|
Post by ilex on Jan 27, 2013 6:38:18 GMT -5
If squash is water stressed, you'll get very low production. I think you need to water well, at least until fruit is fairly big or plant will drop flowers and young fruit.
To control fruit size get a variety of the size you want, there are sizes for everybody.
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Jan 29, 2013 19:59:44 GMT -5
Alan Bishop did some experiments with dry farmed acorn squash.
Haven't heard from him, but you might be able to find out about it by going way back in the curcurbit thread.
Acorn is not my favorite, but in general Leo and I love squash.
|
|
|
Post by adamus on Feb 4, 2013 4:23:27 GMT -5
Mine are about the same Joseph. i figure if they can't process one squash, maybe a couple of meals and some soup, then they can buy small ones somewhere else. I am growing the Blue Hubbard this year, but I cut that into pieces. Even I couldn't get through one o them. Last year we had a cool summer, and little rain. The butternuts grew to about the size of two baseballs. Maybe starving them of light would help Holly.?
|
|
|
Post by littleminnie on Aug 24, 2013 20:41:04 GMT -5
I have a lot of smaller squash this year. But a few of Joseph's striped butternuts are showing up HUGE. I had a CSA stop by today with her family from Arizona. They bought all my turnips and rutabagas and all the squash I had picked for them to choose from plus all the patty pan and some kohlrabi and melons. I definitely have less squash than last year but last year I had way too many.
|
|
|
Post by Gianna on Aug 29, 2013 15:18:38 GMT -5
When I was reading up on 'ideal' spacing for kabochas, my conclusion was that if you spaced the vines closer, you'd get smaller individual squash, but that the entire harvest would be larger. Within limits of course - meaning you can space them too closely.
I grew a good number of kabochas this year, and grew them in different circumstances. Some were directly in good garden soil, and some were in 15 gallon containers positioned on a W-facing hillside to expand gardening space. The ones planted directly in the soil produced well and also had several very large squash - up to about 7 pounds. Larger than anything I saw in any grocery store (for kabochas).
The ones in pots (in rich soil and regularly watered), sometimes 2 plants to a pot, produced smaller fruits. On average, about 3 pounds each.
Next year I'm not going to hesitate planting 2 to a pot. Perhaps planting 3-4 previously germinated seedlings and pruning out the weakest down to 2.
The ones in-ground will also be planted closer together. Instead of one row with plants 2 feet apart, in a 3.5'wide bed, I'll plant two rows in each bed, staggered, but still 2 feet apart. Meaning twice as many plants in each bed.
|
|
|
Post by littleminnie on Oct 8, 2013 19:52:18 GMT -5
Well I did have some smaller squash when I harvested today and all in all the harvest was much less than last year and lots of squash had blemishes and some of those were eaten out by rodents. On the other hand at least I am not using all my boxes for squash so I have some for the huge sweet potato harvest. I have a very large cat. This is the squash from the photo above. Very large! I have previously harvested some squash and gourds. I didn't intend to have only 3 cartsful. However I had way too many last year so maybe I can work on the perfect amount next year. This year they were on the end of the water line so not good for the poor things.
|
|
|
Post by YoungAllotmenteer on Oct 9, 2013 1:12:54 GMT -5
Nice squash Minnie! Joseph's look like they do very well for you?
|
|
|
Post by tippler on Oct 28, 2013 14:57:39 GMT -5
I planted summer squash and zucchini quite close this year and got lazy with weeding. I got attacked with mildew. I know that possible outcome was mentioned on page one, but yea, thats a real problem if air isn't getting in there to dry things out after rain/watering.
One yellow summer squash plant ended up having all female flowers on it. The melons all stayed really small. Probably sense it was trying to throw so many at once. Reproducing that would be a fluke though. And I didn't keep any seeds because the original seeds came from the store, and I have no idea what variety it was or if it was patented.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 19, 2014 21:12:52 GMT -5
I opened the first moschata squash for the season. It revealed the archetype of my breeding goals for the past 6 growing seasons: Medium-sized long-necked-squash with deep orange color. Finally! Eventually most of my "on-farm" landrace will resemble this fruit. I don't care much for the Dickinson type pumpkins, because they are dreary things: watery and stringy, but they brought the genes for that deep orange color into my landrace. I'm hyped enough about this fruit, that it's children might get their own isolated field to grow in next year. Hey Joseph, have you ever gone farther with the Buckskin pumpkin project where you were crossing for the dark orange flesh? Or did that get incorporated into your moschata landraces? The parents of the cross looked like this: The F1 looked like this:
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 20, 2014 14:05:15 GMT -5
Today I opened 3 more medium-sized long-necked squash from my moschata landrace. I was pleased with them. One had the orange color that I am targeting. Not as orange as yesterday's but close enough for now. One was getting there.
|
|
|
Post by Al on Dec 24, 2014 12:10:38 GMT -5
IMG_1283 by portobell0, on Flickr This is my biggest Hokkaido Winter Squash from The Real Seed Catalogue, said to be a Hubbard-squash relative. It was 3 kg (6.5 lbs) & is too big to eat in one go. Half of it made a lovely veggie. lasagne & the other half will be roasted with walnuts & feta cheese. Smaller would be more convenient for meals for our family of five. This big boy was the only one on that vine, all the other vines which had two or three squash each made much smaller fruit, plants were in a row about 750 cm (2'6") apart. I was pleased with this squash as it was earlier than others & very good texture & taste, so will grow it again. Maybe trying to encourage each plant to develop 3 stems with a squash on each stem. If they could all end up at 1 or 2 kg (2 - 5 lb) that would do nicely.
|
|
|
Post by littleminnie on Jan 3, 2015 19:53:44 GMT -5
I saved seed from the smallest Musque this year. It was quite small which was nice. Next year I am going to add in some smaller butternut to my mix.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 4, 2015 19:58:40 GMT -5
Even though I think large squash provide a better return on investment, I still care about those of you that like smaller sized squash. Here's how one of my breeding projects is shaping up. I ate these squash and saved seed from them yesterday. They are descended from the smallest squash in my garden some years ago. They have been grown for two generations in isolation, with selection each year for the smallest fruits. The smallest squash shown in the following photo weighed less than a pound. The other one slightly more. I'm intending to grow out lots of seed next year.
|
|
|
Post by littleminnie on Jan 5, 2015 21:48:30 GMT -5
Those are very small. Here are a couple that were hard to bring to market and then the stems got broken off and they had to be used up. That is a full size chef's knife.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 5, 2015 22:35:50 GMT -5
littleminnie: In case I haven't told you lately... Damn, I love seeing photos of your moschata squash!
|
|