Topic: Has anyone tried

[shirlton]

I bought a pkt of seeds today thinking that it was a winter squash. Didn't have me glasses on. Just looked at the picture. Turns out to be a pumpkin Invincible. Nice blue colour. Has anyone tried it.

[shirlton]

Surely someone has grown it

[chriscross1966]

From memory the book on all the standard Hubbards is that they get pretty big, want a longish growing season, store well but have a reinforced concrete skin.....

chrisc

[shirlton]

You mean it will take an axe to open them ;D

[Sholls]

I've seen the fruit, but not tasted it.

One of my former colleagues grew one & broke a saw trying to get to the flesh... In the end he left it in an industrial book press overnight; that produced a small crack/chisel access.  :D

[Jeannine]

Hi, yes I have grown this one.. it is very vining, fruit is about 5/6 pounds, the best news is..it has an excellent flavour. I think of it more of a winter squash actually. It is certainly worth growing..good mistake you made Shirlton

 XX Jeannine

[shirlton]

Great News Jeannine. I did think it looked like a winter squash. While you are around Jeannine. Which winter squash are the best to grow up structures?. Did the butternut, sweet dumpling and Ichi kuri but they didn't do to well. They flowered but no fruit flowers. The bon bon did amazingly well but I want to grow some more ion that fashion

[Obelixx]

I grow all my trailing squashes up a support made from that wide wire mesh you can get from builders' merchants.  The one they use for reinforcing concrete.

It's sturdy enough to take the weight of red kuri, butternut and an unidentified larger round pumpkin I was given by a friend.  The only problem is that every year at least one gets stuck in a square and has to be prised out then turned immediately into soup.

Judging by the number of fruits this year, being raised off the ground makes the flowers more easily available to pollinating insects.  I had hardly anything from a compact ground hugging round courgette plant.

I grew a blue hubbard once and it was delicious but I haven't seen the seeds here since.   

[thifasmom]

I grow all my trailing squashes up a support made from that wide wire mesh you can get from builders' merchants.  The one they use for reinforcing concrete.

It's sturdy enough to take the weight of red kuri, butternut and an unidentified larger round pumpkin I was given by a friend.  The only problem is that every year at least one gets stuck in a square and has to be prised out then turned immediately into soup.

Judging by the number of fruits this year, being raised off the ground makes the flowers more easily available to pollinating insects.  I had hardly anything from a compact ground hugging round courgette plant.

I grew a blue hubbard once and it was delicious but I haven't seen the seeds here since.   

any chance of a picture of the structur Obbelix.

[chriscross1966]

Great News Jeannine. I did think it looked like a winter squash. While you are around Jeannine. Which winter squash are the best to grow up structures?. Did the butternut, sweet dumpling and Ichi kuri but they didn't do to well. They flowered but no fruit flowers. The bon bon did amazingly well but I want to grow some more ion that fashion

Bon-BOn will climb up/over/on anythign it can lock a tendril on.... I had one set a gfruit hanging from my boundary fence this yearso it's got the strength to do it..... am plannin gon experuimenting with vertical training of squash next year.....

chrisc

[Obelixx]

I don't know how to post a single photo but I'll post a link to a photobucket album as soon as I've had time to set one up.

[Jeannine]

Hi Shirlton, theoretically ,anything can be grown up if the support is strong enough to hold the weight, however  this really does over simplify it.

Points to note... some obvious but in case a newbie is reading!!

They do not  climb, there natural vining habit will take them the easiest route so if  you want them to go up you need to help by tying them on to what ever you decide. As an earlier poster said  the re in-forced  wire  is an excellent choice although a trellis will do.

It really doesn't matter which type but I would;certainly avoid the real biggies, and do give them a sling like a melon if the fruit is heavy.

Usually the vine will tether itself as it grows along the ground, it can put down roots from those points which will draw nourishment, if growing up it cannot do thos so I would feed the vertical plants a bit more than the ground ones.

Often  folks tend to crowd the plants if growing upright and the plant has to compete for nutrition with it's neighbours roots and tends not to thrive as well as it needs.

The types you mentioned should have been fine so UI would be looking to other reasons why they did not do as well as you wished.

Hope this helps

 XX Jeannine

[shirlton]

Thanks Jeannine. From reading your post I think I did put them too close together. I did tie them regularly to give em a helping hand. Think that next season I may grow some up the structure and some on the ground but will definitely give them some more room.