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  • From: Alliums <garlicgrower AT earthlink.net>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Squash hybrids vs. open pollinated
  • Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 21:00:01 -0500

Rick wrote:

Are many or most squash that are grown generally an F1 hybrid?

The problem, when one is growing seeds from the odd squash, isn't whether or not the original plant which produced the squash is a hybrid, it's what pollen the squash flower this plant produced was exposed to.

Squash is a pain in the butt when it comes to producing true-to-the-parent seed. The pollen is both insect and wind borne and it's viable for nearly a mile so ANY squash if it's the same species of squash (out of only 3 species with nearly limitless varieties) can pollinate your squash and God only knows (really!) what you will get. Seed Savers Exchange suggested that you row-cover/cage squash plants and hand-pollinate the flowers to make sure you get the seed you want. As most of the older varieties seem to take up nearly a mile of ground on their own, it's *really* hard to row-cover the vines and then find the squash flowers on the day before they bloom -- so not a whole lot of people grow out squash.

That said, I get *remarkable* consistency with my C. moshatas (sp) that grow out of the compost pile. The biggest problem seem to be that some of them wish they were in the tropics and take longer than my season to mature -- the year I had neck-pumpkin-like lengths on butternut shaped squash was a classic -- none of them ripened before the heavy frost. But most years, I tend to get what I planted the year before (don't ask me about this year's COURAGE cheese pumpkins from France that bore only one tiny rotted pumpkin last year that I threw on the compost pile in disgust while this year I got a *beautiful* plant with 5 cheese pumpkins, including one that took 2nd place in the squash category at the Philadelphia Harvest Show). Summer squash never work as well, but with a C. moshata, I think it's worth planting it out and seeing what you get. . .


Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden

A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460






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