Prune Zucchini to Increase Production - Prevent Powdery Mildew & Prevent Blossom End Rot
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2017
- In this episode, we will be pruning our bush zucchini to decrease powdery mildew, increase airflow, decrease blossom end rot, and increase the production of fruits all season long. It is easy, and very quick to do. let us know how this tip works for you in the garden!
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This is very helpful. Unfortunately I lost my one and only zucchini plant to a borer. I did get a couple weeks of fruit off it, but it died this week.
plant again! You still have loads of time!
@eric burns - The reason I didn't mention squash vine borer is because they only hit once. If you get them once and then re-plant you won't get them again because they are a seasonal thing.
Tricia Johnson me too. I got one squash b4 borer for the plant😕
I inject some BT in my squash vines when it is Borer time and I haven't had any since I started doing that.
FrugalPrepper what's BT?
Don’t worry about all of the people whining about how long your videos are. These videos are incredibly informational. Keep it up!
This isn’t the first channel I’ve seen where people complain. This is an instructional channel and so people, don’t be a fool and expect some short little fun entertaining video. You cant learn anything by a 3 minute video. If you aren’t being held hostage to his gardening videos and don’t like a lengthy explanation, just quietly leave without announcing your displeasure, because no one cares that you don’t have any interest in his information.
I don’t mind a longer video either. And really 11 minutes is not that long.
I don’t mind long videos, but this guy really does talk a lot... a lot more than necessary.
@@madaxe79 No he didn't everything he said was to the point what would you like to have been dropped out
Rick Swift how about the first 5 minutes, then take another 5 minutes in bits and pieces thereafter. Look the dude gives great advice, i love watching hime, but i do watch all his videos 1.5x speed and i usually skip through 50-75% of them too. He talks... a lot!!!
Did not have a single fruit that did not rot until I pruned the plant. Now I have a huge frying pan of squash cooking away! Thank you for the great information.
Sounds delicious
Same here, might try again this year!
Did you take off the fruits that were rotting or left them?
Me too had the same issue in the beggining
Thank you! You really tell us what we need to know. I am 67 years old and I have grown a vegetable garden since I was five years old and my parents gave me seeds and let me grow a vegetable garden around our play house. One year the pumpkins grew all the way around the play house and we could not open the door. The only way we could get into the play house was to climb through the window. The pumpkins were wonderful, as well as the beets, etc.. As well as I can remember, I have grown a garden every year since then. When we were raising our six children, we had a huge garden and many nights our dinners were whatever vegetables were ripe in our garden. I like to have fun with the garden and instead of planting straight rows, I hoe winding paths through the gardens and plant marigolds, Dehlias and other flowers along the edges of each section. The vegetables grew in each section. I put peat moss on the paths so I could stroll and work without getting muddy. These days I don’t have much strength, so my husband bought a lot of large pots and put them on the deck. My neighbor gave me some more from some new trees that she bought. The last few years the garden has been smaller, but the two of us enjoy eating the many vegetables that grow on our good sized deck. It is nice to share too. And, I still love the feel when I put my hands in the soil. And, don’t forget to plant fruit trees. You will never taste better fruit. Grapes and berries are great too. Our children now grow some nice gardens too.
That is great I've been teaching my girls about the garden for years now. And turns out my Son is learning about how to grow stuff to.. he has just started in Real estate and want to get us a house so I can have a nice big garden like when I was a little girl... It's something that most of us grew up with. But fell away from do to the ease of going to the food stores... Having food from your own garden has so much more flavor then store bought... Thank you for the pruning tips...
I’m so glad you showed us how to actually go in and prune or clip off the leaves
When pruning leaves off squash leaves you have to make sure to spray with peppermint spray to mask the scent of the sap that comes out of the stem where it was cut. You won’t have vine borers or so many of them trying to bore through the stem and possibly destroy the plant because the peppermint spray masks the scent they’re attracted to. Also, be sure to use rubbing alcohol on the garden tool you use when pruning leaves before you cut on another plant. It will help prevent any possible diseases from spreading from one plant to the next. I may try pruning back a couple of leaves pushing into my jalapeño pepper plants planted next to the squash. Thanks for the info.
