I remember last year, when we were collecting seeds for the first grexes, several people mentioned having interspecies hybrid squashes they were working with.
It seems to me interspecies hybrid squashes may be a great seed grex!
Who’s interested?
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I’m intending to make a cross between Tetsukabuto and Lodi. Both are interspecies hybrids between Maxima and Moschata.
Tetsukabuto is F1 hybrid available from Pinetree Garden Seeds.
Lodi was produced by embryo rescue by Michael Mazourek, and is sold by Row 7 Seeds. (They also sell Koginut, a sister line.)
I will also search for seeds from my old Maxima/Moschata crosses.
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I’m very interested in crosses between Maxima and Moschata (and Mixta if anyone’s working with that.) I’m very interested in @Joseph_Lofthouse’s idea above; I’m going to be growing out seeds I harvested from a Tetsukabuto if I can find enough growing room.
I wouldn’t be interested in crosses with Pepo (if anyone is trying to do that), for the same reason I’m wary of reckless Pepo mixes. I like the fact that I can grow any Maxima or Moschata squash and not have to worry about what the neighbors are doing or whether the squirrels planted something weird in the compost pile. But for Pepos, there are just so many ornamental pumpkins, minimally edible summer squash, and inedible gourds around.
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I have seeds I saved from a honeynut squash, which the Internet says it a moschata / maxima hybrid. I’m not sure if that’s true because it had loads of seeds and looked and tasted just like a moschata, but if so, it was a great squash – more flavor than Waltham Butternut, with darker orange flesh.
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The vast majority of pepo decorative gourds that I’ve grown were not poisonous. And my neighbors rarely grow them.
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Yeah, nobody in my neighborhood grows ornamental pepos, either. Everyone in my neighborhood with a garden grows zucchini. 
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I am interested in maxima/Moschata. I had researched this prior and came to the conclusion it’s a dead end after the first generation of seed. If that is wrong, I would lean heavy in this direction moving forward.
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I’m pretty sure I’ve heard about people continuing past the first generation, but it required crossing them into one species or the other; you couldn’t just continue to select from the F2 on. I could be wrong, as you’ve likely researched this more than I have.
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The F1 generation of Tetsukabuto doesn’t produce viable male flowers. So pollen has to come from elsewhere. Later generations segregate for normal fertility.
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Can you successfully cross it into either species, or is it better at crossing with one than the other?
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I grew Tetsukabuto in a mixed species patch
Based on phenotype of the F2, I guess that Maxima pollinates it more reliably than moschata.
Though pepo might also work. A few of the leaves resemble pepo leaves. And the dramatic stripes on the fruits? Did they come from Acorn/Delicata?
I selected for the thin hard vines and peduncle of moschata, and the wonderful taste of maxima. This allowed people with vine borers to grow a great flavored squash.
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I grew Tetsakabuto last year. Most of the seeds weren’t pollinated (they were grown next to maximas) but I ended up with 30ish seeds. I planted them a couple weeks weeks ago and got bad germination, only 2 are growing! Maximas on either side are doing fine. Just a data point. Curious to see them grow up.
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Thank you for that information, Joseph.
I just did some more research on this. Apparently the University of New Hampshire did some work on interspecies hybrids in squash and made some neat discoveries. I’ve pasted the link to the research and the sections I felt most useful.
“We have identified one bush breeding line of C. maxima, NH65, that is highly compatible in crosses with two processing varieties of C. moschata, Dickinson Field (DF) and Long Island Cheese (LIC).”
“One hybrid in particular, a cross of NH65, a bush Golden Delicious strain, to SC936, a Dickinson Field strain of C. moschata provided by Rupp Seeds, has performed exceptionally well.”
As a result of plant breeding at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) during the past 40 years, several bush strains of processing [Golden Delicious (GD) type] and fresh market kabocha squash have been developed which are useful for producing productive semi-bush F1 hybrids.”
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Then mention Dickenson Field strain caught my attention, because of its relationship to what I assert is a historic landrace of buff/tan moschata pumpkins (possibly two landraces, identified as large and small). I’m writing this in hopes it might be useful to anyone considering the possibilities of an interspecific cross.
From my reading, Dickinson pumpkin is closely related to Kentucky field pumpkin. By either name, that is a commercially significant lineage, being the basis or closely related to variety used the Libby’s canned pumpkin line.
I believe the better name, although less utilized, is “Cherokee Tan”. I couldn’t find enough appropriate documentation to justify creating an article by that name for encyclopedic purposes, but I assert based on my research, that Cherokee Tan is one name for one or more landraces of C. moschata squash that has been grown in the areas historically populated by the Cherokee people. Some sources have suggested that there are two types, one that is a larger pumpkin shape and one that is a smaller cheese shape.
As I write this, I’ve had to unexpectedly reduce my garden plans, but yet I am in possession of approximately 15 tan moschata pumpkins weighing 5-7 pounds with a pleasant variety of shapes within one overall morphology that I would describe as “jack-o-lantern compatible”. These, plus seeds from another 10 or so that I’ve eaten, all come from a farm in my region that seems to have been maintaining the line. They have kept 10 months so far in our humid climate.
I have direct seeded a few of these putative Cherokee Tan pumpkins, but if I have luck, I’ll be able to seed some more and grow out enough to share seeds for next season.
To get back to the topic, I wonder if the Dickson variety listed as being particularly compatible is an inbred selection or if the large Cherokee Tan pumpkins in general have low barriers to interspecific pollination.
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I’ve attached an image of my Cherokee tan harvest last year. I cannot answer your question other than to tell you these make great pumpkin pie. I cannot imagine these having the attributes that are attractive to the pumpkin pie industry due to the flesh content being low. They are not very prolific either. They send out very long vines and dominate anything in its path. This variety I grew are small, seedy, and have a very fragrant, sweet smell. They have very high heat tolerance.
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Some of the tan moschatas here are the size of yours, but they also come larger. My photo has the largest ones that are still left uncut, but there were a couple that were even a bit bigger than the ones in my photo
I’ve had small tan pumpkins with a more flattened cheese shape that were even better keepers, but have much less flavor. I have some seeds from those but they are not as interesting to me.
The ones in my photo tastes pretty good and have enough flesh to make it worthwhile for pumpkins. This is also a humid environment with a pretty hot period in the middle of summer, and it will be my first year growing moshatas but my hope is that they will be more durable than the pepos I’m more used to.
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Cool, good luck with your project.
Who is growing offspring of interspecies hybrids? How are they doing… photos?
The Tetsakabuta offspring I mentioned earlier do not like my garden, or climate. The F1 seeds I started with did great, so I think it’s a little curious. First, terrible germination. Now they are generally unhappy. The first photo are a couple of survivors. Second photo is a comparison to the Maximas in the background, planted the same week.
Almost all the plants have symptoms of our especially cold summer (see the melons in the row in front of the Maximas.
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