It's hard to grow C. moschata in hardiness Zone 6, when early frost forces you to harvest in the first half of September.
Yes, fruits can mature indoor, but I need best seed quality, and for that aim I like to mature fruits with natural UV-B rays outdoor.
o.k. I have to shorten the ripening of C. moschata, or I have to transfer the flesh quality of C. moschata into C. maxima.
Both ways I do these years with some C. moschata varieties.
It's very easy to shorten ripening with a booster like Atlantic Giant or other giant C. maxima. But people say, that you can't cross C. maxima and C. moschata...
Forget it! There already are some interspecific varieties on the markets, but much more can be done!
For this Cucurbita moschata 'Lloydelli' I took the academically bred 'Estrella' from Florida and elongated the globe fruit with another C. moschata: 'Bambina Gigante' from Italy with the double recessive bn-factor for long neck, while Butternuts have the dominant Bn.
Out of the selfed Estrella x Bambina Gigante I had a F2 with many elongated fruits and the bn with no Butternut-factor together in most fruits, which made the phenotype of an ellipsoid.
In 2014 it was pollinated by the genetically prolonged (stretto bred) old world record 935 Lloyd 97 a pure Lloyd breeding in three succeeding generations and only selfed then over two generations.
Flesh quality is best and finer-grained then in many other C. moschata.
Bambina Gigante matures in 150 days from pollination, and that is far too tardy for my climate.
La Estrella has 110 days.
But the Atlantic Giant is a strong booster in the first six weeks, and so I can harvest fruits only 80 days old and store them through the winter.

This post was edited by acorneti on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 12:50