Helpful tips here too
I use the dilute Castile/Dr. Bronner biodegradable soap in a foliar spray for organic pest control, and you can get the soap in a strong peppermint scent.
Even at 4 tsp per gallon water, it covers the plants in the peppermint smell, as well as the soap residue discouraging bugs.
@@Itried20takennames I am in Australia, so many of the items are different. I use NutraSpray which is a biodegradable soap pesticide. Do you think making a mint (I have a large plant) tea and diluting my concentrate with that would work? I also have a dreadful time with aphids. I am a balcony gardener with a very tight space. I need more flowers, so when I find the calendula seeds I bought, I should put those in.
Is the peppermint spray legit? Vine borers are so bad where I am. This is the first I have heard of this as a trick.
I've been gardening for 35 years and never heard of doing this! I only recently found your videos and subscribed, but I'm working my way through some older ones. Your information is excellent. I appreciate your enthusiastic presentation and the clear camera work for visual support. I am recommending your channel to a friend who is just starting to garden. Thank you.
Same for me. Super excited to go through them all.
Totally agree! I found him long time ago. Also, I never heard of this before either! Years of gardening too
I am going to try this. I’ve been gardening for years and never knew this. Thank you so much for sharing! Have a blessed day!
I pruned in this manner last year, it did seem sketchy to take off so many leaves but the result was as Luke describes.
Increase production. Of zucchini??!? I never thought I’d see those words together as a goal!! 😆
I took 2 zucchini to work and put them on a filing cabinet with a sign stating "FREE ZUCCHINI." By the end of the day, the cabinet had gathered about 2 dozen more!
@@Cecil_X LOL! Other gardeners? ....or did yours reproduce?
@@jeanettebuchko4984 Other gardeners, though I did exaggerate a bit. I told a counselor friend of mine, to stand in the produce section of the super market. When she sees someone buying zucchini, give them a business card. They don't have any friends.
Right! I could hardly eat them fast enough without doing anything!
last year i had 9 zucchini plants and i harvested 2 zucchinis. guess i did alot of things wrong
I know this is 2 years old but it’s right on time as we have monster. Zucchini and squash plants right now. They will be getting pruned tomorrow. Thanks!
My second season of doing this since watching his video and it definitley works. Plant us healthier from the getgo which is best for pest control. Bugs will attack the least healthy plants. I get a ton of fruit now!!
I wish I saw this video least month when you did instead or the ones google recommended to me. I would have been flooded with zucchini by now.
...I'm a hands on type of learner so actually seeing you do it is waaaay more encouraging and gives me confidence to shaping it properly.
Yep- super helpful to see you do it. Thanks for the content
I like seeing the "what to do" explained then demonstrated.
It’s 2024 and this video was suggested to me. Great video that still holds true today. Last year I was trimming my squash for the first time, I’m living in Maryland, very different than growing in Arizona lol. Anyway, I was worried I would hurt the plant. I only did some of the zucchini plants, leaving the others (this was an experiment, I hadn’t watched videos on this yet) I ended up loosing the untrimmed ones to powdery mildew, the trimmed ones lasted into fall. This year after watching many videos on this I will definitely be trimming all of my plants! I will also be planting a second batch in fall, when the vine borers aren’t an issue. On one plant I might even try the method I saw someone do, it was placing a pole beside the squash plant and guiding the plant to grow up the pole. This kept the vine borers out of there, air circulation was at its max and the vine kept growing up!
I’ve been growing forever but UA-cam has been awesome for helping me learn ways to have an even better harvest, and adapt to new growing environments. I love your channel, great info! Thank you!
I'm sure gloves, some sharp shears and long sleeves would make this a much more enjoyable experience! Those plants get sharp!
