Butternut squash lost growing tip, is it worth keeping it?

Question

One of my butternut squash plants lost its growing tip. Probably cut while mowing the grass, since they are planted on the borders of the garden and not in the raised beds because of the space they need. The stem is probably around 35-40cm (15in) long.

From what I can see the plant has only one steam (the one that lost the tip), and is not growing any new ones.

On the last days it has started growing flowers on all the nodes, but all of them seem to be male.

Is it worth keeping to see if it will show at least one female flower? Or will the plant grow a new stem with new nodes? Or should I just cut it off?

Answer 1

It's not a problem if all the early flowers are male, that often happens while the vine is young and building resources. First thing is, if you have extra seed, pot some up immediately as potential replacements. Then focus on the existing vine - if it looks good and green and healthy, with the growing tip missing it will quickly put effort into side shoots off the main vine. Watch for these and encourage them. If you get more than four discourage the weakest, leaving four good ones hoping that 2 or 3 will grow into the vines you are expecting. If it does not produce good vigorous side shoots then that is what your replacements are for.