favorite winter squash?

[tjg911]

thanks for the replies. i am looking for squash that are 2-6 pound range. my biggest waltham butternuts are about 7-8 pounds and they make a lot of squash. a 20 pound squash once cut i suspect would not keep that well besides how do you refrigerate such huge squash once cut? i don't bake hardly ever, tho i will with the delicata, as peeling a scalloped squash is pretty hard. i usually steam or saute butternut. i love butterCUP but being a hollow stemmed variety i have had no luck growing them, i used to buy them in the store. excellent dry sweet flesh!

i think covering young plants with frc will be a total success as it'll keep the SVB from being able to lay eggs at the base of the plants. as i said, here the SVB moths are dead by july 4th and then i can uncover the plants and let them spread. i have a 100' roll of FRC from JSS so i guess i should start to use it. i find FRC to be a total pita to use so i seldom use them.

i just started my yellow squash seeds yesterday and will put them out on july 4th.

sweet meat always sounded good but i refrained. i tried blue ballet and red kuri but they were dead by mid july! gave away all those seeds.

i have 5 or 6 quarts of cooked butternut squash from the 2008 season frozen, i never got around to eating it prior to the 2009 harvest. i just ate 1 quart the other day and it was good especially as i have not had any for several weeks.

tom

[OmahaJB]

Speaking of the squash vine borer, does it normally attack the top of the vine mainly? My Musquee de Provence today has about a 5 inch area down by the base of the vine that has been eaten away, or something. The bottom is ok, but the top is completely gone. I did see quite a few red ants running around about a foot or less away, but I don't know if they would eat that. My Amish Pie close by wasn't touched, at least not yet.

[tjg911]

svb lay eggs at the base of the plant. whn they hatch they bore into the stem and tunnel upwards. they do not harm the tops of the plant.

[OmahaJB]

That must be what's happening, Tom. I was over there today and the stem is getting eaten away ever higher up. I couldn't see anything inside so they must be buried in there pretty good.

Any advice at this point? Can I poison them with sevin dust or something else? Unless I'm mistaken, Amish Pie is also a hollow type so they could end up there soon as well. Up to now they haven't bothered it. Would it be best just to pull up the Musquee de Provence? I hate to do that but I'd hate losing both of my varieties even more.

Thanks for the shared knowledge, Jeff

[tjg911]

being organic i would not use any pesticide other than bt. spreading sevin now probably won't work as the cat is up in the plant but i don't know as i don't use it. the procedure is to find the frass or hole so you know where the cat is, use a sharp knife and slit the stem open and kill it. pile soil around the stem and the cut and it'll reroot and be ok.

you can inject bt into the place where the cat is but i never did that. be sure you use the bt that is NOT for potatoes but the common bt is the one NOT for potatoes. bt is also called dipel.

the best thing to do is to either keep the plant covered with frc until the svb has laid it's eggs or plant out after the svb has laid it's eggs. i do the later (regardless of the phase of the moon!).

if your plants are long dtm winter squashes late planting will not be a good idea, 90+ dtm means plant asap! zucchini and yellow squash grow very fast and love the heat of summer so planting out on 7/4 vs memorial day weekend (the standard here) just means you'll wait an extra 4-5 weeks for squash.

[OmahaJB]

Thanks Tom. Either Monday or Tuesday I'll be visiting the garden so will try to destroy the pest. Someone had a good idea in the Pest forum about using a sewing needle and poking small holes in the stem to try killing the vine borer. Will either try that or simply slice the stem as you indicated, then adding soil to bury the stem. Will see how the plant looks when I get there.

Amish Pie is looking great so happy with that one at least!

[tjg911]

yeah i saw that post! clever, i think that is probably the easiest method assuming you know for sure what part of the plant the larva is. look for sawdust or frass at the base and see where that goes. you might want to use a thimble to push the needle. a 3" finishing nail would work too and may be easier to push and pull out as needles are tiny in diameter even long ones. good luck.

