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Post by daylilydude on Jul 21, 2018 7:36:01 GMT -5
I got a bunch of hay bales from the school after their Thanksgiving/fall decorations last year and where I had them stacked a sqush looking plant came up and is taking over part of our front yard... lol! My question for today is just how do you know when a squash is ripe? I will try and get a few pics of the leaves and small fruit and just maybe someone here can tell us about what it is?
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 21, 2018 14:08:50 GMT -5
If it's a straw bale from Thanksgiving, I'll bet that it is either a pumpkin or butternut squash because that is what is typically used for fall decorations. If it's a butternut squash then you wait until the skin is hard enough that you can not easily pierce it with your thumbnail and the green striped near the neck have faded or are gone. If it's a pumpkin, you will know what to do. If it's taking over the yard, then I'll bet that it's a pumpkin of some sort.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 21, 2018 22:10:57 GMT -5
I was out checking my butternuts today, and on 2 plants there are 11 squash forming already! I still have 7 in storage from last season - the reason I planted one less plant this year. Those things could take over the yard or garden! I was trying to train it into the 4' wide area, but it's hard to keep up with it.
As rexx said, you wait until the stem gets brown, without any green on it, then cut it. At the end of the season, a couple will have to be harvested with a little green, or, possibly even unripe. I use the unripe ones first, and mark those that I had to cut a little early I mark for early use.
And something that helps the squash store longer is to seal the stem. I have done this with various things I have had on hand, usually a water based food grade polyurethane, though I have also used a shellac, if I had some mixed, which is a natural substance. This may actually be the best, as I remember many years ago a test was done by one of the wood magazines I always got, to see which finishes sealed the water out of the woods. They were surprised by the results, as shellac is not water proof, yet it sealed the water out of (and into) the wood better than any of the other finishes - oil polyurethane, lacquer (this was before water based poly or lacquer ), and latex paint.
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Post by coppice on Jul 22, 2018 6:22:30 GMT -5
Butternut and hubbards have both an immature and ripe skin. They are mostly what I grow when I do grow any.
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 22, 2018 7:13:42 GMT -5
pepperhead212 , my butternuts always last all year as well. I think that I have 2 left. After harvesting I allow them to cure in the direct sun for about 2 weeks to harden the skin further and then I prepare a 5 gallon bucket with about a 10% Clorox solution and I dip each one in it for a minute or two to kill all spores on the outside and especially around the stem. Dry in the sun and then place in storage. Your sealing solution and my dip are doing the same thing, killing the spores that can cause rot in storage. I store mine in a cool basement.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 22, 2018 7:41:12 GMT -5
brownrexx I do something similar by wiping them with some peroxide solution. Then, I let them sit a couple of weeks, to dry out the stem, before sealing it. Some butternuts (and that Seminole pumpkin) keep better than any varieties I have grown, though I can't grow many others, due to SVB. And not all butternuts keep well - I've had a couple soften up in just a few months (every time I've tried a smaller variety, this has happened).
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 22, 2018 9:20:30 GMT -5
pepperhead212 , I only ever grow Burpee Butterbush butternut because is is so compact. I am so glad that we were discussing this because I just went to my basement to look at the 2 butternut that I thought were still down there. Once we start eating fresh veggies from the current garden, I forget about what I have in storage. I discovered that one of them had rotted in the neck area and the other one had brown spots on the skin but was still firm. I picked up the rotted neck one to see if it had stained my wooden basket (it didn't) and there were about 25 earwigs underneath dining on it! Aghhh. I just brought the entire basket out to the yard and dumped it. Ick, I hate earwigs. I also brought up and dumped my 6-8 remaining garlic heads which were still usable but starting to sprout. I have fresh garlic so this will become compost and the chickens will eat the butternuts.
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