Which stems should you prune on squash plants?

Nicole Johnsey BurkeFounder of Gardenary

Here’s how to prune your squash to get 2-3x more fruit and way less leaves #garden #squash #zucchini

26 Jun 2025 · 1 min

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0:46

Nicole Johnsey Burke shows how to identify and cut the non-fruiting stems on squash plants. Leaf stems are thicker and hollow; flowering stems are thinner and grow closer to the center. Pruning them out can triple your fruit yield and reduce excess foliage.

Questions this video answers

Prune the non-flowering stems — those that form leaves: thicker, cylindrical (hollow), and ending in a large leaf-forming tip.

Chapters

How do you know which stems to cut on your squash? Well, you're simply going to cut the non fruiting stems. So if you look at this squash plant, it's really clear which stems are just forming leaves and which ones form flowers. The ones that form leaves are going to have this cylindrical stem, it's actually hollow, with this big flower at the end. Those that are flowering are going to have a much thinner stem. They're going to be closer to the interior, and they're all going to have a bloom coming out of them. Either one that's after a long stem that's going to be a male flower, or one that has a little bulge right before the flower that's going to be a female flower. So the quick answer is the only ones you're going to prune are the ones that are non flowering stems.

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