You probably think you already know how to grow a zucchini plant but if you live in North America ... you might not. Here's a way of growing zucchini to make your plants live longer, take up less space and produce more.
Zucchini is touted as one of the easiest and most prolific vegetables you can grow in a home garden. And that's mainly true. This growing guide will fill in every blank and answer most of the questions you've ever had about zucchini.
Planting zucchini can be done by any fool. You stick a seed in the ground, go inside to watch television for a few weeks, come back outside and BOOM you have a zucchini plant.
But there are a few things about growing zucchini that you probably don't know. Even I, who has a 40' x 40' vegetable garden, who is a contributing writer for The Old Farmer's Almanac didn't start using this technique until a few (maybe a decade actually) years ago.
1. Zucchini need to be pruned and staked. For real. Like you prune a tomato.
2. Zucchini can be planted VERY close together. 1 per square foot but remember to make sure your soil is amended for that. (lots of compost or some organic fertilizer)
3. Powdery Mildew CAN be halted.
The most interesting fact about zucchini is they can do complex math equations.
No they can't. We're very alike zucchini and I.
If you're looking for a really rewarding challenge that's a little more mysterious than zucchini take a look at my expert tips on how YOU can grow luffa sponges at home.
Table of Contents
Growing zucchini
- Zucchini are a summer squash so these tips and techniques can be applied to any other summer squash like yellow, crookneck or patty pan.
- Seeds or seedlings can be planted into warm soil at the start of summer (typically the end of May).
- Zucchini fruit develop around 50 days after planting. Once the fruit form, zucchini grow very quickly - especially if it's hot out and they get plenty of water.
- Zucchini don't need a lot of soil amendments. Add 2-3 inches of mature compost on top of your planting site and you'll be rewarded with enough zucchini to fill a clown car.
When to plant Zucchini
- Zucchini are heat loving plants so wait until your soil temperature is above 65℉ (18ºC) to plant out seeds or seedlings.
- You can plant 2 weeks earlier if you lay plastic mulch on your planting area which will increase the temperature of the soil below by 10 degrees. Garden centres sell black plastic mulch, which is often biodegradable but any black or clear plastic will work. Get biodegradable black mulch here.
- Planting 2 weeks earlier also means you will be harvesting 2 weeks earlier!
- If you're starting seeds indoors, plant them 3 weeks before your last frost date.*
Because zucchini grow so quickly and don't always transplant well there's really no need to start them inside. They usually do better when direct sown under plastic mulch. Just cut an X into the thermal plastic and push the seed down into the soil through it.
Where to plant
- Zucchini needs to be planted in an area that gets 6-8 hours of sun per day.
- Plant near companion plants like beans and peas (which fix nitrogen into the soil).
- Surround zucchini with pollinating flowers like borage, catmint, dill or dahlias to attract pollinators to that area of the garden. (zucchini need pollinators to hop from their male to their female flowers in order to produce fruit)
How to plant zucchini
Supplies
- Zucchini seeds or seedlings
- Large pot or 1' square of soil
- Water
Instructions
STEP 1 - Make sure your garden is weed free and rake it smooth.
STEP 2 - Apply a 2-3" layer of compost on top of the soil and rake smooth. If you're laying down plastic mulch to speed up your planting and harvest date, now is the time to do it.
STEP 3 - When the soil registers 65℉, plant seeds to a depth of 1" which is about the distance from the tip of your index finger to your first knuckle. For seedlings, plant them so the soil line of the seedling matches the soil line of the garden. Then push the seedling down a little to firm it and add more soil to fill the space if needed.
STEP 3 - Cover the seed with soil and water well. Make sure the soil doesn't dry out at all until you see the seeds sprout.
STEP 4 - Maintain moisture for the rest of the summer with at least 1" of water a week. Zucchini LOVES water. And don't worry about getting water on the leaves. Water doesn't exacerbate or cause powdery mildew. In fact, water helps wash it off of the plant. Powdery mildew is triggered by dry conditions - not wet.
