Allotments 4 All

Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: shambasarfi on September 21, 2014, 15:29:49

Title: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: shambasarfi on September 21, 2014, 15:29:49
Hiya,

Our butternut squash have been very successful this year but we have 3 that have grown extra large, are still very green, whereas the normal ones are almost ready to pick.  Will these ever ripen or would it be better to pick them to allow the plant to put in its stregth to develop the smaller ones?
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: RenishawPhil on September 21, 2014, 15:39:56
We have exceptionally large boston squash this yr! Cured nicely.

As the weather forecast is set decent for sometime to come I would leave them on.
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: antipodes on September 23, 2014, 16:20:58
That vine is still very fresh looking, I think you can leave them to ripen for a good while. Butternuts seem to better support several fruit on the vine. Get the leaves out of the way and get the sun on them! Butternuts will also ripen and cure further once they have been cut (but not as unripe as yours there!).
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: chriscross1966 on September 24, 2014, 12:31:41
That looks like a Lunga di Napoli to me....
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: antipodes on September 25, 2014, 11:05:05
chriscross, looking on google I think you are right!  I did think it was rather a green butternut but you never can tell. Usually butternuts start off a pale green and soon turn a beige colour. Actually that Lunga di Napoli looks rather good!
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: Digeroo on September 25, 2014, 17:33:42
Lungo di Napoli can get huge I had a couple of giant ones a couple of years ago.
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: chriscross1966 on September 25, 2014, 19:07:44
Gotta echo Digeroo here, I had  an LdN a few years ago that was one of the biggest things I've ever grown, only really topped by a couple of Atlantic Giants and an unfeasibly large Boston Winter squash ....d**n thing was about the size of my thigh,,,
Title: Re: Huge Butternut Squash
Post by: shambasarfi on November 11, 2014, 15:25:35
Since starting this post, we have actually cut one of these huge butternut squashes open and the flesh inside is perfectly normal and tastes the same as our regular sized butternut squash.

Shamba