Squash Talk

[reed]

We still have a way to go till frost so I think I'll just leave my Tetsukabuto alone for awhile. They are still setting fruits, which of course won't mature but since from what I understand they are male sterile I would love to identify what else is alive in the overgrown mess of vines and weeds. They only other visible fruits are some puny dried up little butternuts on a vine that looks already dead but some of the flowers must be from something else. Whatever it is though has very similar looking leaves.

[mskrieger]

Sept 5, 2018 13:12:38 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

I planted some hopi white really late, not sure when. Not really expecting any to make it, but one has a fruit, so we will see.

I wonder if moth balls would discourage vine borers. I've been thinking of a non pesticide way to discourage the apple moth worms and thought of hanging moth balls.

If you're looking for a non-pesticide way to discourage vine borers, moth balls are not it. They're really nasty stuff, toxic to humans and not something you'd want in the food you're ingesting. Here's the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on napthalene, the primary ingredient: www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927671 Read Section 3 to find out the known toxic effects.

The only redeeming quality of naphalene is that it's volatile, evaporates very easily, so it probably won't stay in your soil too long...but that also makes it fairly useless as a bug deterrent in an open space such as a garden.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

I found that one of the Hopi White seeds i planted looked like it might be a hybrid with the Wild Hopi / Wild Pueblo squash line that i had sent to Joseph and was lost. Therefore i decided to dig it up and put it in my indoor food cube to try and give it the best possible chance of reaching maturity and getting fully developed seeds.

[reed]

I went ahead and harvested the Tetsukabuto squash the other day. Got seven nice ones ranging from 3.25 to just under 6 pounds. There are several more younger ones out there but I doubt they have time to finish up before frost.

I'm pretty sure none of the seeds from the one I harvested earlier nor from another one that had been chewed on by slugs are any good. These I just picked are nice and solid and I'm sure completely mature, so hopeful there will be some good seeds.

It's the most bug, disease, drought and neglect tolerant squash I'v ever grown.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

I found a "happy accident" squash from my Hopi White seeds. I found a hybrid with 'Wild Pueblo' as my Wild Pueblo seeds were lost. So perhaps i can recover something with the best of both worlds. It has a most interesting pattern with the traits of wild pueblo and Hopi white colors seemingly co-dominant!

20181008_211354 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Oct 8, 2018 22:27:01 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

I found a "happy accident" squash from my Hopi White seeds. I found a hybrid with 'Wild Pueblo' as my Wild Pueblo seeds were lost.

I think that you mailed them to me. They are probably still in my seed vault.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Oct 8, 2018 23:47:38 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

Oct 8, 2018 22:27:01 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

I found a "happy accident" squash from my Hopi White seeds. I found a hybrid with 'Wild Pueblo' as my Wild Pueblo seeds were lost.

I think that you mailed them to me. They are probably still in my seed vault.

Oh That's good news! I had assumed they might have been lost or eaten by mice!

[reed]

We chopped one of the Tetsukabuto open and baked it for supper the other evening, it was right tasty. Very weird inside, not hat I have a whole lot of experience with various squashes but the inside seed cavity was unlike any I'v seen. It was very dense, the seeds were embedded in flesh that was difficult to remove. I soaked them in water a couple days and still had to clean each one by rubbing with a damp cloth. 

You can see in the picture that unlike the less mature ones I opened earlier that some of the seeds actually have something inside rather than being an empty shell. All of that darker area has seeds, tightly buried in it, had to scrape it out and break it up to find them. Lots of apparently empty seeds. Ended up with about 40 of what I think are viable seeds from this one. Still have several more of these to eat so should end up with plenty of seed. Don't know who the father was but might have been butternut. 

I used software to enhance the color but still on my screen it doesn't show as intensely orange as it actually was. 

[mskrieger]

Yes, that what the squash I tried a couple weeks ago looked like inside. We had more filled out seeds, but not a huge number; the seed cavity is small, the flesh thick (and that's a good thing, in my opinion!)

reed is there any advantage to soaking the seeds other than removing the flesh?

[reed]

mskrieger, the flesh was so hard to remove so I thought I would give soaking a try. It didn't help one little bit. Still had to just rub it off with a cloth. Think I damaged the seed coat on a few seeds in the process. I wonder if they soaked longer it might help but was afraid they might sprout or otherwise spoil.  

[mskrieger]

I'm growing mostly moschata, with two hills of lagenaria and two of pepo. The lagenaria took off early and are setting lots of fruit; the pepo seems not to have set a one (no zucchini!!!!!). I suspect the pepo is drowning in moschata pollen. Perhaps I should have given it its own space. The moshata took off but are setting fruit slowly, though it may be that I simply cannot see them. There's one enormous Long Of Naples and a couple smaller round ones (not sure what the round could be, but perhaps they'll be clearer at the end of the season.) I was hoping for Violino Rugosa but last time I grew it, it took forever to set fruit and this year seems the same...may not be right for my garden. Squash are always an adventure.

[mskrieger]

I think I may have some maximoss growing, too. I assume I planted it (maybe just one hill?) just to see how it would compare with the moschata. It looks like it and the lagenaria are setting by far the most fruit, though I do have three Long of Naples now and at least one Violino Rugosa.

The Long of Naples are truly enormous squash. And I'm worried they won't mature. The relatively cool summer has slowed everything a bit, and even the first one to set is still variegated green, no sign of the yellow tan moschata color yet. Now I understand why Johnny's marks this one as 'ornamental'--apparently it tastes good but takes at least 125 days to maturity. But at the rate we're going I won't get any mature moschata. I am truly impressed that Joseph Lofthouse can do it with such a short season.

Finally got a single zucchini. How's everybody else's sqaush doing?

[mskrieger]

That's good to know, that they turn orange in storage. So basically you leave them on the plants until the season is over, and then put them in storage and hope they're mature enough to store? Did you find the Long of Naples tasty?

[mskrieger]

Thanks for the detail, william. I'm growing Long of Naples from seed I purchased from Johnny's Selected, not Joseph's version. It does seem to be the most prolific moschata I planted this year, which is one mark in its favor. The single hill of Joseph's maximoss is by far out-producing it, though, which fascinates me. How some vegetable varieties become so unproductive, while oneselected for conditions a lot different than my yard, nonetheless does well here and tastes good...Joseph Lofthouse has some serious plant breeding mojo, obviously .

[jocelyn]

Plus one predicted tonight, so cut all the squashes. Not a bad crop off 7 plants; some salmon hubbard types, some lime green hubbard shapes, some round warties, some tiny green/blacks, some pastel hubbard/buttercup crosses, and a few Hopi greens. Some are open pollinated, so next year will be fun.
All are mildew resistant this year, and have rampant vines. I cut two large squash out of the bushes, and found one UNDER the elderberry, having pulled off its stem under its own weight. Just like Easter, hunting for squashes, grin.
Only had maximas this year, had maximas mostly for quite a while now.
Maturity seems to be about 110 days for the lot of them, all had some wartiness of the stems.
Not sure where the round wartie came from, seems buttercup like, but with warts.....did have warted hubbard a few years back, must check it for the hard rind later on.