can-anyone-identify-this-squash
Ruth J
Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
Any clues? It is getting bigger every day! It would be nice to know if it is a winter squash or a summer one. ie. Do I pick it now? Maybe it is not edible, and i'll have some unique carving to do at the end of October.
2 of these over a foot long now. Blimey.
0
Posts
Looks like squash Zephyr, but they recommend picking small.
Someone please tell me ... don't squashes, marrows and pumpkins hybridize like crazy if they are grown too close together?
Could this unknown fellow be utterly unique?
Peter, yes they do hybridise so you never know what you'll get from saved seed. Nearly all of this family keep well though - I've even stored courgettes (which grew to marrow size when I missed them) for 3 months before eating them in the Winter. I have some oddities myself from a few seeds I saved from last year - I think they're a cross between Summer pumpkin and Winter squash, so when I eat them I'll be calling them Autumn squashkins!
Thanks BobTheGardener, you have confirmed my suspicions.
They can cross-pollinate but the resultant hybrid fruit will only manifest in the next generation. That is, if you save seed from the cross-pollinated fruit and sow it next year. In the season that it's grown, cross-pollinated fruit will be exactly what you planted.
I've had problems for a couple of seasons with crossed melon seeds from bought packets of seeds. The seed company, or their supplier, has been less than thorough in their safeguards.
Looks like a yellow courgette grown a bit large - some of them have green patches depending on the variety and as has been said, the possibility of some cross-pollination.
Thanks Italophile, you have put my thoughts into words more eloquent than mine.
Ruth J, can you remember what types of courgette or squash you planted last year? That might give us some idea of possible cross-pollinations (unless the bees came to you from your neighbours pumpkin patch).