THESE are the two tricks to growing zucchini better than anyone else: staking & pruning.
How to stake zucchini
Growing zucchini vertically might not be your first thought but it's exactly what you should do.
North American gardeners haven't really adopted this technique yet but it's common in Europe.
STAKING
- Drive a 4-5' stake into the ground before planting, so you don't damage the roots. I use lightweight coated metal stakes.
- Plant your seed or seedling right next to the stake so as it grows you can tie the stem to the stake.
You may not have noticed it before, but a zucchini plant only has one stem. That stem is just usually sprawled and dirty on the ground covered in decaying leaves. So you can't get a good look at it.
But trust me. Zucchini have one stem, that can be staked just like a tomato.
The earlier you do it the easier it is though.
Above you can see a zucchini plant that's only been staked and tied once, earlier in the season with the rest of the growth just flopped over. The leaves are being eaten by bugs, there's no air circulation and the lower leaves near the soil are getting powdery mildew.
Here's the same zucchini plant after staking it properly and removing all the lower leaves.
Just like tomatoes, zucchini benefit hugely from pruning. They'll be susceptible to less disease, have a more open formation that allows easier access for bees to pollinate and they'll take up less space.
How to prune zucchini
Why prune?
- The developing zucchini gain all their energy from ONLY the leaves growing above them. The leaves below, are just taking energy away from the rest of the plant.
- Pruning away diseased and damaged leaves helps prevent and slow powdery mildew by creating greater air circulation.
- Pruning away the larger, lower leaves that aren't contributing to the plant means you can plant more zucchini in a smaller space.
- The flowers are easier for bees and butterflies to access.
PRUNING
- Locate the lowest growing zucchini on the plant.
- Cut off all of the leaves growing from the stem below that zucchini. Cut right close to the stem.
- As the plant grows continue cutting off any leaves that are below the lowest growing fruit.
Fun Fact
Zucchini leaf stems are hollow UNTIL they get to the stem of the plant. There they turn solid again. Prune your zucchini leaves right up to the stem of the plant so you don't have any of the hollow stem left.
- Hollow stem portions can harbour disease and bugs so make sure you get right close to the plant stem when removing the leaves.
Pre staking & pruning
Post staking & pruning
See the difference from the left photograph and the right one?
Spacing Zucchini
Plant zucchini 1' apart. Rows should be spaced at 1.5' apart.
A lot of guides tell you to place zucchini plants at least 24" apart. You don't need that much room between them.
If you're staking & pruning them this is all the room they need.
Unpruned zucchini
Pruned zucchini
SOME MORE GOOD VEGETABLE TIPS FOR YOU
SAVE Your Zucchini and Squash from Squash Vine Borer
My Leek Growing Technique - Based on Eliot Coleman's
Make Paper Pots with a Wine Bottle
Make a Soil Grader for Levelling Your Garden from a Wood Pallet.
Disease
Powdery Mildew
- It's the kiss of death for zucchini plants, but luckily it's a long, slow, torturous death.
- Most zucchini plants seem to be able to withstand powdery mildew for quite a long time - months even.
- To help prevent powdery mildew, stake and prune your zucchini like I've shown you.
- If you notice powdery mildew has made its way onto your plants you can spray with this homemade Powdery Mildew spray for zucchini. It's just vinegar and water but it works.
Pests
The number 1 killer of zucchini plants are squash vine borers. These maggoty stem eating bits of grossness can kill a plant before you even realize it's sick.
Squash vine borers bore their way into the stem of the zucchini along the soil line and then proceed to eat the entire plant from the inside out.
There's usually only one vine borer per stem, so all you have to do is check your stems for signs of it at the end of June and into the summer.
I have a whole post on how to remove squash vine borers from your zucchini, winter squash, pumpkins and other gourds.
How to Grow Zucchini Plants
How to grow zucchini plants the right way! And I bet it's different than how you're doing it now.
Materials
- 4-6' long stakes
- twine
Tools
- scissors or knife
Instructions
Plant your zucchini 1.5" apart. They aren't going to need all kinds of room to grow and sprawl anymore because you're growing them UP.