Oh my God I thought it was just me. I get cut by courgette plants all the time and seeing people on UA-cam using their bare hands, I thought there were non-sharp courgette plants.
I get a rash when I have to touch them! We are not alone.....
Some people have really tough skin, some are desensitized; and others are sensitive or delicate. Zucchini and other plants that are spiky are bothersome to most of us, however stinging nettle and poison ivy are so much worse for anyone.
Make sure shears and hands are cleaned or you’ll have cross contamination… bacteria etc.
@@bernadettefern They're a little prickly but it doesn't bother me too much. Then again I've also walked through a 7 mile long field of waist high poison ivy while wearing shorts and didn't get much of a rash.
I did not know that zucchini plants could be pruned! When I break a stalk I always worried about it, good to know they can be thinned to get better air flow
@Erin Hall I was always worried about exposing the inside of the stalk to bad bacteria, that in my minds eye, had a straight shot to the heart of my plant and would kill it. I would break of badly damaged or nearly brown ones tho. I'm going to try it. I have a pumpkin plant with leaves nearly as big as a tire, and too many of them.
Teena Pittman ,
@@teenapittman4241 I just pruned all my zucchini, squash and pumpkin plants, which had not opened flowers yet and were huge bushes, back to the main grow tip and one support leaf - I'm pinched for space and am hoping the leaf pruning and flower pinching encourages them to vine out so I can tie them up to grow vertically to get the smaller plants behind them some more sun and time to catch up.
Same here!
Zucchini blossom time was always my favourite part of the summer. When I was a young boy my mother would harvest some of the blossoms without the centres, wash and dry them, then batter them with a thinned pancake style batter and fry them in oil like flapjacks. The blossoms are definitely edible and done that way they are so very yummy. Try it, you'll like it. It means a few less zucchini but, there's always a trade off for something good.
This just Confirmed that i did the right thing by pruning Encroaching Leaves... The big leaves tend to make it fall over, and die... Always good to watch your plants, and analyze their needs individually
This is perfect timing, I'm experiencing all of this thank you!
In all of my nearly 60 years now I've never thought to prune my squashes. Why, oh WHY? It is such a good idea, and I will be doing it from now on. Helpful for the plant and makes them beautiful, too. Thank you!
Same here!! Great info
I only click on videos that are at least 9 minutes, so I enjoy the long videos. Thanks for the information and putting all the effort into your videos!!
I just discovered your video channel last month and have found them to be so informational and relatable. I’m kind of new to gardening, but I really love how you explain everything and make gardening seem approachable to all levels. I’m learning so much. Thank you!
I really enjoy you, your energy, smile, time,and your tips and tutorials! My garden is more productive, thank you!
Perfect timing...so glad I found your channel! This is exactly what my zucchini plant needs and I'll go tackle the pruning tonite. Thank you!!
I love the details and the actual visual on how to prune the zucchini plants.
I’ve only been gardening for about 4 years and I’m in Montana so our growing season is kinda short. I have learned so much from your videos. I have had good success with my squash and zucchini the other 3 years but I am trying out your pruning method this year to see how much more will grow. Plus I like the fact that there isn’t so many leaves and stalks in the bunch that always seems to scratch up our arms. Keep up the awesome videos, you‘ll help me become a great gardener in a few more years.
Love your videos. Thanks for taking time from your busy life to help us late bloomers learn to be successful in the garden.
Wonderful tip! I had never heard this before. Thanks so much!
Thank you for the info! I did this last summer and I got way more zucchini’s then ever before! This really does work well.
(Watches video at 11:50 pm…. Runs out at midnight to start pruning squash plants…)
Your videos are great, I've learned so much in the past few month by watching and you can see the result in the garden! Thank you for explaining the how and the why behind gardening. I've been sharing your videos with my Dad this Summer and he really like them too. Thanks again!
Thorough, and specific information...Love it! Thank you.
