I have never been a big hard squash fan. (love the summer varieties, though).
We’ve started eating spaghetti squash and liking it. Any pointers for a zone 6’er trying to grow it for the 1st time? I’ve got 3 hugelculture raised beds, but my light intensity isn’t great. Maintaining soil moisture isn’t an issue. A couple Tromboncino vines did very well 2 years ago, though they took over nearly every square inch of the back-yard.
Anyone have any recommendations on an easy productive spaghetti squash variety? Preferably something that doesn’t want to declare war on my kiwi vines (like Tromboncino did that year)
Scott,
I’ve grown spaghetti squash for the past two years - from seed I saved out of one I bought in the grocery store. They do cover some ground, but were quite productive. The kids and I like it… the wife, not so much.
Bought seeds of Zucchino Rampicante, a moschata type, to plant this year, to serve as a summer squash, harvested in its immature stage. Will still be planting regular zucchini (‘Caserta’) and yellow squash, but hoping for the ZR to stand up to the squash bugs & borers better than the C.pepo squash.
This is my first time planting Tromboncino squash. If used while they are small do you have to peal them? I’m hoping that they can just be cut up like regular summer squash.
I treated the younger fruits like summer squash and they were great. No pealing needed. But you have to keep an eye on them though because they grow super quickly.
I grew two varieties of spaghetti squash a couple years ago and had a great yield. However, EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. was bitter and disgusting. I read that can be caused by insufficient irrigation or temperature fluctuations. Since I have an irrigation system setup that just leaves the temperature, which I have little control over. All other squash that I have grown never had that same issue so I am taking a break from growing it.
I have a friend that grows many yellow crooksneck squash vines to harvest squash vine borers for sir-fry oriental dishes. She eats all kind of grubs and grasshoppers.
growing “oregon homestead” sweet meat again. super productive. basically a pumkin but with a thicker skin. it helps that I live an hour south of the breeder. only doing one because we still haven’t finished the output of the single vine last year
@stormrunner89 I would recommend High Mowing Seed or Johnny’s for Black Futsu seeds. Baker Creek also has them, but I’d consider them after the first two.
I’m planting my usual Costata Romanesca for my summer squash and New England Sugar Pie for pumpkins. I had decent success extending the life of my summer squash last year by continuing to cover the stem of the plant with soil as it grew, so it would put down new roots out ahead of the squash bugs.
I’m trying a few new things that caught my eye - Delicata, Rugosa Friulana and Gelber Englisher Custard.
My favorite—and perhaps the most disease- and pest-resistant (in my experience)—summer squash is “Lemon” (C. pepo); I grow it yearly.
I am still searching for a winter squash that balances disease- and pest-resistance with culinary and storage quality. I have discarded all C. maxima cultivars because I don’t wish to do battle with squash vine borers any longer.
“Waltham Butternut” (C. moschata) is good but is not always consistent, and has problems with downy mildew and other maladies in my area.
The ancient “Cherokee Tan Pumpkin” (C. moschata) is highly reliable, very resilient and productive, and it stores forever (I had some that were still edible after about a year at room temperature!), but definitely needs some selection to improve flesh quality, which in my experience was somewhat stringy; it’s a project I’d like to take on eventually. I may put out a couple of hills this year.
“Canada Crookneck” (C. moschata) is very delicious and seemed more disease-resistant than “Waltham Butternut” to me, but it stored poorly this past winter. May try again one day, but this year I plan on growing:
“South Anna Butternut” (a cross between “Waltham” and “Seminole Pumpkin”—an ancient variety similar to the “Cherokee Tan”—that’s supposed to have the quality of the butternut with the habit and disease-resistance of the ancient pumpkin); and
“White Cushaw” (C. argyrosperma/mixta). The big cushaws my great-grandparents grew in their cornfields were reliable and stored well. Might as well go back to basics. Also, makes one of the best pies!
EDIT: I get squash bugs, too, but spraying neem oil at least once every couple of weeks keeps their numbers negligible; also helps suppress cuke beetles, especially if begun early. If I keep up my oil spraying regimen I almost never see SB nymphs, only the occasional adult (which I squish—while holding my breath—yech!).
@JeremiahT I would definitely recommend Kikuza and African Winter Squash. I’m after the same qualities: disease resistance, excellent culinary (non-stringy, rich, sweet flesh), long storage (March/April at 60F). I also did not have consistent luck with butternuts, but AWS is a larger butternut type and is always fantastic. Unfortunately, I don’t see it listed anymore in SSE. I may need to grow it out and list.
The AWS are the butternut-like in the back (green and tan). They are longer when growing on a trellis as I do, more squat on the ground. Kikuza are in the front, left; tan and ribbed.
Thank you! This photo is from a few years back. Last year, I had about 2-3X the harvest. It was an amazing year. I plant in a very small area and trellis up onto concrete reinforcement wire. The squares are 1 square foot. By the end of the season, the AWS is running down some paths and sometimes up over bushes/fences, but I can get a lot of winter squash from a very small foot print.
Thanks for the winter squash tips! I grew Waltham butternut last year – good harvest and pretty good storage but I’m always looking for better keepers. Love the picture of your garden.
Another thing that helps for improving flavor and storage, is to keep them on the vine as long as possible. When you harvest, they should already be turning tan if possible. This can be challenging with AWS as it takes off in the late summer/fall and they may not be really ripe before first frost. I start all my squash inside a few weeks before I want to plant and it does make a large difference.
