The green spikey cup-like things are likely the flower buds. You should see flowers soon and if you see tiny butternuts your plants are on the right track. Just give them some more time. Waltham butternuts are a different species than their more common squash counterparts (they are C. moschata whereas most others are C. pepo) I have noticed in previous years that they seem to be slower to flower than other squash planted at the same time. I have some waltham butternuts that aren't flowering yet either, but I am not worried.

Thanks weirdtrev!
I wonder how those little baby squash were formed without a blossom?
Thanks for all your great info.

I assume the blossom is still attached to the squash, correct? They likely haven't flowered yet. Female flowers have an immature little squash right underneath them.

I really need to go out and take a picture. Still no blossoms, just these green spikey things........a couple of which have a little squash under them. Its almost like they are a new breed of blossom.......green, small and spikey!
The female plant can't produce a little squash without being fertilized, right? And it can't be fertilized until its a big yellow blossom, right?

The spikey thing is probably an immature blossom that isn't ready to open yet.

So why would some of them have a baby squash behind it?

Have you grown squash before? There are male and female flowers. The females have immature fruit behind them. And every female flower will not turn into a fruit they have to be pollinated and the plant needs to be able to support them.

Yes, I've grown squash before, but I don't remember them acting this way.
Are you saying the female blossoms have an immature fruit behind them, BEFORE they are even pollinated??
Here's a pic I took. I hope its big enough for you to see. There's a little squash behind this green immature blossom. I just always thought a baby couldn't be born without fertilization!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:100855}}

P.S. I usually see these little squashes after the big yellow blossom drops off......but I've never seen any yellow blossoms in the squash patch, and I've checked it every day.

Yes, that's how you identify a female flower -- it has the baby squash on it from the start.

Its more obvious on squash with an open, vining habit than on bush squash that bear their fruit more deeply under the leaves. :-)

I can't believe I never knew this!! So the baby squash is always on the female flower.....but it doesn't start growing until it is fertilized?? How strange! Is that about the only vegetable that does things this way?

I can't think of any other veggies that have that arrangement. Its proving a great way to help my kids learn more about how plants grow.

Squash are fun, aren't they? :-)

Slight correction on that.

I'm talking about squash and their relatives -- pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers all have the tiny fruit at the base of the female flowers.

I don't know of any other veggie group that has the same.

Thanks so much iam3killerbs, for that lesson in sex education! :)
I was talking to my family about this at dinner, expressing that I thought it curious that a baby squash could even exist without pollination, and my son (20 years old) suggested that maybe the fertilization causes the seeds in the baby squash to grow. Do you know if this is correct?
I can't believe I've grown these types of veggies for 35 years, and didn't know this!

Yes, after fertilization the seeds, within their fruit, grow. If you've ever had a misshapen squash -- large on only one end, normal on one side and dwarfed on the other, or with a wasp-waist between two normal section, etc. -- that's from incomplete pollination where only some of the seeds were fertilized and grew normally.

But if none of the seeds are pollinated the baby squash shrivels or rots and drops off while the plant tries again with new flowers.

Have you read the hand-pollination thread? Its fascinating. I'm going to practice that on my summer squash so I can get pure seed for my Watauga Pie Pumpkins.

Thanks iam3killerbs!
So each individual seed gets fertilized......like each kernel of corn? How cool!
I'll check out the hand-pollination thread.
Thanks so much for your help!