[montanamato]

I love and have grown many, many varieties of squash...some of my favs have been:

Winter Luxury Pie- fair storage, but I puree and freeze mine long before it can spoil...If you make baked goods with squash this is tops...

Potimarron- Good for any use and a small size

Marina di chioggia- very good if allowed to store for a few months, can get large and the vines spread like crazy

Orange Banana- This is from Sand Hill and a productive, bush variety that is early and stores well...Not as large as regular Banana squash

Bush buttercup- I like it as well as the old vining type and can grow more of others if I grow some bush varieties...

Also like Blue Kuri , Cinderella and Montana Jack...

If the squash is string, I simply put it in the food processor...

We moved this year and I was not able to get a main garden in, but I am anxious to grow St. Petersburg and Long Pie next year...

Jeanne

[OmahaJB]

Jeanne,

Someone sent me Winter Luxury Pie seeds last year, and I strongly considered starting some but didn't. Now wishing I had after reading your comments. Another 'next year' variety if I'm able to have a garden.

Hope you were able to stay in Montana. Beautiful state. I was in Helena for the last four months of 2003. Actually left a day earlier than I had planned on due to an approaching blizzard that was supposed to drop 2-3' snow. I pretty much drove through the leading edge of that system at night at least halfway to Billings. Finally pulled to the side of the road, turned off my lights to rest a bit and saw nothing but a billion stars in the sky. Made me sad to be leaving the state, not that I wasn't already. Maybe one of these days I'll get a vacation!

Jeff

[montanamato]

Jeff .... We only moved 35 miles east, just about 50 yards from the Missouri River...Learning to live w/o grasshoppers, but gaining a new appreciation for black clouds of mosquitos........I hope to get a large garden in next spring...For this year I have a few potted peppers and the farmers markets...

Jeanne

[OmahaJB]

Fifty yards from the Missouri river sounds close, but obviously you must know it doesn't flood there. Sounds beautiful though. Forget where I was driving that I passed the river, think I was taking a drive to Great Falls or maybe a ghost town, and as I drove next to the river it looked so darned clean and fresh compared to any other I had ever seen. I wanted to pull off to the side of the road and walk down by it, but figured I'd be on someone's property and face a shotgun or worse yet a bear...Oh my!

Enjoy your new home...

[Direct Sunlight]

Here no squash is really immune to the SVB. They attacked my butternut squash late in the season two years ago, decimating the vines. Some of the caterpillars also bored into the fruit, ruining it or decreasing yield. We got a bunch before they did their dirty work though; I agree that the hard stems at least slow them down.

I like the butternut squash for general recipes or as a side with dinner. Cushaw is my favorite for pies due to its light texture.

[Tormato]

For flavor, I like Buttercup and Delicata.

For production, Long of Naples. Just one thirty pounder is all I can handle.

Jeff,

It was probably me who sent you the Winter Luxury Pie. I put a pine board under each squash, because they can rot on the vine when the soil is wet.

Gary

[carolyn137]

As I was sitting here at the computer the name of another squash that I love came to mind.

So in addition to what I posted earlier in this thread which was:

Any Buttercup
Any Kabocha
Any Delicata ( not long keeping for me)

I'd liike to add Kikuza, a Japanese heirloom.

About the only place to get seeds for it many years ago was Nichols Garden Seeds on the West Coast, and I think one of the oriental sites, maybe Evergreen Enterprises, but now I see Baker Creek and others offer it as well.

Dense, dry sweet flesh with wonderful consistency that I absolutely love and a great keeper as well.

[OmahaJB]

Originally Posted by Tormato

For flavor, I like Buttercup and Delicata.

For production, Long of Naples. Just one thirty pounder is all I can handle.

Jeff,

It was probably me who sent you the Winter Luxury Pie. I put a pine board under each squash, because they can rot on the vine when the soil is wet.

Gary

Believe you are correct Gary. Planning on giving Winter Luxury Pie a try next year. May end up renting or buying a rototiller next year to make more space for things like that. Would like to grown squash and melons successfully in the future. Something I've failed to do so far. Thanks for the tip.

Jeff