Vegetable Spaghettii - When to harvest?

[Spanner]

I have 3 vegetable spaghetti squash plants which have 6 fruit between them and they had been growing strongly. Unfortunatly the plants seem to have succumed to mildew and are starting to look more and more miserable dispite me resorting to chemical attack. The squashes are mostly yellow now and the largest has very little green left on it. Is it too soon to harvest them? Will they ripen off more if I leave them on the plant or will the mildew claim everything? Any advice gratefully received as I have never grown these before.

[Spanner]

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

we've been eating ours for a few weeks now, when they're about 3 lb. They've grown exceptionally well this year, in complete contrast to the winter squashes which are all struggling still

what are you using to try to control the mildew btw?

[saddad]

The mildew is unlikely to affect the fruit... you may want to wash them with a Dilute bleach solution before long term storage, asjk Jeannine..
:)

[delboy]

I have grown squashes in bulk this year, but true to form I got a bit muddled about what went where..so there are spaghetti squash, dumpling squash, banana squash and, hopefully, butternut squash...

Now I have many big cylinders that are a pale green and that, I think, are spaghetti squash. They already way between 3 and 6 pounds.

So - do I pick them and use or store them only when or if they have turned yellow, or is there a secret I need to know?

The books never really help on ripeness.

[Jeannine]

Spanner, leave them on the vine till is has completely  died, then harvest them. wipe them with a very mild bleach solution and store them in   cold but frost free place, they will store a long time but not the 6 months than some of the others do. Leave a stem on.XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

Dellboy, all the squash you have mentioned are all winter keeping ones so treat them the same. You can pick and use them as immature fruite but they are better when fully mature and stored. The longer in store hte sweeter they get.

All will keep several months.


The shape should tell you which is which as yours are all clearly different from each other.

Butternut looks like  a peanut with  a definate waist.
Dumpling is short and squat
Banana is longer and is probably the one you are descibing, it would look like a cylinder.
Spaghetti should be more oval

Colours will be different too, but some of what you have come in different colours too.

The secret to storing is the thumb nail test. If mature and cured a thumb nail won't leave an impression,it will in an immature squash.

XX Jeannine