This is the place to share your observations, photos, questions and tips for developing your C. moschata landrace.
Also, I’ve purchased the following seeds from Common Wealth Seed Growers and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange this year. If you would like to add these genetics to your C. moschata landrace project, pm me with your address and the varieties you would like to try. Available until they are gone. Thanks for being part of this community!
South Anna Butternut (Common Wealth)
Chinese Tropical Pumpkin (Common Wealth)
Xiye Butternut (Common Wealth)
Magic Cushaw (Southern Exposure)
Good growing,
DebbieA
moschata/maxima squash steward
Zone 7b Knoxville, TN, extremely wet May and June so far. I have moschatas going in “pumpkin piles” adjacent to and in the middle of my young food forest. My food forest is overrun with bermuda so my main planting tactic is to put wet cardboard down on top of the bermuda, pile on a big pile of compost, put wood chips around the edge of the pile. I had to re-seed the moschata piles and cover them with netting because squirrels or bunnies or birds were digging up the seeds and eating them. But now we’re off and going with tons of germination. I have three giant mounds and one giant grow bag with moschatas. Last year my maximas were decimated by squash vine borers and squash bugs (such a fun pest combo) so I’m excited to mix up a bunch of genetics. I prefer round or oblong shapes to necked squash so I tried to pick varietals that are pumpkin-y but diverse. I have GTS moschatas and 14 (!) other moschata varietals and grexes that are not butternut. I’m hoping the moschatas help shade out the bermuda a little to help me transition away from lawn grasses that keep growing into my food forest. And I hope they cross and become awesome despite the squash vine borers and squash bugs. I want a diverse store of squash that keeps all fall and most of the winter. I freaking love cooking and eating squash.
I’ve got these plants taking over! Woot! And 3 little butternut squashes, or so they look to me. One had ‘blossom end rot’ or was eaten, and the chickens enjoyed that one, but 2 others are growing. One looks like it will be ready to pick soon, and the other is growing nice and big.
@witchy Bermuda is so aggressive! I’ve found I need several layers of cardboard and then its a fight to beat it off. Of course Bermuda grass is better than Johnson grass or bare dirt, so I don’t want to get rid of it totally, and it grows so well here in central Texas. But it is a fight to keep it out of garden beds.
I harvested one small butternut squash yesterday. I’ve found 3 others that are bigger and growing nicely. Sadly, our summer still hasn’t really warmed up! Can you believe that, here in Central Texas? Yes, we’ve hit the 90s, but not yet gotten any triple digits, and that is keeping so many things growing slowly. Usually, things stall out in July and August, and start back up in Sept. But not this year. We aren’t flooding here in Waco, but we got 4 or so inches July 4 weekend, and another nearly 2 inches this weekend.
I can let the butternut cure in my pantry, right? We are leaving to visit family and do some backpacking, and I read that these do fine in storage with some curing..
And I’ve decided I’ve got to now put in the effort to learn how to pronounce all these different classes (genus?) of squash. And learn what squash go in what grouping, this is far more complicated than I ever imagined!
@MamaRachael Hope your butternut did well in your pantry. I just cut my last 2024 moschata today. It was still fairly heavy at 3.75 lb and has a good, slightly savory flavor. It will go in a curry for dinner tonight. This was a pear-shaped fruit with a large seed cavity. The vine did well in my dryish morning sun/afternoon shade location. It was most likely a GTS contribution, so thank you to whomever sent this in!
We planted a mix of moschata winter squash seed into a garden that we are using at UF’s Compost Cooperative and Gardens, zone 9A. A lot of the seeds sprouted and didn’t have any problems germinating.
They were looking really healthy but either died from drought or the critters eating them. Next time, we will be sure to give them a little bit more TLC, or maybe start them in seed trays and put them out as transplants.
The moschata varieties that were selected and planted in April were:
The F1 growouts from our Seminole Pumpkin mix, which consisted of 9x strains, mostly from Florida. (We even put out some seed from our favorite Seminole Pumpkin that was the largest in size, had a good orange color, and taste great in soups.)
Possible Arjuna F2 winter Squash seeds that we collected from many pumpkins from our favorite roadside vender from Homestead, FL, and the grocery store Hitchcock’s in Alachua, FL. (This winter Squash has the best flavor, grows large in size, has vibrant flesh that temporarily stains skin and stains clothing.)
