Topic: Squash identification

[tricia]

Someone sent me some Sweet Dumpling squash seeds in a seed swap very early this year - or maybe last Autumn, can't remember exactly - but though I have one plant climbing and fruiting (6 so far) on a trellis, it certainly isn't Sweet Dumpling! Have just checked by Googling and find that Sweet Dumpling is a multicoloured gourd and is a bush type. The one I have is vining quite rampantly up the trellis and the fruits are dark green - almost black -  are not much bigger than a goodsized orange and hard as a rock.

Can anyone - Jeannine? - identify it for me?

Tricia

[Jeannine]

Hi Tricia, Sweet Dumpling is definatly NOT a gourd. It is a winter squash, it does vine, it is not a bush, it is from the pepo family of squash, It is about 3 inches long by 4 inches wide ,weight about 1 pound,The rind clours are white to creammy yelloe when young  with splashes of orange and green stripes which follow the grooves in the fruit..it is called Vegggie gourd by some .. but that is not it's rteal  name and it is not a gourd.  It is  very tasty squash, it got the name vegetable gourd when it was first ontroduced  to America because of it's squat shape. It is one of my favourites. however it does sound as though the one you are growing is something else,if someone had saved seeds it may be the results of a cross from their Sweet Dumpling. Or it may be a completely different squash and the seeds were mixed up. What shape is it,if you can send a picture I can identify it for you, either way it will be a winter squash growing like that.
XX Jeannine

[tricia]

Have been Googling again and I think the one I have maybe Rolet Little Gem. I'll take a photo tomorrow (today!!) and post it for further clarification.

Tricia

It's late and of course I meant to write squash - not gourd  :-[.

[tricia]

here are photos of the three types of squash which are fruiting. Am I right in thinking they are Rolet Little Gem, Sweet Dumpling and Sugar Loaf Delicata?

Thanks
 
Tricia

[Jeannine]

I think you are right with the Rolet and the Dumpling but the last one is not a sugarloaf.. it is too egg shaped, sugar loaf is longer ,hence the name.XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

This is a Sugar Loaf Delicata. don't let the colour fool you, this is after 6 months in storage, at first they are cream with green stripes.

[Jeannine]

Actually re the colour on theone you think it sugar loaf  yours is green with white stripes, it should be white with green stripes!!

[tricia]

Thanks for the clarification Jeannine, but that still leaves me with two plants with fruit as in the 3rd photo that I haven't a clue what they are. They are from seed from you and you sent me Red Kuri, Sugar Loaf Delicata and Yellow Pattypan (summer squash)! Could they be from cross-pollinated fruit, do you think? The only other winter  squashes I sowed were Butternut, Sweet Dumpling and Rolet Little Gem. The two Butternut plants in the ground have yet to show a female flower! and the others we have identified. So does anyone have an idea as to what the squash in the third photo could be please?

Tricia

[Jeannine]

I rarely save my own seeds for just this reason, so my seeds would have come from a seedsman and I don't  knowingly use home saved seed from anyone else .I did send out seeds from a fresh red Kuri this year but only because I had grown this one in my garden and was completely isolated so I could guarantee it was pure. It is always possible that  seed can be mixed up at the seedsman, it happens all the time, so you could have anything there.  It could be one of hundreds. Wait and see, if it is in fact oval or egg shaped there are not all that many like that, spaghetti squash is that shape and there is a green striped variety ,it actually looks more like a small tall pumpkin,many start off like this. You may just have one of those mystery squash that pop up.. it has happened to me many times.  Squash growing can be fun !!

I don't think it is Red Kuri unless the camera angle is odd, red kuri is onion shaped .

XX Jeannine

[real food]

I do not know what it is, but it is not like any red kuri that I have grown.

[Jeannine]

No it isn't red kuri