Many weeds can grow in your garden and fool you by their squash-looking characteristics. I have listed ten weeds that look like squash plants in this article.
Most varieties of squash are low in calories and fat. They are enriched in vitamin C and contain many fibers, which are good for your health. So, most gardens like to cultivate squash plants.
They require rich soil, sunlight, and regular watering for proper growth. Squash plants usually grow on the ground. Hence, you must have a large space in your garden for its growth.
There are a few weeds that can grow on your squash patch. The weeds resemble almost similar to the squash characteristics. They compete for nutrition and adversely affect the growth of the squash plant. Hence, you need to identify them.
I have listed ten weeds that look like squash plants. So, you can keep reading this article to learn more about it.
Weeds That Look Like Squash Plant
1. Velvet Leaf (Abutilon theophrasti)
It is a common agricultural weed that can grow near your squash plant. The leaves of this plant are heart-shaped, relatively soft, and covered with hairs. It creates a velvet feel on touching the leaves.
The leaves of the velvet plant look exactly like a squash plant, especially when it is young.
The plant grows well in full sunlight and clay loam soil. Crushing the upper portion of the plant will give a very unpleasant smell, which you may not like.
Velvet leaf plant has both tap root and fibrous root systems. It produces orange-yellow colour flowers which look almost similar to squash plants. But they are of small size. Again, they have five petals with half-an-inch to one-inch diameters.
2.Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum)
Black nightshade is the next weed, which you may think of as a squash plant in its early stages. The leaves are quite large, like squash leaves, but they are slightly oval or diamond-shaped. But if you observe squash leaves, then they are heart-shaped.
Again, when the black nightshade matures, it bears small white flowers. The flowers have five petals, which later develop into green berries. The fruit transforms from green to black or purple colour berries on maturity.
The unripe berries are usually toxic. But some culture uses ripe berries of Black nightshade in cooking applications.
3. Wild Cucumber (Echinocystis lobata)
Wild cucumber is also known as Balsam Apple. Its characteristics are pretty similar to the squash plant. For instance, they both are vining plants and have large lobe leaves, which may confuse you at an early stage.
But on maturity, you can easily distinguish them. Wild cucumber bear flowers which are not edible. Again, the flowers are pretty small and white. They later bear fruits that are large, green, oval, and spiky.
Squash plants are usually compact. But wild cucumbers can grow up to 25 feet. They grow primarily in moist areas like ponds and streams. Wild cucumbers can even grow in dry places with higher rainfall than average.
Wild cucumber vines can damage your squash plant and other shrubs by blocking sunlight and feeding nutrition. So you need it out right from the initial stage of growing.
4. Wild Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Var.citroides)
Wild watermelon plants look almost similar to squash plants. For example, they climb plants with large lobed leaves and yellow flowers.
But the flowers are a bit small in comparison to the squash plant. Again, a wild watermelon plant grows for almost 10 feet, which is quite large compared to a squash plant.
Furthermore, the wild watermelon plant leaves are pretty smooth and have a wax structure. But if you talk about squash plant leaves, they have quite a rough texture.
7.Manroot (Marah Oreganus)
Manroot belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and originates from West North America or British Columbia. It is a vine and can grow up to 30 feet. The flowers of these plants are usually white or can be yellowish-green or cream in color.
You can find both male and female flowers on the plant. The male flower will fertilize the female flower by insect pollination. The fruits are almost 2-3 inches long. They are green and oval with stuffed prickles.
These fruits usually form in the spring season and become mature in summer.The roots of manroot are usually tuberous. But squash plants typically have a fibrous root system.
8. Morning Glory (Ipomoea spp.)
Gardens usually confuse morning plants with squash plants. It is because of the vining nature and heart shape of leaves.
But you can distinguish the plant on maturation. The morning glory plant will bear trumpet-shaped flowers. These flowers are quite beautiful and attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden.
Morning glory flowers come in various colors, like pink, purple, or white. It is a drought-tolerant plant and can grow up to 10 feet.
9. Buffalo Bur (Solanum Rostratum)
Buffalo bur is the next plant most gardens confuse a squash plant because of its large and irregularly shaped lobes.
The stems grow erect here and reach several feet. Again, when the buffalo bur plant matures, it develops yellow color flowers 2-3 centimetres in diameter.
But these flowers are star-shaped and later bear spiny fruit. Hence, you can easily distinguish them from squash plants on maturity.
10. Bur Cucumber
Gardeners usually mistake Bur cucumber as a squash plant because of its vining characteristics and lobed leaves. But on maturing, it bears greenish-white color flowers and spiny fruits, which are pretty different from the squash plant.
Conclusion
Various weeds can grow near your squash patch in the garden. Gardeners usually mistake them for squash plants because of their similar characteristics. However, allowing these weeds to grow can block sunlight or absorb nutrients from the soil. Hence, it can hamper the squash plant growth badly.
We have listed above a few weeds that look like squash plants and hope the information is helpful.
