Vining Summer Squashes

[imp]

LOL, along with tomatoes, peppers, flowers, eggplants, various winter and summer squashes, corn, peas, beans,okra, rozelle, lettuces, cabbage, melons....

I COULD row some of the long vined ones in the back or front, and onto the roof of the first story....sort of like ivy, but I could eat it!!

What is the name of that one in your pictures above, the long one?

[pepperhead212]

@imp, Here is where I got my seeds (plus a lot of other Asian veggie seeds).
http://evergreenseeds.com/calgouropo.html

The varieties I grew are the India Long, and Asia short (a.k.a. Dhol). A couple other things I thought about, that I forgot: the plants are fairly resistant to bugs, since the leaves, and stems, and "hairy", which is not something the larger bugs like to crawl on. The friits have minute hairs, but not like hairy gourds - another thing you will see in Asian markets, and I tried to grow, but died from disease, before I got a single fruit. These also store much better than regular summer squash - I've had them on my counter for over 2 weeks, and they were barely showing any signs of it.

I don't have a huge lot, by any means, but that's why I dug up almost my entire back yard, to grow things (a 35'x40" garden, plus all the other areas I put things). And I have a lot of trellises, for tomatoes, pole beans, peas, gourds, cukes, and for growing those eggplants against, since they often get taller than me, in those SIPs. If it was legal, I'd dig up my front yard, and grow food!

@Vlado, They have more flavor than zucchini, and a similar flavor, but not much, and not sweet, like some winter squash. Like zucchini, it's all what you put them with! Not a flavorful veggie, like asparagus, and many others.

If you have any Indian groceries in your area, you can find those there, if you want to sample before growing. The SE Asian, Chinese, and Korean markets have had them, but not always.

Another thing I did with them I forgot - the first year, when I had more than I knew what to do with, I sliced them 1/8" thick, and made chips out of them, in the dehydrator. Should have made them a little thicker, but they were still good, as long as the dip wasn't too thick, as they would break.

[jmsieglaff]

@imp I found something a few years ago that I use in place of summer squash - bottle gourds. I simply can't grow non-moschata squash here, due to SVBs - I'm lucky to get one or two squash, before the plants are gone. I tried some of the vining varieties, as well as chayote, but gave up on it, and I didn't like that Italian vining zucchini - a moschata species, but the fruits got sappy.

The bottle gourds are a different genus ( Lageneria siceraria) and are not susceptible to SVB. The fruits are sort of like a summer squash - not a whole lot of flavor, and full of water (1 lb reduces to 1 oz, dehydrated), but they don't get mushy, even after 15 minutes cooking! And not seedy, until quite large. The plants are very productive, and very viney! It seems like at the base of every leaf, there's a sucker! One drawback: it flowers at night. Early in the season t
(They start flowering in 45-50 days) I had to hand pollinate them, but later on, night-time insects came around. And when I grew only the long variety, a bunch of female flowers came out, and there were no males to pollinate them! Opposite of winter squash I grow. When both were grown, I guess it was the small one that had male flowers early, I just didn't notice.

.......

I like the idea of trying immature bottle gourds as a summer squash substitute. Do you need to peel them before cooking them or is the skin also edible and not bitter?

[akgardengirl]

I grew both Tatume and Giallia Nostrale last season and both were vining and very tasty to me. I had very limited seed for the Giallia Nostrale so it is being grown elsewhere to produce more seeds which I can't do in my short season. I recommend both of these varieties.

[imp]

I have grown the Giallia Nostrale a few years back and really disliked the fruits, gave them all away and even cut down the vines. Had one friend who liked it, but most went to those with unguarded pick up trucks on Sundays. For me, they were very watery and mushy textured, even with scant water to the plants. They did grow well, almost bursting with vigor, and produced amazing amounts of fruit.

[rxkeith]

this thread reminds me of the squash i used to have from my great uncle steve. long vines. the squash was a lighter green color, might have had some
darker green stripes. not too long, but could get fatter when mature. i lost it years ago, when the seeds went moldy on me. i made a note to look up
the trailing green marrow variety to see if that one is similar.



keith

[imp]

I swear I recall some sort of zucchinis that ran, and warty yellow crooknecks that ran all over as well.

[pepperhead212]

@imp I found something a few years ago that I use in place of summer squash - bottle gourds. I simply can't grow non-moschata squash here, due to SVBs - I'm lucky to get one or two squash, before the plants are gone. I tried some of the vining varieties, as well as chayote, but gave up on it, and I didn't like that Italian vining zucchini - a moschata species, but the fruits got sappy.

The bottle gourds are a different genus ( Lageneria siceraria) and are not susceptible to SVB. The fruits are sort of like a summer squash - not a whole lot of flavor, and full of water (1 lb reduces to 1 oz, dehydrated), but they don't get mushy, even after 15 minutes cooking! And not seedy, until quite large. The plants are very productive, and very viney! It seems like at the base of every leaf, there's a sucker! One drawback: it flowers at night. Early in the season t
(They start flowering in 45-50 days) I had to hand pollinate them, but later on, night-time insects came around. And when I grew only the long variety, a bunch of female flowers came out, and there were no males to pollinate them! Opposite of winter squash I grow. When both were grown, I guess it was the small one that had male flowers early, I just didn't notice.

