2024 mutant winter squash

[rxkeith]

first up is a round orb of a squash, a volunteer, bush habit.
color is cream with dark green stripes. only cream, and dark green
striped squash grown last year was scarchuks supreme. did not weigh
it, but between two and three pounds, flesh was a light golden color.
this was the only squash on the plant.flavor was some what sweet, and mild.
on the moist side. texture was almost like a spaghetti squash, but not as
pronounced as that type is. over all rating about a six.
not great, but not a spitter. on the fence about saving seeds. too many
projects already.

stay tuned


keith

[rxkeith]

tried another possible scarchuks volunteer.

this one was about a 4lber, acorn looking type, cream colored skin with
dark green speckles and stripes. skin was bumpy. baked at 350 for about an hour. the cooked
flesh was a light golden yellow, stringy somewhat like a spaghetti squash. flavor
was mildly sweet. i give it about a 6.5 my wife tried it, and said grow something better next time.
looks like i get to eat the rest of it.



keith

[rxkeith]

upon further review, i am giving this second squash a seven on the taste scale.
i'm eating leftover squash cold out of the fridge, and am liking it. so there.


keith

[Tormato]

first up is a round orb of a squash, a volunteer, bush habit.
color is cream with dark green stripes. only cream, and dark green
striped squash grown last year was scarchuks supreme. did not weigh
it, but between two and three pounds, flesh was a light golden color.
this was the only squash on the plant.flavor was some what sweet, and mild.
on the moist side. texture was almost like a spaghetti squash, but not as
pronounced as that type is. over all rating about a six.
not great, but not a spitter. on the fence about saving seeds. too many
projects already.

stay tuned


keith

When selecting from possible Scarchuks Supreme crosses, I recommend examining how thick the vines are.

I just cut open, peeled, seeded and frozen the one good squash from all of my Monstah trials. All others quickly rotted.

The 30 foot vine had mottled leaves like a moschata (very rare for a maxima), 22 pounds, pink with a light slate gray underside, tapered/shaped like a turkey. I'm a couple of weeks away from tasting it. I will send you seeds when they are thoroughly dry.

[rxkeith]

today, i baked one of the tetsukabuto squash from saved seeds.
size and shape was about the same as tesukabuto about 3 to 4 lbs.
skin was a lighter green in color than tetsukabuto.
baked at 350 over an hour, due to distractions. flesh was a bright
golden orange color, fine grained, not dry. i thought it was very good.
a bit sweeter than the f1 hybrid, and stronger taste. somewhere between
7 and 8 on the flavor on the flavor scale. i asked my wife what she thought.
she said ehhh, it was ok. what do mean just ok, i said. well, she sampled it
after eating some of the scarchuks supreme, and thelma sanders baked at the
same time. she give those two nines.

interesting to me comparison, tetsukabuto f1 was very shy on producing mature seeds.
i got very few seeds total that looked viable from several squash. the squash i baked
tonight had a good number of mature seeds. i will be saving some if anyone is interested
in growing it out. pollinators would be sugar hubbard or one of the hybrid hubbards i grew
last year. too late for the swap, but i can get them out to individuals before spring.


keith

[GoDawgs]

@rxkeith, what do you think about the Thelma Sanders? I'm thinking about trying that this year.

[rxkeith]

thelma sanders sweet potato has been a very consistent performer
for me. even this past year that was a bad one for squash here, i still
got a good number of thelma. flavor is very good, just a notch below
scarchuks supreme. thelma is more moist than scarchuks which is a little
drier and earthier tasting. i would definitely recommend growing it.



keith

[rxkeith]

todays squash was another tesukabuto off spring.
wasn't sure about this one to begin with. it was an 8 lb oval squash,
only one of its kind. it had an ugly, sinister looking dull green skin. if ever a
squash could look malevolent, this was the one. i cut it open, and the
flesh was a bright orange in color. looked promising. baked at 350 for an
hour. that was too long. 45 minutes tops would have been better.
flavor was very sweet, flesh was soft, maybe from being over cooked. this
squash would be a good candidate for sweet potato pie. very good tasting.
add a few spices, throw it in a pie shell, and yum. i give it a solid 8 to 8.5
my wife concurs. squash of the year.
saving seeds.


keith

[rxkeith]

baked another tetsukabuto offspring a couple days ago.
this one was between 3 and 4 lbs, slightly larger than its mama.
it had beautiful golden orange color flesh when cut open. i like that
color. baked at 350 until done. it was good, but not great. mildly sweet,
on the drier side of moist with some earthiness in the flavor. i gave it a
weak 7 on the taste scale. saving seeds, cause thats what i do. never know
what will come up in the next generation.


keith

[Tormato]

todays squash was another tesukabuto off spring.
wasn't sure about this one to begin with. it was an 8 lb oval squash,
only one of its kind. it had an ugly, sinister looking dull green skin. if ever a
squash could look malevolent, this was the one. i cut it open, and the
flesh was a bright orange in color. looked promising. baked at 350 for an
hour. that was too long. 45 minutes tops would have been better.
flavor was very sweet, flesh was soft, maybe from being over cooked. this
squash would be a good candidate for sweet potato pie. very good tasting.
add a few spices, throw it in a pie shell, and yum. i give it a solid 8 to 8.5
my wife concurs. squash of the year.
saving seeds.


keith

You should have my mailing address.

