Quote:
Originally Posted by jmsieglaff
It was a tasty summer squash, but again it didn't produce very much, even with manual pollination.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by whistech
This year was the first time I grew the squash and I picked 4 or 5 at about 18" long and they were great as a summer squash. I left 4 on the vines to mature and they were in the neighborhood of about 36" long and I left them on the vines until they turned a tan color. I have them curing and will see how long they last and how they taste as a winter squash. I don't know if I will ever grow them again as they take up a lot of room in a small garden for the amount they produce.
|
I have 2 plants, and given the number of female buds I'm seeing (3 on one and 2 on the other which are getting big and look unlikely to drop and several more in the tiny stage which may or may not make it to blooming) and the size--I'm still kind of aghast at buds that have protofruit longer than my hand even before the flowers bloom!--I'm a bit concerned about having too much squash. However, whistech, it's true that the vines look like they're going to get absolutely gigantic (the one in my beds is going to be a real headache, as it's already completely swallowed up a large trellis), and it did take them a long time to start producing female buds. Also, maybe more buds will abort than I think. I don't really know how to gauge that probability. With my black futsu, I can tell pretty early when a female bud isn't going to make it to flowering, but I'm just not as familiar with the tromboncino varieties.
Thank you both for the feedback on size. 18" or 1-2' range sounds a bit more reasonable, but my first one is out there, blossom still hasn't fallen off (it has stopped opening and is obviously pollinated given its sudden increase in size but the bloom part isn't even really shriveling yet), and it's already about 16" long. Yesterday, it was under a foot long at the end of the day.
The neck is still only about an inch in diameter, though, so maybe I should wait until that gets thicker and go less by length than by girth? (Oh, my, gardening is not for the prudish). If I pick it now, It'll be like I'm eating a barely pollinated albeit hyooge bud.
An odd plant, but I love the beautiful, gigantic, variegated leaves. So far no signs of powdery mildew, even though black futsu is definitely affected by it. I look forward to tasting it!