
everything here's another one right here
now this one turns goes way down in here
and we'll take that out see how big
these leaves are no problems they got a
lot of people go man your squash plants
look so beautiful well they look
beautiful because I take the bad leaves
out you know here's another one down
here I'm gonna get rid of this see that
that don't need to be in there now we've
got see how much more you can see in
that squash now for just from up here
you're able to see it now I'm going to
show you how you can open something up
when you're looking here there's a big
old leaf down in here serves no purpose
up under the bottom in there
it's just feeding the leaf guys were
growing squash we're not growing leaves
now we have to have the leaves for
photosynthesis but we've got to be
really careful about
let's just get this out of there and
look at that now that opens it up where
the bees can find everything the air can
pass around through there see how much
better that looks and it makes it easier
for us to find the squashing the pick
the squash also so I hope this this
portion of a video about prune and
squash has been helpful because we've
been asked by so many people how to
prune squash now I want to mention
something else here the squash is
planted next to the corn squash and corn
or companion plants I did that on
purpose because the corn is tossing the
squash is blooming at exactly the same
time honeybees love corn tussles and
when the honeybees come to my corn toss
holes they also go oh here's squash
flowers they're beautiful the squash
gets pollinated by the honeybees coming
to the corn the corn is on the south
side the squash is on the east side when
the Sun comes up in the morning it hits
the squash it drives the leaves off
really quick and stops the powdery
mildew issues and stuff like that
by the time it gets to be 2 or 3 o'clock
in the evening and the Sun starts going
in toward the west the Sun the corn is
tall now so it's beginning to shade the
squash and the squash is not being hit
by the brutal hot Sun of the evening
that we have and therefore the squash
are being protected by the corn so
there's several reasons why my Gardens
laid out the way it is my gardens are
laid out north and south so that the
East and West Sun affects my gardens in
different ways now behind you here is my
tomato plant there on the east side
that's us for a reason so that the
Morning Sun drives the plants off and we
keep the viruses down but guys I hope
that you understand a little bit better
about squash and why we do what we do
here at Deep South homestead and why we
prune and how we print so leave me some
comments down below if you're something
that you just didn't understand and
maybe I can answer
when I get ready to look at the comments
or maybe you have a technique did you
might want to mention or something that
I didn't bring out that you think might
be important leave it in the comment
below and we'll check them out and maybe
everybody can learn together so thank
you guys from Deep South homestead
