Squash and Pumpkin 2019

I still have 8 butternut squash in my basement from last winter, just under a year old! I have grown many varieties, though the years, and some did not store well at all, and many did not produce well, either.

The variety I stick with is POLARIS - a hybrid variety I get from Pinetree Gardens. Last season, I got 18 squash from 4 plants last year, plus 2 green ones, when I had to pull the plants. The squash are usually around 5-6 lbs, sometimes up to 8 lbs. I've tried smaller types, but none of them stored well - they'd start getting soft after 3 months or so.

The only thing that sometimes happens when I store these for a year or more is that when I cut them open, some of the flesh has turned to sort of a spaghetti squash texture, but the flavor is still good.

pepperhead212, what's the ambient temperature and humidity in your basement? Do you have to adjust it to keep the squash from rotting? This has been my problem in the past.

The temp is usually around 65, or a little lower, and the humidity 40-50. In the summer the humidity starts getting higher, which is when I turn a dehumidifier on, for the rest of the summer. And I have had other varieties go bad - most started softening after 3 months. Polaris and Seminole Pumpkin are two that I have stored well over a year. A wax gourd I stored over a year one time, as well, just to see, and a small spot started developing after 13 months, so I cut it open immediately, and it was just that tiny spot going bad. This is why I'm growing wax gourds again this year, but trying smaller ones - those were 9-18 lbs!

I also grew some crookneck butternut varieties. The larger one stored well, but was too large for me - 12-18 lbs! - and only 2 per plant. The smaller one - 2-4 lbs. - was one of those that softened after 3 months. It seems that any of the smaller varieties just did not store well. I can see how the larger ones store longer, due to the larger amout of flesh vs. skin to lose moisture through. But the skin on the ones that store well stay hard; some larger ones also get soft, and don't store well.

My father would give me the seeds, and he would take the shovel. He would pick up a shovel full of dirt and I would toss some seed in the hole then he would plop the dirt back down and take a step forward, repeat. He said toss about 5 seeds in the hole. The squash would come up and go out like the spokes on a wheel and make a big squash patch. The vines send down roots at the leaf nodes so you get roots all over too.

Mines just starting to blossom. See a few beginning zephyr which are yellow with green at the blossom end. Have never seen such robust plants. Maybe I finally got it all right.

tom 🕊, the wire cover worked great. I placed a piece of newspaper on the wire directly above the seedlings and sprinkled straw sparingly over the remainder of the top. Sides of the cover were left open for air circulation. I removed the covers and the squash plants seem to be settled in...no longer looking fragile. Time will tell.

Getting mildew really bad on squash, pumpkins and melons, except watermelons, this year. So far the summer squash I planted mid and late July are not affect. Taking out the pumpkin today.