On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:52:35 -0400, Pat Kiewicz
wrote:
said:
:
:Each plant seems content to grow one "pumpkin" and then won't set
:further fruit, or if it does, the extra fruit are practically nothing,
:never getting bigger than a tennis ball. I figure I can grow more if I
:harvest the first setting fruits before the season nears an end and let
:another fruit set for each plant. That might double my crop, I figure.
:
:It seems the plants are aborting any beyond the first fruit set as beyond
:their capacity to support. Squash will do that.
:
:Well, here's my question: these kabochas keep very well and in fact I
:still have one or two from last season in the house. If I pick them way
:before the season is over, say even before they turn completely grey
:like they eventually do, will they keep as well as if I let them "cure
:completely" on the vine? At what point can I "safely" remove them from
:the vines?
:
:No, if you pick them early enough to leave time for more fruit, you will
nly get two inferior squash instead of one fantastic squash per plant,
:and maybe not get that second squash at all. (The days grow short
:quite rapidly at the end of the season.)
:
:For best keeping, the squash should be grown on the vine until it has
:a tough rind and very hard stem. Generally, this isn't until the squash
:has reached its proper varietal appearance. (One exception being some
:varieties of ornamental pumpkins which are bred to color up early.)
:Many winter squash will take on a silvery/powdery 'bloom' when they
:are mature.
:
:For best flavor, squash should be left on the vine as long as possible,
:and removed only when the vines have begun to die back and/or frosts
:threaten.
Thank you. This is just the response I hoped to get, i.e. a definitive
answer by someone who knows the turf.
:
:"Tetsukabuta" is kabocha-type squash variety that is exceptionally
roductive per vine. It is a hybrid between two species of squash,
:Cucurbita maxima and C. moschata, and should be grown along with
:either a standard kabocha or buttercup (C. maxima) or a butternut
:type (C. moschata) for best fruit set. Seeds available from Pinetree
:Garden Seeds (in the Around the World Asian section) .
:
:I grow this every year, along with a butternut, and it definitely
roduces multiple squashes per plant for me, where most other
:large fruited squash produce no more than one (maybe two) per vine.
If I get Tetsukabuta seeds and grow them, will the seeds of its squash
produce more Tetsukabutas or do I need to always plant seeds provided by
a seed provider? Being a hybrid, I believe this is a concern if not a
certainty. I had an onion in the garden for several years, the seeds of
which steadfastly refused to germinate. I finally destroyed the plant a
couple of months ago in retaliation! The strip of earth it grew on is
now fallow, but I figure I'll need onion seeds or sets for my next foray
into onion growing, should I decide to resume it.
I assume you are saying to grow Tetsukabuta "along with
either a standard kabocha or buttercup (C. maxima) or a butternut
type (C. moschata) for best fruit set" for pollination advantages? Will
it render the Tetsukabuta's seeds viable and useful?
I typically have pollination problems early in the season. Every year (I
think there was only one exception in recent years) the first flowers
are all female and there are no males to pollinate. As soon as a male
appears (maybe 2 or more weeks later) I use a haiku brush to manually
pollinate all females I can find. The first males are always small and
nearly devoid of pollen, but subsequent males are progressively better
endowed. This year I'm finding the bee population rather sparse and I've
been continuing to manually pollinate all females just to be sure they
are pollinated.
This year one "standard" orange pumpkin has managed to sneak into the
crop, and there are at least two plants the nature of which has me
pretty much flumuxed. The fruits are almost kabocha-like, but are
cream-white and slightly narrower near the stem. I searched my local
market for verisimilitude and the only thing that looks similar
(although not a perfect match) were (I think) butternut. I have no clue
how they got into my garden. The largest of these (there are two
diminutive ones) is the size of a good-sized cataloup or a small
honeydew, and you can see it he
http://fox302.com/userdata/Muse/file...terySquash.jpg
As you can see, it's really nothing like a butternut now, and it's
starting to show some color other than the original cream-white.
As well, a few of my current kabochas look lighter in color than most of
the others. I use my own home-produced compost, never buy butternut.
Next year, however, my compost may be generating who-knows-what, because
I've gotten into the habit of raiding my neighbors' green yard waste
bins with my wheelbarrow. I have a very impressive heap of compost going
already. The garden is going great guns this year but next year may be a
real eye-popper.
BTW, I'm in Berkeley, CA, the winters rarely reach freezing temperatures
and weather warm enough to start growing summer vegetables occur
sometime in March, early March if I'm lucky, last week if unlucky.
Summers are moderate with occasional heat waves when it gets in the 90s.
With luck, I get full sun all day, but there are always spates when the
mornings are foggy and there are always a few days that remain cloudy.
Dan