Plant a stake right next to the main stem of the zucchini plant.
Using string or twine tie the plant's stem to the stake so it grows upright.
Remove all those huge leaves that are growing at the base of the plant (only the leaves below any developing fruit)
Monitor the plant once a week to see if you need to tie it to the stem again as it grows.
Notes
Zucchini should be grown basically like tomatoes! Stake them and remove older leaves that aren't doing anything productive for the plant other than making it vulnerable to disease.
Staking is easiest if you do it when the plant is first put in the ground, but you can wrangle an older plant into submission as well.
Cut your leaves off as close to the stem of the plant as you can.
If you see signs of powdery mildew developing you can wash the plant. Yes. Wash it with water. Powdery mildew HATES water and thrives in dry, hot conditions.
Powdery Mildew can also be controlled (not cured) with this simple spray recipe:
4 cups of water + ½ Tablespoon of Vinegar.
Spray the top and bottom of the leaves once a week.
Zucchini can be picked at any time. All sizes are edible. Yes. Even the big ones. Larger zucchini will need their seeds removed.
Absolutely. Zucchini are perfect for pots, especially if you use this staking and pruning method to control their size.
Zucchini season runs from June to August. The plant begins to produce fruit around 50 days after planting. To extend your season, plant first at the end of May and then again at the end of June. This way if you lose plants to disease or pests, you'll have another crop on the way.
If your zucchini grow to about the size of your pinkie finger, and then rot and fall off you have a pollination problem.
This is caused by the female flower (which has the fruit) not being pollinated by the male flower. You either need to attract more pollinating insects to your garden OR I can show you how to hand pollinate.
Apply what you've learned here and you'll have your biggest zucchini crop ever.
You might be wondering why would you want them to produce even more? Zucchini are already insanely productive. Well, because of the obvious. They’re fun to throw through people’s open car windows during zucchini season.
Zucchini may not be able to do complex mathematical equations but they can add up like nobody's business.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Pam
Hi,
As a novice gardener the idea of staking squash is exciting to me!
Do you have another article about growing and staking tomatoes?
This may sound like a naive question, but what should one use to tie plants to the stakes?
Seems I remember my parents would use strips of fabric? Twine or string seems like it would saw through the plants?
Also, I seem to remember my folks mentioned pinching 'suckers off tomato plants...what are they, how do I recognise them & when should they be removed?
Thanks for all info you share!
Karen
Hi Pam. First you should look at this post https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/turns-im-never-really-satisfied-anything-including-tomatoes/ It's about how I stake my tomatoes, beans and cucumbers. It's called string training. It isn't actually staking, it's letting them grow up a string. Whether or not you pinch out suckers on a tomato plant (the sucker is a stem that starts to grow out of the "V" between the leaf and main stem of a tomato.) is dictated by what kind of tomato it is. And even then if you ask 2 different gardeners about whether they pinch off suckers and how, you're likely to get two different answers, lol. There are "determinate" and "indeterminate" tomatoes. Determinate ones grow to a certain height and then stop. Indeterminate just keep growing and growing taller and taller. Heirloom tomatoes are usually indeterminate. As a general rule, you pinch off the suckers from indeterminate plants, but leave them on determinate. But AGAIN, this is gardening and literally everything can be debated, lol. ~ karen!
Melissa
I’m also wondering what you use to tie the plants to the stakes?
Jessica
Me too 😁
Janet W
I use cut up panty hose and it works FABULOUSLY. I have tried a lot of different things. Some are quite rough on the stems and I have found that cutting the pantyhose into 1 1/4" pieces (crosswise) gives me nice soft pieces than don't strangle the stems. I grow all my tomatoes in boxes my husband built, and they each have a tall trellis. I just loop the nylon around and secure it to the trellis netting with a zip tie because that is fast and easy.
Crafty Mama
Can’t wait till next spring so I can grow my zucchini the right way. Thanks so much for this information.