Loved this information! This will be useful in my own garden❤ I have been gardening since I was very young and I wasn't aware of this pruning technique. Always so glad to learn more! Thanks
This was a great video! I have a bunch of new plants just starting to fruit and now I know why I was getting the fruit rot and mildew last season. Very informative!
I’ve been fighting the issues you addressed today for 3 seasons now! I can’t wait to try this and I shared to FB. I know many gardeners!
Exactly what I searched for and needed to know. I'm in TX and we've had our classic May storms and getting the powder. I haven't grown a full garden by myself until now. I grew up with family gardening. Thank you!
I needed a boost of confidence before heading out to prune my zucchini! I just got it- thank you!! :)
Thanks for the valuable information. This will be my second season growing zucchini. I had no idea I was supposed to do any of this but it makes sense and I can't wait to implement your tips!
I am a central Florida gardener and struggle with the heat and humidity while trying to grow zucchini and cucumbers. Thanks for this tip. I watch a lot of your videos and have learned so much!
Pruning lower leaves is also a great way to decrease hiding places for snakes. This is especially relevant in a lot of places in Australia, wherein snakes love to hang out around garden beds.
In Portugal we have almost no venomous snakes. I would be thrilled if any of them found refuge in our garden from the mindless persecution of people who believe all snakes are a threat and kill them on sight.
Keiko Mushi You are spot on I've got a dog is now 16 he used to be a real good snake killer I wouldn't back him in now his reflexes are slower and he's got cataracts. About eight years ago I had crop of pumpkins that was very thick he detected a snake charged in and killed it it was an Eastern Brown quite deadly and there was another occasion after that when I was in hospital son-in-law is over at my place helping the wife out he went to the shed and another Eastern Brown raised up out of leaves next to the shed Daniel thought he was done for, the snake collapsed and died behind its neck were heaps of bite marks from the dog. So now I grow all my pumpkins and Vine plants on trellises originally 4 safety but now the fruit is much cleaner I have bought heaps of stockings and panty hose to put the fruits into to hang so they don't tear away
Last year a copper head snake almost bit my mother in law. It was under the zucchini plant
I like snakes. I use them in stirfry, 😀
Snakes are there hunting the rodents nibbling the fruits of your labor. We have to mindful of poisonous varieties.. but they're welcome as furry pest control in our Virginia garden.
Wow,,, you just addressed so many of my issues!
Your always there when I need information! Thank you for the details you include... I’m still on a learning curve. 2 Nd year major gardening... at 64 I do prune my Zucinni but now I know I can go father. Thank goodness!!! I planted mine pretty far apart. Because it is easier for me to pick. But still it’s going crazy! lol and we have been blessed with an incredibly rainy summer for Central Texas. A double edge blessing. I’m
Going to go prune more!!! So relieved I can prune back more!!!! I have issues with my hands so I have to use clippers but that is fine.
I didn’t even know what my problem was called! This was a perfect video! Thank you! This information will make my plants a success!
This is the best lesson that I have ever learned about growing zucchini! Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing this! I actually enjoy pruning my plants, especially tomatoes. It's a relaxing experience for me where I can just zone out and work with my hands..as is most of gardening. :) I didn't know I could prune zucchini, good to know. It's my 1st year growing it and its super vigorous so far! Now I have more to prune lol
Me too. Pruning tomatoes is critical
Where and what leaves do you actually prune off tomato plants? I’ve been getting pretty good amount of tomatoes but I feel like I definitely can get way more and I’ve never touched my leaves except for ones that touch the bottom onto the soil
Luke thank you so much. I had been trying to find out why there was end rot and there was talk of all sorts of mineral lack so it is so great to know that about the leaves. I have taken them away in other years but this year I have squash in separate pots and so hadn't begun to take leaves away so I am going out this afternoon to inspect. Again thanks. Aileen
Very helpful! Thanks for this! I was cutting off leaves and thought maybe I was doing harm but seeing your plants look like mine do right now after being cut is super encouraging!
