I get tired of my summer squash and zucchini dying out from vine borers. I’ve never grown the Tromboncino and it is supposed to be able to grow on after vine borer infestations. Looks simple enough to grow on a trellis and pick early for somewhat summer squash taste. Has anyone tried this one for summer squash and what is your opinion? All your comments are welcome.
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I’d like to try it, but I’m the only squash-eater in the house as it is, so even the two weeks my zucchinis are alive and producing, I can’t eat them all. It’s almost a good thing they don’t last all summer, because everybody in my house is so damn picky!
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I have, they are fine for all uses.
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That is butternut squash variety. It has a solid stem and is close to immune to the squash vine borer. You can get butternut seeds anywhere including your grocery store where they are sold inside the squash itself. Check the variety of butternut they are selling at daves
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Tromboncino has a very long neck and is more delicate than other moschatas for use as a summer squash.
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I grew it last summer for the first time - it worked great both as summer and winter squash. Seems to be resistant to borers and bacterial wilt. It stores well - still eating it
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I ordered these seed off amazon and they came to me in today’s mail. They are fairly expensive but if I like the taste and performance I’ll save some seed for next year.
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We’ve grown these for 5 years with great success. We face serious squash vine borer pressure and have yet to lose a Tromboncino plant to borers (all other summer squash plants are killed every year without exception). They’re quite productive and taste like a cross between a yellow squash and a zucchini. Not my favorite squash but not bad.
Another variety that has done well for us prior to borer infestation is Ronde de Nice. It will eventually succumb to the borers but was very productive - 10-12 lbs per plant with only 6-7 hours of sunlight. We’re planning to grow several more plants this year. Really like the taste as well, kind of like a mild zucchini.
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I like the taste of both.
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I grew it in the past and was very excited about it. I used it just for summer squash. It was fun to have summer squash neck with no seeds. The texture isn’t quite as nice as pattypan for instance, for sautéing and such. But they were easier to grow and deal with.
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Adding my praise to the chorus. We grew Tromboncino this past summer. Nice, firm little zuchetta when picked young: it seemed to perfectly supply us whenever a traditional variety was succumbing to borers.
We’ve mostly used it as a winter squash. We still have a couple left, but many more were turned into squash gnocchi, squash/spinach lasagna, and curried soup. Just a note that when roasting it’s a bit more watery than traditional butternut, so we simply squeezed out some moisture or cooked the pulp down a bit before using as we would a more firm winter squash.
Great, subtle flavor. Definitely growing again this year.
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I’ve used it. Exceedingly productive - only plant one. I don’t think it has the texture and flavor of a butternut, but it makes a great summer squash - not seedy like a zuke. Best picked just before flowering.
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Interesting. I’ll give it a try. How big are they when picked before flowering?
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They can get to be over a foot long before flowering. Very tender then. Minimal seeds.
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I would say - no seeds, if you just cut the head.
Before or right after bloom can be used raw in salad.
In younger stage (under 2’’ diameter) great for canning
In any stage can be fried, baked, and used in sauté.
They ignore SB. They grow and produce till frost. Fruit can be arm thick or even thicker and 3’ long, if grows strait(when grown vertically). The seeds are in the head that is about 1/8 -1/10 of length, can be just thrown away when cooking. Stores in garage till next summer.
I found only one disadvantage: their fresh juice that drops from the cut becomes a hard super glue when dried, so you need to be careful not to ruin your countertops. Sticks to the hands too, gloves recommended. Somehow, in salad it doesn’t bother me at all.
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Does anyone know if they are true to seed? Do you save seeds for next year? I probably won’t be growing any other squashes so no cross-polination concerns.
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Squash are known to be quite “promiscuous” so if there are other squash being grown nearby (1/4 mile or maybe even further) you can’t be sure they’ll be true. If you’ve ever seen bees in squash blossoms you know they get pretty covered in pollen, so it is easy for them to transport it. You can risk it, but with large vining plants when you are only growing one or a few, it is hard for me to risk all that space going to something that isn’t what I planned.
If you want to you can fairly easily isolate the flowers with little tule bags (like some of us use for figs and some other fruit). Just remember to isolate both the male and female flowers, not just the female, since the males can easily get pollen from other places mixed in. Then just hand pollinate, rebag the female flower until it drops off and you should be good. Of course you have to keep track of which one is for seed.
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I grew them a number of years back and they are equivalent to a basic store zucchini. They don’t have the incredible flavor that my Romanesco or Coosa squash have, so I stopped growing them. If you are growing regular hybrid zucchini, there isn’t much of a taste difference from small Tromboncino. They do trellis very well and the Squash Vine Borers leave them completely alone. My SVB solution has been to plant a second, late crop of zucchini, after I harvest the garlic. I’m still perfecting the timing, but it has worked for two years.
I save seed from my African Winter Squash using the tule bag method that Zendog describes. You could easily do the same for the Tromboncino. They are not a hybrid. I bag likely flowers in the late afternoon/evening and try to hand pollinate early the next morning (remember to re-bag!). I tie a piece of string around the stalks of the ones I am saving for seed.
If you are interested in SVB resistant winter squash, C. moschata varieties are completely resistant in my garden. My personal favorites are Kikuza and African Winter Squash (similar to a large butternut, but extremely hardy, productive, and tasty; store for a very long time at good quality).
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I finally grew some, and I cannot stop trumpeting praise for these Tromboncinos. They have gotten virtually no care, and are incredibly productive on very mediocre soil.
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So wait. The unpollinated ovule gets a foot long before the flower even opens??
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