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Post by daylilydude on May 10, 2015 5:37:47 GMT -5
Anyone?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 10, 2015 12:47:26 GMT -5
Seminole Pumpkins get an A+ for sheer cussed determination. They grow wild in Florida (which is SVB Central, with several generations every year), so you know they have to be. The heat doesn't bother them like it does some winter squash.
A few years back I had some planted in lousy soil (really not much more than sand) and gave them minimal care. The SVBs attacked them several times but since they root along the vine they just kept going.
They didn't give much yield under those challenging conditions, but I did get a few and they were quite tasty. (I should have saved seed!) Mine were smaller than they should have been, about 1.5 lbs rather than the typical 2-3 lbs, but that made them convenient to split, scoop, bake, and serve a half to each person.
They make loooong vines (healthy plants will climb your trees and visit your neighbors), but they have smaller leaves than the other winter squash I've grown.
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Post by spacecase0 on May 10, 2015 20:48:47 GMT -5
mine tasted like grass and took forever to cook, they grew well and stored well (still have some from the summer of 2013 growing season that are still just fine) I should see if the chickens like them
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 10, 2015 23:12:25 GMT -5
Seminole pumpkins were some of my favorites, the times Ive grown them, and two years ago (still have one from then, so they store well), when we had record rainfall, and melons and another squash kept getting PM, these didn't get it at all, so they were resistant to the moisture, I guess because they are from FL. The only reason I didn't grow those again was because they were fewer and much larger per plant than last time - two around 10 lbs, compared five or six about 3-4 lbs. each. Flavor was great, and for me they only took about 20-25 min to totally dissolve in a soup. Laura_in_FL - I'm surprised the SVB got to yours. The SP is a moschata species, which is all I can grow here, due to that bug, and I never get them in that species.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 11, 2015 12:47:04 GMT -5
We have epic SVBs down here. They bored into the Seminole Pumpkin stems in several places. In most spots the vine didn't die even with some holes in it. A couple of sections of vines between root nodes actually died, but the vines to either side kept on as separate plants.
The same thing has happened with other C. moschatas I have grown. Non-moschata squash and pumpkins are goners here. Maybe if I dusted with B.t. every couple of days during the rainy season, but it's not worth that much effort or expense for squash.
Other squash have hollow stems, but the stems are solid on C. moschata plants. For every successful hole in the Seminole Pumpkin vines I saw a few other places on the vines where something had started to burrow a hole in the vines, but no SVB was present. I guess the solid stem slows down the SVB grubs so they need a long time to burrow in far enough to hide from birds and other predators.
But SVBs (at least the ones down here) definitely try to feed on C. moschata squash.
5/12/15: Edited the third paragraph for clarity.
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Post by spacecase0 on May 12, 2015 10:26:19 GMT -5
seems like maybe I should try seeds from another source and see what I get
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 12, 2015 11:52:10 GMT -5
I guess where you are Laura_in_FL the bugs have a ravenous appetite in that heat! Or maybe I never noticed holes in my moschata since they kept producing.
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