2025 Grow Reports - C. moschata squash

@witchy Lovely collection of moschata! Thank you for sharing, and reminding us that these can be eaten when immature, like zucchini. Nothing like a versatile crop!

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Twenty or so harvested now inside with the citrus, another six outside that i’ll harvest tomorrow. Some plants did not survive the squash vine borers and interestingly enough they were the seminole pumpkin looking ones. Those were the first I heard were resistant to squash vine borers and it’s interesting that those fared the worst. Some fruits rotted in our hot wet climate growing on the grass. I didn’t seed save from those. None so far have frass like last year’s insect ridden maximas, so I’m hopeful that some will store well. I’m so thrilled that I read about landrace gardening this past winter and gave it a go. The grex and landrace cucumbers that I grew this year were also a huge success.

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I’ve got 2 nearly ripe on the vine and one more very green squash still going. We’ve started to cool off, but no freezing temps in the next 15 days forecasted. These things grow great here! I hope to get some seeds off to share soon, I just gotta get myself organized.

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@KadenceLunemann @MamaRachael I know a lot of plants have behaviors to prevent self pollination, since that’s inbreeding and can be detrimental. Some plants have a mechanism to recognize genetically similar pollen and reject it, and some just have their male and female flowers bloom at different times. Maybe this is what the squash is doing?

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I wonder how that works if you’ve got multiple plants, but for all the male flower comes out first? Plant in a staggered way? I had one very big plant only and still got squash off it, nearly 100 lbs, I think.

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Back in September my moschata vines were looking pretty worn from the long summer. I harvested all the fruits and mowed over them. With the cooler weather, they sprang back to life and started pumping out fruit again. We got a light frost in early November, which killed all the leaves, but left the vines and fruits intact. They’ve since regrown some leaves and the fruits are continuing to mature. Another light frost is coming tonight. I think I’ll leave the fruits out and let them continue to mature on the vine. Two more weeks and they should be good. Fingers crossed.

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I’ve started eating through the squash and this was of the earliest to ripen in August. This was the first time i could smell how sweet a squash was before even tasting it. After baking for our Thanksgiving pie, there was so much caramelized sugar and syrup in the pan I could have made little candies with it :joy:. These are my second generation since I started my mixed moschata landrace.

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Hello, all. GTS is currently packaging your donations and updating the Seed Share catalog for 2026. We would like to use some of your posted photos for our moschata mix, especially if they represent seeds that you sent in for the 2026 mix. If you agree, please dm me to let me know. Thanks!

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I roasted a few more, pureed the flesh and made “pumpkin bread” for a potluck meal. It’s a hit! As we were packing up, half of what was left was claimed by others as they wanted some to take home. I think the bread made from these butternut squash are soooo much better than the bread made with canned pumpkin. I’m sad I didn’t get seeds sent back, but I’m planning to plant again this spring with the seed from this crop.

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