Sharon
I love this post. Have a new garden area and will be trying this. I have also learned to use zucchini in place of pasta. It is helping my husband lose weight. Have been using zucchini in Spaghetti, Goulash, Broccoli salad, Stir-Fry, and many more. Zucchini doesn't have much taste but by use of other spices change the whole flavor. Going to try Spaghetti Salad one day this week, so as I'm using so much zucchini I need To find a way to grow it. Have never been successful in upper-lower Mich. Thanks for this post!
Ann
Hey! I learned a new use for zucchini or yellow squash... I peel it, dice it, saute it with onion & garlic, food process it & use it in place of mayo in dips & sauces. E.g. I added artichoke hearts to processor, put the concoction back on the stove & cooked spinach & parm cheese in it. So good!
Roberta Butler
Wow! That's genius. How is the consistency?
Suzanne
Glad to find your very informative zucchini post. I am another one who never gets a big yield from zucchini plants here in Michigan. Put in 2 plants this year......one produced nothing but flowers and the other one produced a whopping 3 zucchini, which I coveted! Tons of flowers on both plants but next to nothing in the way of a true zucchini, which is my favorite vegetable! Thanks for providing such great information here. I will definitely put it to task next season.
Gab
I had this happen last year and realized I didn’t have bees in my yard so I started cross pollinating with a small paintbrush. Worked great!
Joanie Frohlich
I live in Southwest Florida where it's still near 90 degrees daytime. Waiting for the fall weather so I can try this! Sounds fantastic! I pruned tomatoes and used cages this year, and did great. So I am dying to try this with zucchini!
Cara Hanoum
Great Article
Diane ODonnell
Someone asked this question, but there was no answer. Can this method be used on all squash or is it only used on zucchini? This would certainly give me more well needed space in an already over-crowded garden. LOL
Karen
Hi Diane! You wouldn't want to use it winter squash but any summer squash would be fine. For winter squash you can have them climb up a very strong trellis or arbour to make extra room in the garden. I once planted a squash beside my tomatoes which were staked and the squash grew up, over and twisted itself into all my tomatoes, lol. ~ karen!
Mike J
Howdy howdy - I've done this staking before and due to the high winds we have here, eventually the plants fall over, so I stopped. I really liked the amount of good photos and descriptions you made here. I was at a field trial for Bejo seeds in NY and was talking to Mark O. (head of US branch) and asked him if he ever tried this. Not only has he tried it, he is asking seed companies to try to make a zuke plant with more spacing between stalks on the stem and shorter, less heavy length stalks/leaves (petioles). I couldn't remember your email then but hopefully I can get him to see what you have done. They have great field trials of cukes and other stuff growing up a string in green houses, I was amazed. Keep up the great site!
Karen
Hi Mike. I went up to my garden last night and the top of one zucchini plant was heading down towards earth with the weight of the zucchini. I gently and carefully pulled it up to its stake and tied it. If you don't keep on top of tying them all season long they'll naturally try to head back down to the ground, lol. It just takes consistent tying to a solid stake to keep them upright. Give it another shot! ~ karen
Adam
I'm in Europe and I've never seen or heard of anyone staking courgettes or removing lower leaves. Sounds like a good idea though!
Gwendolyn F.
Love info. I planted zucchini for 1st time. I planted in very large pot and used tomatoe cage. I decided to prune my plants but didn't think about how far back to cut your info will come in handy next time. I had no bugs and meldew and good crop from 1 plant. I use no poisons .
Jill
This is brilliant! It totally makes sense, but I have never heard of anyone doing it. We've had such a hard time with beetles this year. I am definitely going to try this next year!
Stephanie Tree
I imagine this method would be good for all other squash...... or would it? Do you know? Thx.
Drew Evans
What about squash borers? I get a few zucchini’s and then the whole plant collapses, I’ve tried every suggestion I’ve read, but nothing has worked!
Karen
Hi Drew. You have to cut the squash vine borer out once they start eating the stem. Here's a whole post on it. I do it every year. (not write a post, cut out vine borers, lol) https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/squash-vine-borer-control/ ~ karen!