Thank you!!!! My gut instinct was to do this, but I worried that opening up the stems might create access for mildew to get into the plant. So happy to have this confirmation it was the right choice. Time to go prune a bit more. Next year = more plants! :)
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This was great info!! Deffinately going to snip back those leaves.
This really helped me with powdery mildew. I container garden so space is limited and I'm always seeking balance. Would love more videos in container gardening. Thanks!
This is so helpful!!! I kept wondering what I was doing wrong. Keep the videos coming. Anything helpful for green bell peppers and cucumbers, which are my absolute favorite! Happy gardening!
Very informational, new knowledge for me- I immediately went to my garden and tried it, thank you.
This video was right on time. I will be pruning my zucchini tomorrow! Thank you so much for very informative video
Dottie Partin , same here I had no idea you could prune it...
For me too. I pruned my zucchini last year, but they always seem to tip over afterwards. I guess I should leave the stem if it's healthy to provide support?
This is much more helpful than a video I saw last summer. Now I realize WHY I should be pruning back my zucchini and how. Thanks!
Really needed this video as i was pondering what to do with an overgrown not healthy zucchini! Thanks. Will share with friends.
My squash was having the rot and my plants leaves are overlapping...i can't wait to do this to my plants! Thank you
This was so helpful as I am new to gardening. I am gonna head outside and remove some leaves as they are overlapping. Thank you for making it easy to understand and not so overwhelming. 🙂
Spot on!! We pruned early and had a slow start but now into September we’re still getting zucchini. Thank you!!
Thank you! Always thought it was a good idea to prune, but never knew if I was right. Glad to know it is a benefit 😊
Thanks for your video! I've been struggling with my zucchini and I learned something new today 👍🏾😊🙌🏾
Thank you thank you thank you! I am growing in a high tunnel and it looks like a jungle in there. Glad to know that I can get rid of those leaves without killing my plants. My husband is calling it Jurassic Garden. Thanks again
As a newbie gardener I appreciate the tip and overall quality of your video.
So informative!! You explain things very well and you have a happy attitude!
exactly what I needed! Just ran out and gave my plants a haircut!. thanks!
I was not able to garden until You tube! Appreciate the advise!
It’s great isn’t it. You can find how to do everything!
@@fainitesbarley2245 it encourages me to keep gardening as i have a task i know i can do.
I struggled with all these problems (plus one) last year and am looking forward to using your advice. Thank you!
Heading out to the garden 🪴 now to do this! Thank you for the videos!
Thank you! I went out to prune in the mid-AM, and as I was finishing exposing the blossoms the bees started to come in!
Yes. Yes. Totally believe your content in valuable!
I've been growing squash for years and never knew it was okay to prune the squash plants. Thank you so much!
This video was great. As a novice gardener, it was great to see the explanation and see it demonstrated a few times. Heading out to defoliate my zucchini plants a bit. Thanks.
Thank you! As a first time garden planter I over planted and this was so helpful because I didn't know you could prune zucchini plants.
Brother my heart rate literally jumped. Everything else I've read told me I had blossom end rot because of a calcium deficiency. Thank you! Heading out to prune my very bushy zucchinis right now.
What about the results?
@@isaac5120 Perfect result. No more blossom end rot and good production until seasons end.
@@jenniferkellum1272 Thanks for the follow-up!
Thanks Luke, always love watching your videos. My Zuchini is starting to grow and only have two plants set this year. I will go out and check on them this afternoon.
I was looking for guidance as my zucchini leaves are so very large this year and I felt I should trim, but didn't know for sure. This video was great with step by step instructions. Thank you.
I just planted squash for the first time. I did not know that I need to defoliate my squash. I am so glad I cam across your vid. New subbie!!!
I had to cut my yellow squash back like that last year and I thought I killed it but nope. She kicked out quite a few more fruit before the cold weather shut it down. Thanks for the info! It helped us very much.
Brand new gardener here! Thank you for this info, will be heading out this evening to prune my garden now!
I love your instructional videos. No matter how long or short, I always learn something!
