Just starting out with my Squash landrace I have asked myself what the real difference between vining and bush squash plants is, appart from the obvious (one growing like a bush, staying compact, the other sending out vines and thus taking up much more space).
Have you made any observations if one grows better in one climate than the other.
I could imagine the vining one needs more water to be able to support the whole plant, or it needs less because It will grow extra roots at nodes?
Would love to hear your input, if this is a visiual characteristic one can select for better adapded plants, or if it’s just a personal preference and more of a secondary thing.
Summary of replies so far (last updated 11. Aug. 2026)
Bush
- more issues with fungus or pests?
+ earlier fruiting?
Vining
+ some will put down roots at nodes, but not all → more resilient
- takes up more space
+ can use space more efficiently but within a larger footprint
+ for summer squash: can continue to fruit better on different vines, even though seed fruit is left on the plant
I agree with Lauren. Vining squash tend to root at the nodes. This makes a more resilient plant. It does take up more space, but i find that several vining squash can usually coexist together, and perhaps use space more efficiently but within a larger footprint, if that makes sense.
You hit the main reason about vining squash – they can coexist in the same space and be fairly efficient that way. I like to grow what many people call a “Squash Patch” and just let the vines go where they want to except around the edges when they send a runner out of the garden I just gently turn the growing tip around and head the vine back into the main patch. I have been doing this for decades. If the growing tip is gradually bent and redirected over the period of several hours (or perhaps a day+) it can be successfully be done without breaking off the tip of the vine. A garden stake driven into the ground next to the vine to keep it from springing back into its undesirable direction can be a big help. Small marker flags can also be food for this purpose as well.
I was just wondering the same things. Or I decided that I need to go more bushy squash. Part of it is that my season is so short that the earlier the fruiting the better. So for example moschata only makes sense if plant makes female flowers early in the vine. I have now several plants that are like octopussy with about as many vines that go 1-2m from the centre and all have some female flowers.
Although maximas aren’t problem here in terms of season length as they already make the females early, I have had problems with them having many fruits now that I have pushed for drought tolerance. Even the smaller fruited seem to only make 1 fruit early enough. It does seem a little wasteful if the second fruits are 2-3 meters from the center. So I was thinking of going towards something similar to my moschatas. Not bushy per se, but plant that has several strong vines that run maybe 2-3m max with fruits from center to halfway the vine. It would be also more manageable then instead of vine that goes 5 meters of more. At the moment what I have only seems to concentrate to one vine and the others are little more skinny. Maybe it’s partially the conditions, but clearly it’s not even trying very hard.
Rooting from leaf nodes ofcourse would be a trait to adapt to drought. With moschata it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but with maximas there could be gains to be made. Even if the rooting would be strong in maximas, I don’t see 5m vines useful. Then they are just steeling water from other plants, which could be useful if they are interplanted with more drought tolerant species, but same could be with plants with less sprawl.
Maybe little weirdly I’m also going similarly little vining summer squash. I had one cross few years back that had I think 3 vines that went maybe 1,5-2 meters and produced very well medium sized fruits. Size of the fruit and number of vines is important in summer squash because then it tends to continue to produce new fruits if the seed fruit isn’t taking too much energy and/or it’s on a different vine. Also rooting from leafnodes would be useful in summer squash, but that I haven’t paid attention to that quite yet. I’m only at the start and I don’t have many that would have the vining or smaller fruit trait. Next year I can make little biger grow out and I’m hoping to select and favour those traits the year after. Maybe have look at the rooting also.
I prefer vining squash over bush types. You can control the vine length through grower interventions. It might not be a pure landrace principle, but it works for me. I pinch off the main shoot after 1 meter. I also use controlled drought stimulation supported by symbiotic fungi to speed up flowering. To switch the plant from vegetative growth to flowering and fruiting, I use a liquid drench made from dried ground elder (loaded with potassium and zero nitrogen).
I consider this my approach to creating a unique squash grex—interspecific crossing with a focus on adding traits like drought tolerance, cold hardiness, and resistance to root and vine diseases. If something interesting pops up during this selection process, I welcome it. So, I am adding order to the chaos, because I am the one facilitating the meeting of so many varieties and species.
I’m curious about the elder that you use for a drench. Is that the tree genus Tilia or the shrub Sambucus or something else? In America we have what is called Linden or Basswood which is Tilia americana. There are several species of Elderberry that are in the genus Sambucus.
Hi David, there’s been a minor botanical misunderstanding. By “ground elder,” I mean Aegopodium podagraria (a common herbaceous weed rich in potassium and nitrogen-free when dried), not the Tilia genus (linden) or the Sambucusgenus (elderberry). I use this extract exclusively as an agronomic tool for foliar fertilization to support my breeding goals. The main point of my previous post was how we can use cultivation practices (such as pruning vines and stimulation through drought or symbiotic relationships) to manage the architecture of climbing cucurbits and select specific traits in an interspecific project focused on local landrace varieties and grexes.
Thank you very much for that clarification. I breed squash as well and have been for about 35 years. Others like tomatoes, dry beans, flour corn and a few others also occupy my summer garden.
