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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 8, 2014 22:04:00 GMT -5
I direct seed all squash.
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Post by oxbowfarm on Apr 8, 2014 23:46:32 GMT -5
View AttachmentYesterday I started Cha Cha Sugar X and Longpie x Delicata Now, I'd love to hear from Oxbow as to what these were and what he expects them to be? This is a picture of Long Pie. So will I get a 7 pound delicata or a striped long pie? What are we looking for? Cha Cha F1 is a blue/green kabocha. Sugar was short for Katy Stoke's Sugarmeat. Cha Cha does well for me, Katy Stokes is highly touted for quality by Carol Deppe, but I've never gotten it to make a squash for me here, likewise Carol's other fave maxima Sweetmeat Oregon Homestead. It did flower for me before it croaked so I was trying to get some of the good tasting Sugarmeat genes into a maxima I can actually grow here. It should be a decent eating squash, Cha Cha is a good squash on its own. I didn't get squat for maximas in 2013 so I don't know what these crosses are like. The Long Pie x Delicata was me trying to make a sweeter, smaller long pie pumpkin. Long Pie is really productive but I find it kind of bland. I thought the Delicata might sweeten it up. Didn't make anything for me last year. The only thing I got for squash was some Delicatas, a couple of my landrace maxima, and landrace butternuts. I'm betting the F1 will be striped and in between sized. The striped genes seem very dominant from what I've observed coming out of compost piles etc.
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Post by 12540dumont on Apr 8, 2014 23:59:04 GMT -5
I transplant. I have direct seed as well...depends on how backed up I get here.
Thanks Tim. Last year was a horrible year for squash here. There were bugs everywhere. More than I could kill. No more black plastic. It not only harbors the darn squash bugs, but the black widows were there in spades.
Okay, I'll let you know how it goes. I putting all my squash in a different field.
Leo says that he's seeing squash bugs along the creeks in the county.
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Post by raymondo on Apr 9, 2014 4:50:12 GMT -5
Tim, I suppose you've already tried it but Sunshine F1 did well for me this season (blessings upon the person who sent me the seeds) when other squash fared poorly. By the way, what's in your maxima landrace? Do you remember which cultivars you used?
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Post by oxbowfarm on Apr 9, 2014 7:33:27 GMT -5
Hi Ray, Sunshine does pretty well, but I haven't liked the flavor as much as I like Cha Cha. It does sell better at market, red is sexy and sex sells. My maxima landrace stared out with mostly stuff from Native Seeds/SEARCH and Lakota squash. The NS/S varieties were Peñasco Cheese, Rio Lucio Pumpkin, Navajo Hubbard, and one other one I forget the name of. Since then they've been exposed to every other maxima I've ever grown, lots of kabochas, buttercups, Marina di Chioggia and my attempts with Carol Deppe's favorite blue maximas. I would say that it more or less validates the landrace concept, I always get something from my landrace maxima, but it isn't nearly as impressively fool-proof as Joseph's butternuts have been. In the years when I get a lot of fruit, I'm trying to select for flesh quality. I also am trying to bring the size down a bit. This was not an atypical fruit from a few years ago, but it was very watery. I want a reliable maxima with good quality maxima flesh, not a huge watery decoration.
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Post by Walk on Apr 9, 2014 7:56:00 GMT -5
We pre-sprout all curcurbits in covered trays or saucers and only plant out the good ones. The winter squash go right out into their prepared spots under a cloche. For early melons, zukes, and cukes we put the sprouted seeds into pots to get some size before transplanting out so they get a head start on the season.
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Post by raymondo on Apr 9, 2014 15:43:39 GMT -5
Hi Ray, Sunshine does pretty well, but I haven't liked the flavor as much as I like Cha Cha. It does sell better at market, red is sexy and sex sells. My maxima landrace stared out with mostly stuff from Native Seeds/SEARCH and Lakota squash. The NS/S varieties were Peñasco Cheese, Rio Lucio Pumpkin, Navajo Hubbard, and one other one I forget the name of. Since then they've been exposed to every other maxima I've ever grown, lots of kabochas, buttercups, Marina di Chioggia and my attempts with Carol Deppe's favorite blue maximas. I would say that it more or less validates the landrace concept, I always get something from my landrace maxima, but it isn't nearly as impressively fool-proof as Joseph's butternuts have been. In the years when I get a lot of fruit, I'm trying to select for flesh quality. I also am trying to bring the size down a bit. This was not an atypical fruit from a few years ago, but it was very watery. I want a reliable maxima with good quality maxima flesh, not a huge watery decoration. That's quite a range of cultivars. Maximas do reasonably well here, on the whole. They're generally not as productive as butternut moschatas or some of the pepos. The ones with good texture and flavour are very good so I keep growing them despite the low productivity.
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