Summer Squash in the Fall

[karstopography]

Giving 41 day Dixie Hybrid Yellow Squash and 49 Day Early White Scallop Squash a shot this fall. Direct seeded this morning. As far as I can remember, this is my first effort at summer squash in the fall.

[Vanman]

I have never been successful with summer squash planted as a fall crop. It just does not thrive as I expected it to. Of course YMMV and I hope it works out well for you.

[PlainJane]

I’ve got melons, cukes and squash all going in the last few weeks as it was too hot for cool weather stuff and I hate seeing empty garden space. Seeds are relatively cheap and pushing gardening boundaries is fun.

[GoDawgs]

Wow, we're too close to frost to do that now. I don't remember the last time I planted fall squash. That would have to be August and maybe too hot. Thanks for the reminder as I'll add that to my fall list for next year right now before I forget.

[karstopography]

Wow, we're too close to frost to do that now. I don't remember the last time I planted fall squash. That would have to be August and maybe too hot. Thanks for the reminder as I'll add that to my fall list for next year right now before I forget.

I’m planting 41 and 49 day squash, Dixie hybrid and a white scallop. That’s 41 and 49 days from direct seeding. November 2022 started the month in the high 70s and December 3rd it was 81°. October 2022 had three days over 90° and the rest of the highs were mostly in the 80°s. First frost here in 2022 was December 22nd.

Most of my garden gets more direct sunlight during the lower angled sun around and on the winter side of the equinox.

If the squash doesn’t work out, there’s about a million greens/cabbage/lettuce/winter vegetables to plant. Winter here means more options to plant than the summer.

[karstopography]

The squash is poking up this morning, Five days after seeding. Faster than many of the notable online gardening information websites published times of 7-14 days.

[Seven Bends]

Fourteen days for squash seeds to come up?? I think sometimes that's how many days after seeding it takes for summer squash to blossom.

[karstopography]

My squash is looking great. I had some seedling attrition due to I think cutworms, but I over-seeded by a long shot so no big deal. I have transplanted almost all the excess seedlings into open spaces in the beds. Looks like I’ll end up with at least four early white patty pan plants and four Dixie hybrid Yellow squash. Seedlings look great even the ones taken from one spot and put in another. Just have to be gentle and take a big plug of soil when transplanting direct seeded squash from one bed to another it seems.

Long range forecast for October looks about ideal for squash. Middle 80s kind of highs, middle to high 60s type of lows predominates according to the prognostication. Nothing below 60° to speak of and the 90s look to be going away. First half of November looks similar if not a touch cooler, but I see some 40s in the second half. Maybe I’ll get a decent crop before then. Hard to bank on long term forecasts, but there’s always a measure of hope in gardening.

[karstopography]

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Some of the young squash plants as of this morning. Everything seems hunky dory.

[karstopography]

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Getting some squash procreation going on here. I helped with a paint brush.

[GoDawgs]

Looking at your planting dates and what they look like now, I'll probably have to start mine in August. I'd have to shoot for having squash made by mid October. First frost is late this year; usually around mid October then nice again until Mr. Killer comes around 10-14 November. But first frost is coming next Wednesday morning.

[Danny]

Your squash is doing better than mine is right now. Just got a few first blooms, all male. Covering them in a plastic tent, along with the surviving ( and blooming ) tomatoes and peppers. Covering as we are going to have several nights down to a frost/freeze or slightly below, then warming a bit again.

Yours look great.

[karstopography]

Your squash is doing better than mine is right now. Just got a few first blooms, all male. Covering them in a plastic tent, along with the surviving ( and blooming ) tomatoes and peppers. Covering as we are going to have several nights down to a frost/freeze or slightly below, then warming a bit again.

Yours look great.

I’m almost always a little low on getting the fertility right with squash. I’ve never been especially dialed in growing squash. I think I was initially a little low again this time, but gave them a couple of liquid fertilizer treatments and they appear to have caught up. Seems like our gloom and 10 inches of rain in three days set them back a little, but they recovered from that also.

It’s been above normal here temperature wise for a while, but probably about ideal for squash.

[karstopography]

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Harvested 2 dixie yellow hybrid squash this morning. What is that 50 days from sowing, 45 days from germination? More little squash on the vines that are developing.

We had a couple close call unseasonably cool near frosty nights and a little stretch of cooler weather that might have slowed things down a tad. The leaves took a bit of a battering by cold winds and temperatures, but the plants look to have rebounded nicely.

I might have had them a tad under on the fertilizer, but have tried to correct that with liquid soil fertilizer inputs. There has been some recent attacks on the tender leaves by something I think in the caterpillar genre and I gave the plants a dose of spinosad this morning after the harvest.

Overall, I’m encouraged by this summer squash in the fall experiment. Weather looks pretty favorable for the next couple of weeks at least. I think with upping my squash game and careful timing and cultivar selection a good crop of summer squash in the fall is very doable.

[worth1]

Very doable indeed.
Seeds are relatively cheap and worth the gamble.

[karstopography]

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The squash has mostly been doing well now in spite of November 2023 overall being cooler than average. I’ve ordered several types of scallop/patty pan seeds for 2024. This early white scallop seems to be a bit better cold adapted than the Dixie yellow hybrid squash. A couple of the Dixie Yellow squash plants have shut down completely, but the scallop squash plants still all are doing pretty well.

[GoDawgs]

... This early white scallop seems to be a bit better cold adapted than the Dixie yellow hybrid squash. A couple of the Dixie Yellow squash plants have shut down completely, but the scallop squash plants still all are doing pretty well.

Thanks for posting that. So noted! I think I will add the early white scallop to next year's fall list and try to start them a bit earlier than you do.

You've got some pretty squash there!

[karstopography]

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The patty pan squash is still going strong. Blooming well, pollinators are active, squash is setting. Getting a steady supply of squash coming inside. The yellow summer squash is still producing, but the new blooms seem to have about petered out to nothing. Might be the final harvest over the next couple of days for the yellow squash.

The two remaining yellow squash plants are on either side of a patty pan squash plant in the same raised bed and have received the same treatment as the patty pan. I have to conclude that patty pan squash, early white scallop, is better adapted for cooler fall weather than yellow summer squash, Dixie hybrid.

[karstopography]

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Squash update, still looking good.

So I thought of summer squash as a warm season vegetable only, but evidently summer squash has some ability to hang in there for extended periods of cooler weather.

This is why I experiment. Learn something new and get rewarded with tasty vegetables.

[Vanman]

Try growing them vertically on a stake. Picking squash standing up is wonderful. They only downside is that you have to tie them to the stake every couple of days.