Denny cain
Drew, I keep a needless syringe loaded with BT nearby and closely watch. As soon as you see signs of frath oozing from the stem I inject directly into that spot. It’s very successful if you get it immediately. Kills the borer on contact
Amy L Macdonald
Very Informative. What is BT?
Karen
Hi Amy. BT is a naturally occurring bacteria found in soil that you can buy. It kills caterpillars, and grubs when ingested. It's a very effective natural pesticide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis ~ karen
Connie Peck
I had 15 squash plants. Zucchini and yellowcrook neck. Squash
Bugs sucked all but 3 dry. I used sevin dust only because I had it on hand. Every morning and evening for 4 days I cut dying leaves, stomped, squished and cussed until they were gone. Try to kill the adults first. I WILL be prepared next year!!
DeAnn
The past two years I lots the zucchini crop to squash bugs. This year I companion planted nasturtiums with my zucchini this year after I read an article that they deterred squash bugs. It worked or I just got lucky! Cheap, easy and beautiful fix to try!
Clay willingham
You can use a natural pesticide made from Chrysanthemums. It kills as little boogers on contact. Has no effect on any animal. You can even use it in the house. It is a contact only pesticide. I carry a bottle with me in the garden all the time..
Bev
Can you successfully grow zucchini in pots?
Karen
Most things can be grown successfully in pots as long as they're big enough to accommodate the root system and lots of soil to hold nutrients! I've never done it, but I have no doubt that it would work. ~ karen!
Barbara Sanders
Great article; I never heard about pruning zucchini plants before but will be doing it ASAP, and from now on. Thanks.
Karen
I discovered a plant I missed yesterday (it was a gift zucchini I planted later than the other ones) and I staked it up and pruned it. Even on this mature plant it was easy to do. :) ~ karen!
Alice
My zuchinni start out then at about 3-5 inches the end connect to the plant truns yellow and I loose them. What could be causing this?
Karen
Hi Alice! Your zucchini aren't getting pollinated. It happens to a fair amount of them. That's normal. But if it's happening to all or almost all of them, opening up the plant by pruning away the extra leaves helps a bit. Sometimes people trim off the flowers to eat and that takes away the male flowers that are needed for pollination, so if you're doing that, that could also be the problem. Hope that helps! ~ karen
Carolyn
Nobody has asked this question, so I will. In your photos, I can only barely make out the green twine or coated green wire among the stalks. I can't tell what the method is -- to you just tie up the centermost stalks? The only instruction I could find was "Plant a stake right next to the main stem of the zucchini plant." Could you please explain the process of choosing the stalks to tie and if you have to re-tie them as the plant grows? Many thanks!!
Karen
HI Carolyn! Zucchini only has one stalk so it's the only one you can tie up. :) So yes, you just pull it upright and tie it to the stake. I use green twine. You'll have to continue to do this throughout the growing season. ~ karen!
Esther
I have read that wrapping aluminum foil around the zucchini stalk keeps the worms from burrowing into the plant. I tried it this year and it worked.
Nikki
This was my issue this year with zucchini & spaghetti squash. We did keep them pruned back & the zucchini staked and I found it a lot easier to care for. They were doing fine until we went on vacation & couldn't check them everyday - the borers got to them both. After we came home to hollowed out stems, I researched & learned about the aluminum foil (or florist tape) idea & have replanted in pots to try it out.
Fingers crossed.
Cindy Jones-Sherk
Staking zucch's, what? Excellent, how do you find this stuff out? So helpful.
Cindy Jones-Sherk
Just adding, I took my snips to most of summer squash plants since this post, I say most because they were so wild! I found some patty pans I would not have known were ripe AND amazing how the pollinator activity amped up AND I can walk around my beds now. This technique is now fully added to my repertoire. I might start a blog called, 'I did what Karen did' or 'Doing what Karen says' well, okay, I can work on the name.
Karen
LOL. Well, I think the name is pretty good. Once I tried to make wall art out of yarn. That's one particular instance where you shouldn't do what Karen did. ~ karen!