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gorbelly · September 23, 2016

I grew Tromba d'Albenga (Franchi) and Black Futsu this year, both moschatas with long vines. The tromboncino had VERY long vines, 25+ feet and is a production machine.

The Black Futsu had shorter vines, 10-15 feet, but it wasn't vigorous, and I'm pretty sure I got crossed seed (Baker Creek) as it did not produce true to type and was generally puny and sickly.

I had one of each on a leaning trellis in a garden bed, and they very quickly overgrew that. Those were also much more susceptible to powdery mildew, probably from more crowding of foliage. I grew an additional one of each up a "trellis" (repurposed cast iron shelf frame) against my garage wall and up onto the garage roof and onto the railing up there (I have easy roof access). That turned out to be the perfect solution for me, as I have limited square footage in my garden beds and lost a lot to the vines I planted in the beds. Those vines were very happy.

A long cattle panel or a long fence would be ideal for vining squash. I wouldn't plan to grow directly up out of a bed near anything else, as the vines end up shading out plants for a rather large radius around the trellis. If planting squash vertically in one's main garden, I'd put the squash in the westernmost bed and have the trellis outside the bed, not in it, and oriented in a way that wouldn't block sun for anything else. That would make the best use of space and sun, IMO.

I recommend letting the vines double back down to the ground and root some additional nodes as they grow. The one I did that with was much more vigorous and productive. Also, my understanding is that the SVB resistance of moschatas comes not only from how hard the vines get at the base but also because of their aggressive rooting at nodes, and you lose that if you grow up a trellis and don't allow the vines to come back down once in a while and root.

September 23, 2016	#24
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	I grew Tromba d'Albenga (Franchi) and Black Futsu this year, both moschatas with long vines. The tromboncino had VERY long vines, 25+ feet and is a production machine. The Black Futsu had shorter vines, 10-15 feet, but it wasn't vigorous, and I'm pretty sure I got crossed seed (Baker Creek) as it did not produce true to type and was generally puny and sickly. I had one of each on a leaning trellis in a garden bed, and they very quickly overgrew that. Those were also much more susceptible to powdery mildew, probably from more crowding of foliage. I grew an additional one of each up a "trellis" (repurposed cast iron shelf frame) against my garage wall and up onto the garage roof and onto the railing up there (I have easy roof access). That turned out to be the perfect solution for me, as I have limited square footage in my garden beds and lost a lot to the vines I planted in the beds. Those vines were very happy. A long cattle panel or a long fence would be ideal for vining squash. I wouldn't plan to grow directly up out of a bed near anything else, as the vines end up shading out plants for a rather large radius around the trellis. If planting squash vertically in one's main garden, I'd put the squash in the westernmost bed and have the trellis outside the bed, not in it, and oriented in a way that wouldn't block sun for anything else. That would make the best use of space and sun, IMO. I recommend letting the vines double back down to the ground and root some additional nodes as they grow. The one I did that with was much more vigorous and productive. Also, my understanding is that the SVB resistance of moschatas comes not only from how hard the vines get at the base but also because of their aggressive rooting at nodes, and you lose that if you grow up a trellis and don't allow the vines to come back down once in a while and root.