A good yellow zucchini?
 

Burpee quit carrying Butter Stick hybrid zucchini last year and it isn't listed this year. It has been my squash of choice since they first started carrying it many years ago. The plants produced very large tender yellow zucchini and were extremely productive and hardy. I have tried a few others and they are pitiful producers in comparison and also much smaller. Has anyone found another great yellow zucchini? I don't understand why Burpee would quit carrying such a wonderful product.

Bill

Sorry that I don't have one to recommend, Bill, but I'm still searching, too. I agree that it's really frustrating when companies discontinue a winner without seeming to have found a better variety to offer in its place. I'll be watching this thread in hopes that someone has found a favorite because I've tried at least one yellow zucchini for years without finding a keeper. The losers for me have been: Burpee Golden Zucchini, Goldbar, Golden Dawn, Golden Glory, Golden Zebra, Gold Rush, Parador, Soleil and Tristan. Compared with the green zukes grown, they were all later, much less productive and died a quicker death- just not worth the space.

Ones that I'm considering for this year (before new catalogs have arrived) are Gourmet Gold, Butta, Golden Arrow, Goldmine and Yellow Fin- all hybrids. If anyone has had experience with them and can give feedback regarding Bill's criteria, it would be appreciated.

kath

Have you emailed their customer service? Perhaps the squash has been replaced with a new one that is of the same parental lines but selected for an improved trait like DTM, disease resistance etc. The catalogs don't always state those things. According this burpee is the breeder and vendor of this variety [url]http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cucurbit/wehner/vegcult/squash.html[/url]

Last year I grew Cube of Butter from Botanical Interests and Zephyr (yellow/green two tone) from Johnny's Seeds. Both were heavy producers and popular with my farmers market customers. I'll be growing them both again next season.

Lyn

[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;438417]Have you emailed their customer service? Perhaps the squash has been replaced with a new one that is of the same parental lines but selected for an improved trait like DTM, disease resistance etc. The catalogs don't always state those things. According this burpee is the breeder and vendor of this variety [url]http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cucurbit/wehner/vegcult/squash.html[/url][/QUOTE]

I don't believe that variety could be improved very much. Butter Stick outproduced any green zucchini I have ever grown with the added benefit of having mainly one good stem which made them much easier to keep in the raised beds. The plants withstood even vine borers better than any other squash I have grown. By that I mean it took the borers longer to kill them once they got in them. The variety was really named well because they maintained that soft buttery texture much longer than any other yellow zucchini I have tried. The newer ones that I have tried have to be picked much smaller or the skins start getting dark yellow and tough while still fairly small.

We only needed a couple of plants to feed us and give squash away. With all the other varieties I need to plant at least 3 times as many plants just to have barely enough to eat. Maybe that is the reason they discontinued it since just one packet of seed lasted for years. I would be happy to pay more just to get that wonderful variety again.

Bill

[QUOTE=kath;438415]Sorry that I don't have one to recommend, Bill, but I'm still searching, too. I agree that it's really frustrating when companies discontinue a winner without seeming to have found a better variety to offer in its place. I'll be watching this thread in hopes that someone has found a favorite because I've tried at least one yellow zucchini for years without finding a keeper. The losers for me have been: Burpee Golden Zucchini, Goldbar, Golden Dawn, Golden Glory, Golden Zebra, Gold Rush, Parador, Soleil and Tristan. Compared with the green zukes grown, they were all later, much less productive and died a quicker death- just not worth the space.

Ones that I'm considering for this year (before new catalogs have arrived) are Gourmet Gold, Butta, Golden Arrow, Goldmine and Yellow Fin- all hybrids. If anyone has had experience with them and can give feedback regarding Bill's criteria, it would be appreciated.

kath[/QUOTE]

Kath thank you for that long list of yellow zucchinis not to waste money on. I can only give you the dog I used last year called Burpee's Golden Zucchini. The wait between squash developing was ridiculously long and production was pitiful. When full summer heat got here they just quit making when Butter Stick would ordinarily be in maximum production.

Bill

[QUOTE=b54red;438429]Kath thank you for that long list of yellow zucchinis not to waste money on. I can only give you the dog I used last year called Burpee's Golden Zucchini. The wait between squash developing was ridiculously long and production was pitiful. When full summer heat got here they just quit making when Butter Stick would ordinarily be in maximum production.

Bill[/QUOTE]

I can't even imagine a yellow/gold zucchini that outproduces a green one- so sad that I didn't get to experience Butter Stick.

kath

[QUOTE=LDx4;438427]Last year I grew Cube of Butter from Botanical Interests and Zephyr (yellow/green two tone) from Johnny's Seeds. Both were heavy producers and popular with my farmers market customers. I'll be growing them both again next season.

Lyn[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Lyn. Cube of Butter can be purchased at Territorial Seeds, too. Zephyr was describes as a crookneck, though, not a zucchini.

kath

How does Cube of Butter react to high temps because it gets really hot here very early in the season and I have found few zucchinis that handle it well? Butter Stick was the exception. Yellow crooknecks and strightnecks do fine here but they are incredibly susceptible to all types of boring worms and rarely last very long. They also require many more plants to produce the same weight in fruit compared to a good producing zucchini.

Bill

Butta and Zephyr, for me, were nearly tasteless. More like a bland yellow crookneck or straightneck than a zucchini. To me, a "zucchini" should have much more flavor, like many of the green ones.

[QUOTE=b54red;438533]How does Cube of Butter react to high temps because it gets really hot here very early in the season and I have found few zucchinis that handle it well? Butter Stick was the exception. Yellow crooknecks and strightnecks do fine here but they are incredibly susceptible to all types of boring worms and rarely last very long. They also require many more plants to produce the same weight in fruit compared to a good producing zucchini.

Bill[/QUOTE]

Bill, I don't know how it would react to the really high, humid temps you've got down there. It was an abnormally hot summer here and they did just fine. But our heat is a drier heat than yours. We don't get many boring worms, if any. No interesting worms either :)). Zehpyr wasn't really shaped like a crookneck either. More like a cross between a zucchini and a crookneck, without the crook.

Lyn

[QUOTE=b54red;438412]Burpee quit carrying Butter Stick hybrid zucchini last year and it isn't listed this year. It has been my squash of choice since they first started carrying it many years ago. The plants produced very large tender yellow zucchini and were extremely productive and hardy. I have tried a few others and they are pitiful producers in comparison and also much smaller. Has anyone found another great yellow zucchini? I don't understand why Burpee would quit carrying such a wonderful product.

Bill[/QUOTE]

Bill, I too loved butter stick and have been looking for a replacement with no avail. Territorial has a new yellow called YELLOWFIN that has the same yellow stem as butter stick that I'm going to try. I also found about a 100 seeds of butter stick when going through my seeds this winter but thy are from 2010, hope they're still good.

Marcus

I can vouch for Zephyr, I grew it last year in plastic grow bags- in less than favorable conditions- and it still produced nicely. While the squash was very tender and sweet like a young pattypan, I did find the flavor to be a bit "one-note". Then again I think that's probably as good as a yellow summer squash gets, it was the best summer squash I've had to date and I realized I'm just not the type who is crazy enough about summer squash to grow it :) But for those who do love summer squash I would recommend giving Zephyr a go.

Bill,

Did you find a yellow you liked in 2015?

Justin

Seems like Burpee is carrying it, butter stick, this year:

[url]http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/squash/summer/zucchini/squash-summer-butterstick-zucchini-hybrid-prod000910.html[/url]