I think if you have little kids, tromboncino is a must. This trellis is a great source of excitement and wonder for my kids and everyone who visits. We also all decided including extended family that it makes an excellent summer squash. Unfortunately, since I decided to let all these mature (bc how can you not?! So fun!!) plus a few more huge ones obscured in this picture by leaves, it has largely stopped making new fruit. Largest is 5 feet.
Cucuzza is a different story. That beautiful, soft vine has made what seems like 100 fruit that are not pollinating. The pretty white flowers are only open evening to morning, so whatever should be pollinating at night is slacking. Tons of fireflies out there and I would assume moths…I have been pruning it back a lot to make room for the Korean and Korean/brazilian squashes there finally starting to grow up and to help it focus. Needs to get its act together.
yeah i also noticed mine opens at night… i dont know i only had one fruit so far but all of my sqush are having pollenation problems. which is crazy i have a huge native plant bed and tons of pollenators, but for some reason squash not reall ygetting pollenated. i just go out at night and mornign with a paintbrush now, we’ll see. i havent seen female flowers on the speckled snake gourd (which i think is the same species as cucuzza?) in a few days since i started this so maybe we’re in a bit of a lag. they ripened quite quickly from pollenation.
Planted my replacement shishigatani in old hay bales today. I hope they are broken down, enough, naturally to grow these squash! I didn’t plan to use them, so they had not been prepped. I thought of it spur of the moment!
Mild taste, but it’s more firm/dense than zucchini and holds up better to cooking. I found the most flavor when roasted. I gave a bunch to my family for a recent vacation and they all called raving and wanting more. 2 weeks ago, my mom was rather upset I wouldn’t cut any of the current ones for her because was growing them out for the kids wonder tunnel.
Yeah but they do really good breeding and its direct. Spendy but to me worth it to support them, expensive for seeds but in the grand scheme still 5 dollars
I’m still seeing them, usually at least one a day. I’ve nailed a few of them, the ones that fly off always head in the same direction, so they might be originating from a neighbor’s garden. I’ve removed tons of eggs, spray spinosad/bt after rain, and ordered a trap to hang near the squash. Haven’t found any larvae in the squash yet.
I finally gave in and ran out at 6am and pollinated one Cucuzza I could reach two days ago. So frustrating that whatever nocturnal pollinator is needed is largely absent here. At least 30 have aborted and I counted 25 more this morning aborting. Had even half worked, I would be drowning in them. I could reach 3 more, so maybe this will be a 4 and done and I’ll rip it out to make room for the Korean/mini paulista’s growing. I have a low threshold for pulling plants this year!
Also, the stem looks horrid. Something is causing it to ooze and look like it’s rotting, but it’s still firm. Not a winner squash in my garden.
i am currently drowning in speckled snake gourd now that ive pollenated a few in a row. i have around 11 growing. i wonder why theyre not really pollenating though.
My pattypan also havent put out female flowers in awhile. about a week. anyone know what influences the male vs female flowers? temperature?
I’m in the opposite boat with my summer squash, haven’t had a male flower in what feels like weeks. A week or two ago I planted a leftover seedling and it’s been sizing up and forming heaps of male flowers so hopefully that will address, though it’s a bit away and on the other side of the fence
Meanwhile my pumpkin patch is 100% male flowers, can I use those to hand pollinate even if they’re C. maxima?
@eme and @snarfing here in Arlington, whenever I’ve grown bottle gourds like what you’re growing I always have to hand pollinate in the early season. Later on whatever pollinates them seems to be around in enough numbers to keep them pollnated. I suspect there aren’t as many night blooming things that need pollination around here so it just takes a while. I’m actually happy with hand pollinating since it keeps the flow of gourds to a reasonable level.
By the end of the season I’m giving away the extras frequently through my local FB buy nothing group. There are some types of bottle gourds available in local Asian markets, but I don’t usually see the longer types, so there is always a lot of interest if it is someones preferred type.
well i gave all the summer squash stems their regular bath in Bt, hopefully that keeps the borers off for a while. i absolutely drench the stems once in a while on those.
starting the next round now too. having a table sale this Sunday and i planted extra to sell or give away (families in a hoopty get something for free always)
SVB LOVED this acorn squash. I use a toothpick when it’s just tiny holes, but then I often don’t have one on hand and I use whatever pokey thing I can find (often a yard staple in this location), hence the extra devastated look. Certainly looks better if you just slice open the vine, but they live regardless. Last year I’m doing this, for real this time.
I ended up with 2 acorn squash, a delicata (not thrilled about this one that was mislabeled seeds), 1 jack-o’-lantern and 5 or so volunteers that are all susceptible, but all the damage is here. Eliminated a bunch of eggs from 2 others.
Anyone else growing or have grown mini paulista or the crosses with it from commonwealth? Wondering what I planted.
well the pattypan is definately not resistant to SVB, one is dead and the other im doing surgery on. the ones under the net seem to be ok so i guess thats a solution. i may grow it again just because i like the taste a lot. but next year im trying that centercut tromboccino instead of the snake gourd, though i like the snake gourd enough and it is quite productive with a little hand pollenation. just looking for more nutty flavor which it supposedly has
First hand pollinated Cucuzza grew massive very fast before I finally looked up when to pick it. Internet claims 12-18” for tender. This is 39”. Whoops. Made a fun prop for kid photos. Ate a little slice and seems totally fine still. mild, similar to tromboncino, maybe a bit crisper and hint of more flavor. Will try it zoodled, sautéed and roasted since there’s enough!
Despite the SVB the squash are still doing well. I have to check them daily, remove eggs and kill grubs that have gotten into the vines. I’ve gotten a few delicious round summer squash and have some pumpkins forming. Some of the squash are encroaching the melons, which are taking longer to get going.
