Earlier Maturing Winter Squash Varieties?

[nathan125]

Gold nugget.
I really liked it.

[joseph]

I have ended up growing only my own varieties of Maxima and Moschata squash. About 75% of varieties that I import for these species are too long season for my garden. The first year I saved seeds from butternut squash I only had an 88 day frost free growing season from the time they were planted until harvest. Last year it was 84 days between last spring frost and first fall frost.

I grow them all jumbled up together, so there are plenty of natural hybrids running around.

Pepo squash produce quickly enough that I could grow commercial seed if I wanted, but they are unpalatable to me as winter squash, so I don't.

[Alfredo]

Originally Posted by nathan125

Gold nugget.
I really liked it.

Thanks nathan125 .

[raindrops27]

What is the secret to growing winter squash? All these years of trying and I've yet to have much success last year out of 5 plants I got one small acorn squash

[Zeedman]

Ditto on Joseph's comments, regarding the fast maturity of C. pepo squashes. For a very fast-maturing winter squash, I highly recommend "Table King Acorn". I planted them here over the July 4th weekend, and they still had time to mature before frost. The squash are fairly small, but the plants produce 4-5 of them... and since it is a true bush variety, you can space the plants closely (mine were 3 feet apart each way). They will be the first winter squash to mature... but they don't store as well as the later varieties. Oh, and about the late planting... it completely bypassed the SVB egg-laying period. The borer is a serious pest in my area, and would have wiped out my acorns had they been planted earlier. None of the squash planted in July (zucchini as well) were infected.

[Father'sDaughter]

Great thread! I tried winter squash this year for the first time, and managed to get just two to mature from three plants. I knew it was a long shot since I planted long season variety a bit late, but at least I have something for my efforts! My problem is that I don't have space to plant winter squash until after the garlic is harvested. Typically that's around July 4th, so I will definitely look in to the earlier ones mentioned above, especially the compact varieties.

[Wi-sunflower]

Zeedman,

What part of Wi are you in ?

I'm in West Bend Wi about 30 miles N of Milwaukee or 15 miles west of Port Washington.

While we just about always seem to have issues with both the striped and spotted Cucumber Beetles here, we rarely have any problem with SVB at all. We will plant whenever the weather is decent and we have a field worked up in mid to late May to as late as the 3rd week of June. Any later and we usually won't get anything mature before a frost.

Often this area will have the least "degree days" of any of the reporting areas in the state. This summer was 1 of those "Pacific North-West" kind of summers for us -- hardly any heat at all. A couple of the varieties didn't do well at all and NONE of our watermelons matured.

Carol

[Zeedman]

My DIL is from West Bend. Small world. I'm surprised to hear that your climate is so comparatively cool. It was pretty warm here this summer... I can tell, because my runner beans had a hard time setting pods until September. Sounds like they would have been happier where you are.

My home is just west of Oshkosh; but my main vegetable garden (where I plant all the space hogs like squash & corn) is on a rural property just south of Lake Butte des Morts, 6 miles away. The funny thing is, the rural garden tends to get the first frost, while the gardens on my property generally miss the first frost or two... my micro-climate is a little warmer. That usually means an extra week or two for the veggies I grow at home. It amazes me how much difference 6 miles can make.

SVB can be really bad here. I tried several cultural methods (like planting them within a block of corn) but even in the best years, I lost half my plants. A couple years the fatality for pepo & maxima squashes was 100%. Now I start those squashes in pots, and cover them with Agribon as soon as they are transplanted. The cover is removed when the vines begin flowering, or outgrow the cover. This has proven to be 100% effective in preventing SVB, and substantially reduces squash bugs & cucumber beetles too.

This year though - with a large plot of summer squash & acorns planted late, directly into the ground, with no cover - none of those bugs showed up. I've never had such trouble-free squash. It was almost worth planting late to have that experience. Almost. I'll miss having kabochas for the winter.

[Wi-sunflower]

The lack of the SVB this year may have just been due to the general lack of bugs around here this year. Personally I think all the drenching rains we had this spring may have drowned many of the bugs in their ground state. I don't know if that really has anything to do with it but that's the only thing I can think of.

