Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: basrug34 on August 17, 2011, 15:39:43
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How do I tell when my squash are ready for picking? At the moment they are about the size of tennis balls.
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What squash are they?... you get a few types of round squash..
Gem or Rolet are ready when they are tennis ball / cricket ball size..
Round Courgette / Zuccini need to be about 10cm diameter.
Winter squash at least 12cm diameter..
These are my prefered sizes and they can get a lot bigger..
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No idea what they are as they were given to me to try (should have asked) but thanks for your reply as they are about the size you indicate is the best to harvest.
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Just try one and if it tastes ok... then you know they are ready... look on google images for squash to try to find yours... let me know the outcome..
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Can you post a picture.
Did the person who gave you them call them squash or zuchinni.. if squash I would think they bare winter squash I found in the UK MOST folks called summer squash zuchinni..
Is it a bush or is it sending out long vines.
What is the exact shape of the fruit, is there any sign of pattern on it
How many fruit..if it a winter you don't want to be picking it , you will only get a few , if it is a summer you will get loads.
Another detective mystery, we usually do OK by process of elimination LOL
XX Jeannine
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I AM IN THE SAME POSITION WITH MY SUMMER SQUASH "SUNSHINE", i HAVE LOADS OF TINY ROUND ONES, AND 1 LARGER ( ABOUT THE SIZE OF A GRAPEFRUIT ) WHICH IS A WIERD SHAPE, SORT OF LIKE A VERY FAT LEMON!
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Pick them now Peter - I grew up in South Africa, and this kind of squash is called a pattypan there. They taste best when they're small - really sweet.
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Absolutely agree leaving summer squash to get big is a mistake, they don't taste as good and remember they don't keep.It is only the winter squash that you leave as long as possible, even till the plant dies off if need be, as long as you grab them before the winter frost arrives.
XX Jeannine
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Most of them are only tennis ball size, and dont look like paytty pan with the scallopped edges, these are all oval?
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Peter sorry I didn't fully read the post and answered as if for summer squash generally.
Sunburst is a yellow pattypan, Sunshine is a winter squash, a kabocha type,, follow the tips I have said above for winter squash, but to add to that, leave it in the vine as long as you can, it still has a lot of growing to do. The plant will come to a natural end either by frost or by powdery mildew. If mildew gets it, the plant will stop growing , the fruit will ripen will start to cure in the field if mature enough. If you get a frost warning you can cover your plants if it is mild but if a good frost then pick the fruit ASAP.
After harvesting wipe them down with a mild solution of bleach and water , this will kill any mildew spores on them, leave the handle on and don't pick them up by it,taking it off allows bacteria in. let them cure in a warm place, not hot, after a week or so try putting your finger nail in the rind, if you can't then they are cured, if you can, leave them to cure a bit longer. When the rind no longer leaves an imprint store then in a cool place where frost won't get to them, not on concrete, they will store several months but check them regularly, if any sign of softness use them straight away. If you have immature fruit on the vine when you have to pull them use them as summer squash, just like you would courgettes as they will not store. There is mo advantage to pulling them now, they have the best flavour after curing and storing a while as they get sweeter.
Please get back to me if I can help any further.
Sunshine on the left, Sunburst on the right
XX Jeannine
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What a great lot of advice. I saw the person who gave them to me and he believed they were called Gem.
I will pick one this weekend and give it a go. Thanks again for all the advice much appreciated.
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Gem is a dual purpose squash, one of the few that can be used either way. You can use it as a summer squash or leave it to mature further and store it as a winter one..South African also known as Rolet.
XX Jeannine
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ooo if they are Gem then I love them :)
I cook them whole in boiling water for about 20 to 30 minutes, but 1st you need to pierce them (I stab them a few times with a skewer), then when cooked slice the top off, carefully scoop the seeds out then add a nob of butter, black pepper, and eat them like that. Simples ;D
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hungry now...
Dont throw out the seed you might be able to save them for next year or you can roast them YUM
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Sorry to be a pain, but I picked the first of my summer squash today, it is nothing like either photograph, it is bright yellow with faint white stripes, a lot bigger than the patty pan types, but not as big as a pumpkin?, maybe I picked it too soon, would it have turned orange?
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You are not a pain..
I think you have picked an immature Sunshine. The colour changes dramatically with most winter squash as they mature and if you look closely at the pictures I showed you will see faint stripes.
Mature Sunshine will grow to 3-5 lbs.
3/4 fruit per plant.
The vine should be vigorous but short, not a bush but not long like a pumpkin.
XX Jeannine
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It is a pumpkin sized bush with a long runner ( about 5 foot long ) that I have wrapped around to save room. All the other fruits are no larger than a tennis ball. I have had very few male flowers on this bush. I have a feeling that this is some sort of hybrid that you can pick the young fruits as a summer squash, or leave them to turn into small pumpkins?
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No, that is a contradiction.
A pumpkin can easily grow a 30 foot vine.
A bush plant grows like a courgette with all the fruit set near the centre.
Sunshine is neither of the above, it puts out a short vine but not the very long ones that most winter squash and pumpkins do.
Sunshine is a hybrid.
If it is Sunshine it is not a dual purpose squash.
Gem (Rolet) is, but there a very very few dual purpose squash, very few.
After growing squash for about 40 years and a collection of about 300 varieties I only know of a about 4 or 5.
XX Jeannine
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Back to my query, Jeannine - this is now the thing in question.
Not a lot like the packet!
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Tim me Darling, I cannot find your query..is it in another thread,,sorry..help XX Jeannine
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Tim is this the same one as the seed packet you posted because they look nothing alike to me. As is sits now it looks like a buttercup type,does it have a circle at the blossom end like a large belly button or just a mark where the blossom was and is the shape kind blocky rather than round.
At an immature stage it could be one of several and I would need to see other nagles to make a better guess.
XX Jeannine
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I assume Tim is referring to this post.. http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,68647.msg698068.html#msg698068 (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,68647.msg698068.html#msg698068)
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Sorry - I switched threads as more appropriate.
Does this help? About 10" diameter so far - & growing!
It's a good walk to the plot!!
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Looks very similar to one I'm growing this year called Cha Cha - a buttercup type.
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Given the size It is not a Buttercup and not a Black Futtsu either,Yokohamo is described as gray,it is a relative of Shireman both Japanese and similar but too big if it is still growing..
I think this may be a wait and see one, the colour should change as it matures.
I could identify the family by stem and leaf shape and texture if you wish which would narrow it down a bit but frankly right now I can't place it.
Maybe it is just an odd ball one from another country that I don't know. I certainly don't know the name which is unusual and I can't recognise the company logo on the packet either.
Keep in touch Tim, you have perked my interest,,save seeds..
XX Jeannine
Tim just read your thread again, is the 10 inches all around it , how wide is it.Buttercups grow to about 5 inches, but that wouldn't explain the name.??
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Diameter - across!
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my burgess buttercup looks just like that photo
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yep that is what I thought..There is a kabocha type that matures to grey/black/green that is bigger then than usual but it is an odd one and I would doubt that it is grown much in home gardens. It is an interspecies hybrid, a cross between a maxima and moschata species, done in a lab , they are starting to show commercially and I guess they will get more popular as time goes on, but they need a pollinator, which of course you could have in your garden anyway.One is named Tetsukabuto , it seems unlikely but you never know,it does look very similar to your picture is a kabocha type and grows green with yellow splashes as immature.
XX Jeannine