delicata squash questions

[tjg911]

i gave up trying to grow any winter squash other than butternut due to squash vine borers. i can grow zucchini and yellow squash and avoid svb but that's done by planting out plants on the 4th of july which is after their egg laying cycle. but these summer squash have a very short dtm and this works fine. they never are damaged by the svb but this would never work for squash that has a dtm of 80 to 110 days.

i want to try something new next year and i always heard how good delicata and sweet dumpling are. how long are the delicata vines? i am sure they are hollow but do squash vine borers attack them like other winter squash? i ask cuz all the winter squashes i have grown have large diameter vines because the squashes are large (my guess) so i hope the vines are too small in diameter and the svb would ignore them. fat chance.

are there bush varitites? if they grow on a bush there's no hollow vine for the svb to get into.

[Wi-sunflower]

I've grown the regular Delicata for a long time. The vines can be quite long. While they are smaller than some, I don't think they would be small enough to hinder the SVBs. But there is a semi- bush variety that I believe Johnney's carries. It doesn't produce as well so that's why I don't grow it.

The regular Delicata are a fairly long season too. They didn't mature well for me this year of the cool summer. But then neither did a lot of varieties.

I haven't grown the plain Sweet Dumpling, but I do grow Festival which is a sweet Dumpling type. Festival is a semi bush that matures rather early for me and is great tasting. It doesn't spread out til rather late so maybe it would work for you.

Carol

[tjg911]

it never occurred to me until after i posted this that the trick that works against the svb for zucchini and yellow squash may work for other types of winter squash.

while it's way too late to plant out small winter squash plants on the 4th of july, they aren't that large/long on that date if planted out on memorial day. it may be possible to coil the vine around the plant and cover it with floating row cover or just cover the base. i have an 8' wide roll with probably 75' left on the roll. if i kept the svb from getting at the base of the plant by 7/4 i'm home free as the egg laying is done by then. the only problem is heat. these are ultra light weight frc but even that in 85-95 degree heat may cook the plants.

i wonder?

[Tormato]

tjg911,

One option is row covers, which I hear works, but I've never bothered with.

Another option is aluminum foil around the base of the plant, which works for me.

A third option is borer resistant varieties, like Scarchuk's Supreme, developed by Dr. Scarchuk, at UConn.
I think I still have some seed.

Gary

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by Tormato

tjg911,

One option is row covers, which I hear works, but I've never bothered with.

Another option is aluminum foil around the base of the plant, which works for me.

A third option is borer resistant varieties, like Scarchuk's Supreme, developed by Dr. Scarchuk, at UConn.
I think I still have some seed.

Gary

what is Scarchuk's Supreme? is it a type of delicatia? the winter squashes with solid vines are safe to grow, those are the moschetta's (not sure if i spelled that correct but it looks right).

[Worth1]

I hate this nasty varmit worse that any other one in the garden, I posted a few pics so folks can know what they look like.

[tjg911]

that's the moth. i've read that most moths come out only at night, perhaps the svb moth is a day time moth. can't say i ever saw one other than dead in the garden.

[Tormato]

tjg911,

Scarchuk's Supreme is an acorn type (pepo).

A pic of my favorite moschata can be found here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...plesSquash.jpg

Gary

[tjg911]

that's one big squash! is it sweet or is it just a pie squash that you dress up with spices?

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by tjg911

that's one big squash! is it sweet or is it just a pie squash that you dress up with spices?

I'd compare it to Butternut, which means I dress it up just a bit (maybe a little butter, cinnamon or maple syrup). Delicata is the only squash that goes au naturale, for me.

Long of Naples needs a very long growing season, somewhere around 140 days, I think. I start it about a month early indoors, before transplanting outside.

Gary

[tjg911]

140 days! i'm surprised you can grow it in new england. waltham butternut at 100 days is a pretty long season squash.

[Worth1]

I gave up growing butternut squash due to the squash vine borer.
Maybe I will try the row cover some day.

Worth

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I gave up growing butternut squash due to the squash vine borer.
Maybe I will try the row cover some day.

Worth

why? butternut is immune to the svb because it has solid vines which is why i grow it vs other ws. you must mean a different ws that has hollow vines.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Tormato

tjg911,

Scarchuk's Supreme is an acorn type (pepo).

A pic of my favorite moschata can be found here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...plesSquash.jpg

Gary

Sweet Dumpling is just a creative name for yet another differently shaped Delicata, same stripes, etc., but internally the same as the several Delicata's out there, just much smaller and squatter.

And yes Glenn at Sandhill calls the Scarchuka one a Delicata type and yes Delicatas are C. pepos.

And yes I love Delicatas but they aren't a long storage types as most winter varieties are.

If you go to Johnny's Selected seeds you'll see the same re Delicatas being C. pepo and as I recall there's a bush Delicata offered by them as well as the standard ones.

Tom, I don't live that far from you and not once have I ever had SVBers, not once, and when I gardened at the old family farm near Albany I can't tell you how many squash varieties I used to grow. Strange.

[Wi-sunflower]

Sweet Dumpling is just a creative name for yet another differently shaped Delicata, same stripes, etc., but internally the same as the several Delicata's out there, just much smaller and squatter.

That is what I always thought and tell customers.

I've been growing Delicatas since before they became popular, like over 25 years. And long before there was a squash named "sweet dumpling". We always got a few of the short round squash out of the plantings. I figured that someone just kept selecting for the acorn shape till they had something stable.

The thing about what I now call the "sweet dumpling" class is that while they look like an acorn, they have the smoothness and sweetness of the Delicata and are never stringy or watery like an acorn can be. I call it a "class" because there are quite a few varieties now that are basically the same thing. The Sweet Dumpling, Carnival, Festival and others. Personally I've grown the Festival for years and really love it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As far as the SVBs, I grow at least 5 acres of about 10+ winter squash varieties most years and where I am they are never much if any problem. The striped and spotted Cucumber beetle tho is another problem. We've lost hundreds of feet of rows to those buggers. If more than just a couple get on a young just germinated plant they can eat the plant to death. It's a battle most years.

Carol