Most years we have such issues with the cucumber beetles that if we don't go out and dust the just germinated squash, the beetles will eat the little plants to death. We have lost thousands of feet of rows to those critters.

This year no cucumber beetles, hardly any Colorado Potato Beetles on the eggplant and very few loopers in the cabbage / broccoli / cole stuff. We only had to spray BT twice this year.

Your location near those lakes helps keep things a bit warmer but the town location is warmer due to "heat island" effect of all the homes and concrete and other stuff that can hold or create heat. Higher ground will also help or land with a tree line around it.

We are too close to Lake Michigan to warm up in the spring. We get those cool afternoon lake winds just about every day in spring. But we are too far away in the fall for the lake to keep us warm enough to prevent frost.

As far as the Kabochas go, I believe that is just the Japanese name for Buttercup squash. I have never had a decent crop of any variety I've tried. 2 -3 squash / plant at best. But this year while most of our squash struggled with the lack of heat, the Burgess Buttercup did OK to great. We seem to have more of them than most any other variety this year. Also the variety called Speckled Pup, a colorful pink and green striped buttercup, did better than many other varieties. Maybe those varieties tolerate the cooler weather better than some other varieties.

I know 1 variety NOT to grow in a cool year is Kikuza. I tried it for the first time this year and got nothing off it. While the plants grew well and vined out, the female flowers didn't seem to develop til we had that late week of heat around Labor Day. There were lots of male flowers all along, but the female flower buds in the cool weather were EXTREMELY stunted to the point that they never actually opened a flower til that hot week. Then they set about a dozen squash, but it was far too late in the season for them to mature.

Carol

[Labradors2]

I'm interested in this thread too.

I'm going to try Gold Nugget, as it's available from Johnny's, where I have to order some other seeds.

Thanks for the recommendation Nathan!

Linda

[Alpinejs]

I, too, am a lover of winter squash (AND NOT SUMMER SQUASH). Every time I think I have
a new favorite, another matures and my favorite changes. Some of my best are Waltham's
butternut, kabocha, delicata and carnival. If one is the only squash lover in the house,
delicata and carnival are great choices in that they only serve one or two per squash. By the
time I run out of my San Diego grown squash, my Canada crop is in so we have squash year
around which is just fine for me as I am addicted to the winter squash and they keep forever.

[Alpinejs]

OT....my son-in-law claimed at dinner in a restaurant that he doesn't like squash.
Within minutes of making that claim, he ordered pumpkin pie for dessert!

[Father'sDaughter]

I've started a list of possibilities and begun hunting for more info. I keep seeing descriptions for many mentioned here that they are "sweet," but I'm more of a fan of "nutty" flavors and dry flesh. Acorn squash, for example, is one I'm not too crazy about, but I love buttercup. Knowing absolutely nothing about it and never having seen one before, I picked up a Kuri squash at the supermarket a week ago simply because the label described it has having a "roasted chestnut" flavor. I have yet to do anything with it, so I can't comment on it's actual flavor.

For those of you who have listed varieties in this thread, are there any that you would describe as being more dry and/or having a "nutty" taste? Thanks!

[Alpinejs]

Father'sDaughter....you bring up a good point. Many produce stores, like Sprout's Farmers
Market, carry a fair variety of squash as does a good local farmer's market. Buy a variety,
save the seed, and if it is a big hit, you have a seed source. Otherwise, trash time! That is
how I got my kabocha and carnival seed supply.

LOL, somebody start a website for squash like Tania has for tomatoes. I am too lazy.

[Wi-sunflower]

The Red Kuri is a somewhat nutty flavored squash as it's a "baby hubbard". It can also be on the dry side. For me the driest are the buttercup / kabocha types.

Sometimes tho, "dry" is a function of what kind of weather we have when the squash are maturing, rainy or dry, AND how mature the squash is. I had a Red Kuri earlier in the season that looked mature to me but was more middle of the road moist/dry. About a month later we made another Red Kuri and it was as dry as could be, almost flaky dry. The first 1 must not have been as mature as it should have been.

This year because we were quite dry in Aug and most of Sept, many of the squash are nice and dry. That's very good if you want to store them as they don't keep well at all in a fall when we have plenty of rainy days when picking the squash.

Carol