[rxkeith]

yes i do gary,

careful what you ask for.

daaaaaa. dum


keith

[rxkeith]

today it was the monstah baby.
the monstah was a 33 pounda i grew in 2023 that was outstanding.
we ate a bunch, took a full crock pot of it to church, and brought it
back empty. i was eager to try this one. only other squash i had of this
one went bad. the baby was no monstah. it weighed about 9 lbs. orange skin.
baked until done at 350 for an hour. the cooked squash was a very bright golden
orange in color. must be a lot of beta carotene in it. the taste was overwhelmingly
average. give er about a 6.5 rating. good enough to eat, just not great.

after further review, i'm giving it a solid 7.
it tastes pretty good eaten cold out of the fridge, so thats what im doing.

that great flavor, where did it go? can i get it back in a future generation? i don't
know much about squash genetics. i think i need to grow out more seeds from the
monstah, and hope i have a better harvest this year than last year. need more than
one squash to make a comparison. saving a few seeds just in case.


keith

[BlackKrim]

@rxkeith

upon further review, i am giving this second squash a seven on the taste scale.
i'm eating leftover squash cold out of the fridge, and am liking it. so there.

I'm rather enjoying your squash epic and your humor. Winter squash is my favourite food and I had always been on the lookout for that perfect variety. I found it years ago. It is referred to by the folks in France as "melonette" for its unbelievable sweetness. I have grown maybe 15 or so varieties over the years but have never tasted one better than this. It is not large, though. Cannot have everything!

[rxkeith]

tonight, it was the last tetsukabuto offspring.
this one had a dull light green skin with light fluting ribs on the surface.
a little wider in the middle than long, nice shape. 6 lbs in weight.
baked until over done. thought i had enough time to get the dog out, shut
up the chickens, and barn cats, and get a few arm loads of wood in the house.
when i checked the time, it was ACCCKKKK, over an hour. i bake it cut side down
in a pyrex with a small amount of water, so the squash doesn't go charcoal chip if
over cooked. its just really soft, and cooked.
this one was that bright golden orange in color, flavor was very good, some where
between an 8 and a 9 my wife says. no seeds to share with this one gary. it must have
had the parthenocarpic trait. there were only two seeds of size, and i damaged one when
i cut the squash open. the other one looks like it might be able to grow.

i am pretty happy with how the tetsukabuto offspring have turned out so far. they have all been
good to very good eating. i will plan on growing some of the offspring in this years garden.
gary will be getting a few seeds to play around with or disperse if he likes.


keith

[Tormato]

tonight, it was the last tetsukabuto offspring.
this one had a dull light green skin with light fluting ribs on the surface.
a little wider in the middle than long, nice shape. 6 lbs in weight.
baked until over done. thought i had enough time to get the dog out, shut
up the chickens, and barn cats, and get a few arm loads of wood in the house.
when i checked the time, it was ACCCKKKK, over an hour. i bake it cut side down
in a pyrex with a small amount of water, so the squash doesn't go charcoal chip if
over cooked. its just really soft, and cooked.
this one was that bright golden orange in color, flavor was very good, some where
between an 8 and a 9 my wife says. no seeds to share with this one gary. it must have
had the parthenocarpic trait. there were only two seeds of size, and i damaged one when
i cut the squash open. the other one looks like it might be able to grow.

i am pretty happy with how the tetsukabuto offspring have turned out so far. they have all been
good to very good eating. i will plan on growing some of the offspring in this years garden.
gary will be getting a few seeds to play around with or disperse if he likes.


keith

I've been reading that saved seed of Tetsukabuto generally doesn't do well in trials.

My one experience was a runt of a plant. The largest leaves were about 2 1/2" X 2 1/2", vine to about 2 feet long, no flowers, and it died early. The saved seed was likely a cross of Tetsukabuto with Long of Naples. I've never seen any other squash plant in my garden ever come close to being that small.

[rxkeith]

the issue for me with tesukabuto f1 was getting seeds to save. i had about 9 or 10
mature squash last year, and it took all of them to get enough seeds for maybe a
packet or two. these were MATURE squash. i don't know if it was intentional with
the breeders or what. tetsukabuto is shy on producing viable seeds.
all i can say is that the saved seeds that i planted sprouted,
and grew the same as the other squash last year. they all took a month to get going
due to the weather. pollinators were hubbard or hubbard types which tend to be large
vigorous vines. maybe the pollinator makes a difference with the progeny.
all of the progeny tasted at least as good as tetsukabuto. some tasted much better.
it will be fun on my part to see what the next generation brings.


keith

[Whwoz]

@rxkeith, the issue with the Tetsukabuto F1 squash is that it is an interspecies cross, with only low seed viability. Hopefully as you carry these forward through the generations they will become more fertile for you