I’d been pruning my zucchini but apparently not as much as I needed to...thanks for explaining the ‘why’. Hopefully mine will continue producing, I’ve had a bountiful harvest this far.
First year growing zucchini. My plants look awesome right now. Thanks so much for your tips on how to keep them growing healthy! Your videos are great btw.. Never too long... You talk about the why's in depth.. Love that!!
Thank you for doing this video!!! My summer squash and Zucchini had so many leaves and not any veggies. I trimmed the leaves, reluctantly, yesterday, and I feel much better after seeing your video!! Thank you, again!!!
So happy 😊 to learn these techniques from you! I've been growing squash for years, with varied success each year. Now I know why! I've got twelve plants this year... Multiple varieties, so I'm excited to get out there and help them be healthy. The bees in my new bee hive 🐝 will be happy, too! The corona virus crisis has given me so much extras time in my wonderful garden. Added a coop with six hens. They'll enjoy some squash, too...IF we share! 😎
Thanks for this - I'm growing squashes for the first time and had no idea what I was doing. My plants thank you.
I know this is an older video but I’m slowly going through your back log. Started gardening this year but noticing lots of areas I can improve in next year
Thank you Luke for all your great videos. I am enjoying learning how to get great results gardening and your wonderful enthusiasm in sharing your knowledge and expertise.
I found out something that may help you watching my Gram-pa while growing up. During the time that the Female Flowering, it needs as much as Pollination as possible, "until" the Female Flower fall off - wilted or die. Here is what my Gram-pa used to do. He would remove the lower Male Flower and Hand Pollinate the Female itself. Morning is the time he would do it, because the Female Flower will open. Just touch any Female Flower with the Male and keep doing it until the Female Flower no longer there or wilted or die off. By doing that, your Zucchini or Squash will be really big. To my understanding of it by watching him, you have to keep pollinate the Female Flower as the Fruit Grow. The more you do, the more the Fruit will get bigger.
This video validated what I was already doing. Thank you!
I noticed the rotting zucchini fruits a few days ago, and luckily I remembered you putting out a video on that subject - now I will probably have way too many zucchinis but that’s ok! Thanks, you’ve helped me out yet again!
Thanks! I’ve “farmed” my whole life and never knew to do this.
Amazingly informative. I am so very new to this growing thing. This is incredibly good information. Thanks so very much for posting this!!!
Thanks Luke! This was very helpful! I'm heading to the garden shortly!
I did this last summer and what a huge difference it made! I got many more zucchini's to grow! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing these wonderful important informations!
Yay for Internets! 😎🖒
Thank you! This sounds like a great tip. I'm going to trim my zucchini plant leaves today as you recommended.
Thank you!!!!! I am new to gardening and really had no clue why my female were rotting like that. Look forward to watching more of your videos!!
Interesting idea about the pruning, never heard of that but will try it on my two zucchini plants.
Thanks Luke! Perfect timing for me. I learned a lot. I planted too close, and need to prune some leaves. I was getting the blossom end rot. Now I know why and can fix it!😁
Me too!
I've been pruning, but thanks to your video I know I need to do more. Thanks!
I'm growing my first garden and your channel is really helpful. Thanks from SE Michigan!
Ok!! Hadn’t thought of pruning it!! Thanks!!
Wow, I'm so glad I watched this
Dear Paul, I wish I had potted more than one zuke. Yes my friends share but I a zuke/squash eggplant eater along with my faves of tomatoes and red peppers. No cucumbers for me. Lol.
Thank you so much Luke for both the pruning video and the pollination video. I have noticed that I don’t have bees in my garden and I wondered about pollinating. I did have some little brown bees last year but they were attacking me I wasn’t even near them and they would fly over and bite me in the face. So I got rid of those after getting five bites in about five minutes. This year they are no bees so I will be hand pollinating and maybe that will work. I really am a first time gardener trying to sneak vegetables in between my flowers at the condo. So your videos have been extremely helpful. Thank you