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Post by jondear on May 15, 2015 22:37:19 GMT -5
I sure wish I had more room and or an outlet to get rid of excess squash. My family can't eat more than what 20 or 30 squash plants can produce.
So I'll plant 30.
5 of each of these
SM f-3
SM f-4
SM x Buttercup
Special Export
SE f-2
Hokkori which I've been wanting to try.
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Post by notonari on May 26, 2015 7:48:00 GMT -5
I'm starting a maxima landrace project this year, I'll be growing some 15-20 plants total of
Sweet Mama
Sweet Meat OH
Blue Ballet
Marina di Chioggia
Burgess Buttercup
Galeux d'Eysines
Green Hokkaido
I'll let the bees do the crossing and am selecting for dryness, medium size and full flavour.
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Post by jondear on Jun 27, 2015 13:33:22 GMT -5
My squash is beginning to run. They are some of the best looking plants I've ever grown. The SM x buttercups especially.
I've been debating whether or not to self a single squash of the best plants, as well as to hand cross some of the better ( in my mind) selections.
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Post by jondear on Jul 9, 2015 19:14:11 GMT -5
I did some hand pollinations between some of the plants that most pleased me today. Now that we've been getting hot sunny weather, they have really taken off.
If we continue to get water enough for the next month or so, I predict a bumper crop.
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Post by castanea on Jul 11, 2015 22:47:44 GMT -5
I'm only growing one C. Maxima this year - Zapallo macre. All I'm hoping to do is get one to mature so I will have lots of seeds to work with in the future. Here's a photo of one from Joe Simcox's rare seeds website: pbs.twimg.com/media/CCAS4NYWEAAMCtt.jpg |
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Post by notonari on Jul 12, 2015 3:06:04 GMT -5
That is one monster Maxima. Is it good eating? I've been moving away from the largest Maxima's because they're such a pain to store once you cut them open.
Mine are starting to flower now. The Sweet Meat seems a bit slower than the rest, Marina dC is all over the place and the Sweet Mama is already flowering profusely.
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Post by castanea on Jul 12, 2015 13:39:23 GMT -5
Zapallo macre is hugely popular in parts of South America in part because of the good taste. I don't know anyone in the US who has eaten one other than Joe and Patty Simcox. They discuss the flavor at their rare seeds website: growrareseeds.com/ |
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Post by jondear on Aug 4, 2015 20:03:52 GMT -5
There is a fine line between sufficient water and too wet. I've got some very nice looking, sized up squash, but the leaves aren't looking that great. I guess I should consider myself fortunate that the golfball sized hail missed my garden.
I have a cross that came out of one of the smxbuttercup that has one yellow/orange squash on it. The rest are green. I find it hard to believe that one squash could be different on a single plant. It has been yellow right from the beginning so I don't think the green ones will turn color.
All things considered, it looks like I'll be covered in the squash department this winter.
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Post by jondear on Sept 10, 2015 19:21:49 GMT -5
Powdery mildew had pretty much done in my plants, so a harvested my squash before they got sunburned. I feel pretty good about my harvest and the amount of diversity I have going on. I wrote on each fruit what it came from, not that it will make a ton of difference when I decide which ones to plant seeds from next season.
My taste buds are going to be making that call as the squash get eaten, be them bush or full vine, large or small, or the most or least productive. If it doesn't taste the way I think a good winter squash should taste, what's the point?
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Post by notonari on Sept 11, 2015 12:26:38 GMT -5
I've harvested the majority of my winter squash as well now, got an OK-ish harvest, not great, I think I will increase my spacing next year to boost yields a bit. But I'm quite happy with the selection, I'm already looking forward to the F1 growout! Here's a few: Green Hokkaido  Galeux d'Eysines  Sweet Meat Oregon Homestead  Sweet Mama  |
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Post by raymondo on Sept 15, 2015 3:16:46 GMT -5
Some nice looking squash there notonari. |
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Post by jondear on Sept 20, 2015 20:24:00 GMT -5
most of my harvest 
some big stems
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Post by flowerweaver on Sept 20, 2015 21:15:48 GMT -5
Those squash look great notonari! The field mice always eat my Hokkaido, I don't even try anymore. I have better luck with the Galeux d'Eysines. They keep well but I think the quality goes way down after a few months in storage. Nice haul jondear! Those stems almost look like a squash on top of the squash. |
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Post by notonari on Sept 21, 2015 2:27:20 GMT -5
Thanks flowerweaver, good to know about the Galeux d'Eysines, I better make sure to eat it soon-ish then. I ate two sweet mama's that had been in storage for a month the other day and they hadn't broken down much starch yet, I baked them and they were extremely dry (which is a good thing) but not very sweet. I'll wait a bit for the rest. Great harvest jondear, how much squash did you get per plant, on average? |
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Post by jondear on Sept 21, 2015 10:06:23 GMT -5
I had 29 plants live, harvested 50 squash total. I left some in the field that were way under ripe. I lost a few to rot when we were getting too much rain as well. So I guess I could have done better, but it could have been worse.
Powdery mildew seems to always get me in the end. It would be nice to get some resistance to it somehow. I had one plant that seemed a little less affected by it. If the squash taste like anything I'll replant seed from it.
Something I notice though, most of my plants produce about the same pounds of squash per plant. Larger squash are making fewer of them, smaller ones produce more squash, but on average about the same weight.
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