.......

I like the idea of trying immature bottle gourds as a summer squash substitute. Do you need to peel them before cooking them or is the skin also edible and not bitter?

You are instructed to peel the bottle gourds in the recipes I've seen for them. They have very tiny hairs on them, but what I do is sort of scrub them off - the green skin is not bitter at all, nor is it tough. I just dice it up or shred it up with the flesh.

[friedgreen51]

I was interested in vining squash a couple of years ago and someone from Tomatoville sent me seed of Gialle Nostrale. I didn't have much luck with those. Seed didn't germinate well and the one squash I did get was kind of mushy tasting.

Jeannine Anne answered an old post I had on Tomatoville and sent me two varieties that she had order from Great Britian. There zucchini is called Courgette.
The 2 seed packets she sent were Black Forest (a green zucchini) and Shooting Star (a gold zucchini). The seed were from 2016 but they germinated in just a few days.Here they are happily growing in my garden today.

Black Forest Vining Zuchini.jpg

Shooting Star Vining Zuchini.jpg

Here is a link to a possible seed source https://www.kingsseeds.com/Products/Veg ... -Forest-F1

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/courg ... our%20crop.

[friedgreen51]

Quick update on the vining zucchini. I checked today and the Black Forest zucchini has a nice zucchini. The Black Forest and Shooting Star are both healthy plants and no squash vine borers.

Black Forest.jpg

[friedgreen51]

Harvested the first Black Forest Vining Zucchini tonight.
Still no signs of squash vine borers. Beautiful plant.

Black Forest Zucchini.jpg

[EdieJ]

I will have to see if I can find seeds for those for next year!

[karstopography]

Does that squash climb with tendrils, such as a spaghetti squash? Or is it more of an open habit, sprawling type that doesn’t grip the trellis with a tendril?

I plan on growing Tromboncinos types in the future and from what I can tell those do have tendrils that grip much like a spaghetti squash or cucumber. It doesn’t look like that Black Forest Vining Zucchini has tendrils in the photo above, but I just can’t make out every detail.

[friedgreen51]

I will check for tendrils in the morning. I keeps putting out new growth which I have tied up.
Also will make another picture. It is quite a bit bigger than in the first photo.

[friedgreen51]

Does that squash climb with tendrils, such as a spaghetti squash? Or is it more of an open habit, sprawling type that doesn’t grip the trellis with a tendril?

I plan on growing Tromboncinos types in the future and from what I can tell those do have tendrils that grip much like a spaghetti squash or cucumber. It doesn’t look like that Black Forest Vining Zucchini has tendrils in the photo above, but I just can’t make out every detail.

I checked on the Black Forest Vining Zucchini tonight and there are no tendrils. It has a long open habit that needs tying to get it going up on the trellis.
Here is a picture of it tonight. It has another nice zucchini forming and is a healthy plant.

Black Forest Vining Zucchini 06 24.jpg

[worth1]

I have some comments to make on tendrils but not tonight.

[pepperhead212]

Here are some photos of those bottle gourds. The first one is the oldest, started around 5-10; I originally had two started before that, but both were eaten by something - not slugs, but maybe a bird. So I started two more, and one was eaten - no idea what, so I kept trying, and the other 3 are all alive. The second one in the first photo has only 3 sets of leaves, the rest is all the first plant, with many vines!
Bottle gourd, almost all one plant, with the smallest one started a few weeks ago, 3 leaves behind. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The two in this photo are much younger, but the one on the right grew at least 18 inches in less than 6 hours today! I know this because I sprayed surround on it, and that fourth leaf down (the first bright green leaf, in the sun) from the top of the right vine was the first, just forming! When I looked almost 6 hours later, the line of surround is about 4" below the 4th leaf - all the rest of the vine is new.
Bottle gourds, right one grown about 18 inches in 6 hours. 6-24 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Here are those bottle gourds just 5 days later. One pair of them is just getting some flower bugs. The Tinda gourds are starting to flower at only a foot long - they were the slowest to grow, but also aren't going to get nearly as large.
Bottle gourds getting huge, 6-29 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

And here are those vines 4 days later. Several past the top of the trellis, and that one really long one over 10 feet long. Only flower buds, so far, but should be opening soon.
Bottle gourds, 7-03. More vines every day! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Those Tinda gourds, which I grew for the first time this year, grew slowly, at first, but when it got very hot out, and was in the high 80s and low 90s (and 97° today), they started taking off! And, like the bottle gourd, no sign at all of SVB. And they are the quickest to flower, though no idea how hast they will grow. They are small round squash, looking like green apples, the reason for the nickname "Apple Gourd".
Tinda gourds, slow growing, until it got hot. 7-03 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[karstopography]

Just planted a few luffa gourd seeds, both the smooth and rough types. Sort of a test plot in the spot where my french filet beans were. Plan is to eat them in the immature green stage. Supposed to be strong climbing plants, but not really a squash, more a cousin to squash I think. I’m still planning to seed a plot or two of Tromboncinos for a fall crop, maybe later in July.