These two were selected to serve as the backbone of the start of our moschata landrace project for Gainesville, FL.
Our schedule (with my husband going to with our one vehicle and me staying at the apartment with our two young children) only allows us to visit the garden once a week on the weekends.
This project will continue on in Fall or Spring of next year.
My squash all look like those, but a few have the long necks. I harvested 12, I think, squash, ranging from less than 1 lb up to 7 lbs. There is at least one more on the vine. I’m still figuring out where to plant what, and we need the space where the vine fill for hosting students in just over a week, and with all the rain, it was major over grown! So, I harvested all I could, and the vines have been mowed back. But I’ve got a plan for next year where I can plant even more! Could you share a recipe, @DebbieA , of the curry? A friend gave me seeds for Kubota pumpkins (I think that’s right), but they didn’t grow for me. Sad since we live on a block apart, but such is nature, right? I was looking forward to soup with them! Oh, well. My family might be happy I’m not making them try even more new foods….
@MamaRachael I just saw your request for a curry recipe. I don’t really have a recipe, but this one is close to what I do:
I don’t always use all the spices mentioned in this recipe. If I’m in a hurry, it’s just onion, garlic, chili pepper and curry powder, maybe a slice of ginger. Like any stew, the ingredients are flexible depending on what you have. Have fun!
Hey, all! Thanks for sharing your photos and experiences. I’m sad to report that I won’t have a harvest of moschata this year. The vines look great and have male flowers. But there were no female flowers until this week and they seem quite small. They probably won’t have enough time to mature. I planted them in a bed that had a thick layer of autumn leaves over the winter. Any ideas why this is happening?
@DebbieA I always see male flowers long before female flowers. I wonder why, too.
I made butternut squash bread today, and its yummy. Instructions said to grate it fine, and it was fun to see them turn my hands orange. And I did taste the 3 I grated, and all were nice, slightly sweet and not bitter at all. I didn’t roast them to make a puree, but used them fresh in the bread. Its pretty good! Though I’m wondering if roasting it brings out some flavor, as the pumpkin bread is more pumpkiny, but then, that I’ve always roasted and pureed. I might try the roast and puree with the BNS and see how that bread turns out.
I’m trying to decide if I’m brave enough to try a stew/ curry with the BNS, my family peeps aren’t the bravest when it comes to trying new things.
I think it is normal for the male flowers to show up first. I don’t know why. Maybe the plant wants to attract bees before it puts in the energy to make the female flowers? My vines should have started making female flowers back in July, but there’s just nothing this year.
Getting the family to try new food can be a challenge. I find it helps to make a small side dish with the new food so everyone can try it without it being the main course. It’s more work for the cook, but nice if it ends up being a new meal option.
It’s pretty annoying to have all male flowers - for forever! - before any female flowers! My theory is that male flowers are less energy intensive and you can put out lots of pollen to spread your genes. While that’s happening it buys time to build up, more roots, more resources, more reach, more vine to collect energy. Then it’s safer/more likely to successfully reproduce fruits.
Yes! Very possible. In the article it says, “If squash were planted later in the season and exposed to primarily hotter temperatures, there will be a bias for production of male flowers. This is particularly true when nights are above 70 degrees F and days are above 90 F. “
This spring I had to make an unexpected trip just at the time I should have been planting squash. I didn’t get seeds into the ground until about 3 weeks later. The whole summer has been consistently in the 90’s with occasional days over 100 F. It’s only now that the temps are in the 80’s.
Thanks for pointing out the article. I used to think that starting later when the temps are warmer would be an advantage, but I guess I need to readjust my thinking.
Last year’s mother of my Moschata landrace looked like the ones you have in your bottom picture. Here are this year’s offspring of that one mother (it is hard to tell from the pics, but there is a range not only of shape, but size as well):
Increases chances of having male and female flowers in overlapping windows, and also could promote more cross pollination between different plants/varieties.
@MaartenFoubert The diversity of shapes and size is wonderful. Let us know if there is diversity in flavor as well.
@JinTX Thanks for mentioning succession planting. That’s a good point about promoting more cross-pollination between plants. I’ve gotten into the habit of planting more seed if the snails eat some of the first seedlings, leaving a gap in the bed. It can also be a way of having some plants that escape insect attack by germinating earlier or later than the infestation. There are a lot of things to like about succession planting.
