This year my farm is beginning an adaptation project for maxima squash. We’ve been growing individual varieties of winter squash for the last eight seasons here in Corbett, OR. While we generally have decent harvests, there are some seasons where our squash has struggled, or even totally failed to yield any harvests. We suspect one of the main issues is the heavy symphylan populations that our farm deals with. Symphylans are a soil-dwelling arthropod that can cause severe crop damage in our region, as they eat the tender growth tips of many germinating plant roots. There are also very few known solutions for symphylan infestations, and larger commercial growers have been known to abandon infested fields. Our hope is that the landrace adaptation methods can help to develop our own genetically diverse variety that can coexist with the symphylans, and thrive in our specific context.
Beyond the main goal of developing symphylan resistance, we’d like to prioritize flavor, yield, visual appeal, moderate sized fruits, and overall performance in our cool and damp conditions. Through direct seeding, providing no supplemental fertility, and minimal weeding and watering, we are also selecting for traits that grow well under the simplest and least labor-intensive methods. Our hope is that over time we can share our seeds and contribute to a community supply of food crop seeds adapted to the Portland, OR region.
The plan is to direct seed 250 seeds in spring (around 5/15). We’ve selected seed from varieties that we like, varieties popular among our local farmer community and the greater Pacific Northwest, several awesome grex and landrace populations, and the mix provided by Going to Seed. We’ve included a range of colors, sizes, shapes, and types.
maxima grex - Going to Seed
2016 maxima Landrace - Joseph Lofthouse
2023 maxima Landrace, selected from Lofthouse - Kay Everts
Nanticoke - Experimental Farm Network
Pueblo Highlands Landrace - Experimental Farm Network
Desert Spirit Mix - Wild Mountain Seeds
To the Max maxima mix - Giving Ground Seeds
Maxima Mash Up - Wild Dreams Farm
Sweetie Winter mix - Saltwater Seeds
Butter Sweet - Peace Seedlings
Sweet Meat - Oregon Homestead - Adaptive Seeds
Lower Salmon River - Adaptive Seeds
Black Forest Kabocha - Uprising Seeds
Red Kuri - Territorial Seeds
Blue Kuri - Adaptive Seeds
Marine Grey Kabocha - Uprising Seeds
Sundream - Siskiyou Seeds
Gold Nugget - Territorial Seeds
Lakota - Great Lakes Staple Seeds
Burgess Buttercup - Urban Farmer
Kindred Orange Buttercup - Great Lakes Staple Seeds
Golden Hubbard - Urban Farmer Seeds
Uncle Dave’s Dakota Dessert - Siskiyou Seeds