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inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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Posted by lroberge 5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 10, 06 at 22:08
| Greetings! I am growing butternut squash (first time).
I have about 8 or 9 at present on various vines.
One question: when do I pick them? What do they look like?
What is the color that distinguishes them as ripe and ready to pick? Can they get "overripe"?
I would appreciate any input here.
Thank you.
Lawrence |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| When the stems turn tan color and look dried a bit is when they get picked. They shouldn't ever get overripe, as once they do, they start to spoil quickly |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| they're a storage squash, I've always waited and picked after the first frost. it's fine to store them out in the garden till harvest. I've never had one overripe. I've always picked after frost, left ouside, turning 1/4 turn every day for about a week. then put them in the basement for long term storage. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I pick mine when they are a tan color with no green lines running through them. If they have a lot of green you have to peel way down a lot to the flesh. They will keep a few months if kept in a cool dry place. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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I wait till first frost too.
If you give them a quick dip (or wipe) in a bleach/water solution, it will kill any bacteria on the outside and help them store longer.
Doesn't take much bleach! Maybe a tablespoon or two in a gallon or so of water. I don't measure, just a couple "glugs" from the bottle.
Deanna |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| With all squash, I wait until the stem is tan and cracking. I know that a lot of people wait until the first frost, however if that first frost turns out to be a harder frost than you expected, it can damage the fruit. Our family lives on the stuff, so we grow a couple hundred lbs every summer of various kinds. I have begun storing squash in a light, dry room on plastic shelving with newspaper or cardboard underneath. I use our greenhouse. They lasted all winter and the dozen or so that remained only began to go off in early May when the greenhouse started to seriously heat up from the sun. What were left I cut in half, seed-scooped, and baked for an hour at 350, and the half squash frozen in a plastic bag. It was easy to take one out, thaw it, scoop it out, and snarf. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I checked the garden log from last year pick when the stems have turned brown and vines have died off. cut leaving 1-2 inches of stem. leave outdoors to cure as prev mentiond. use a 10:1 water to bleach solution to wash off the squash before storing to kill bacteria. careful not to bump or damage as fruit famage shortens storage life. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I am so glad this question was posted! We grew them for the first time this year also and were wondering the same thing. Thanks for posting this! |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I have a great recipe for butternut squash soup that I made up. It is yummy and cheaper than the $3 box Campbell's is selling their's for. Respond here and I'll send it to you. Enjoy! |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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Please post Eileen!
I would love to have the soup recipe!
Deanna |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Ok, I have to chime in here... Last year was my first year growing butternuts. I left them out until a frost nipped them, and wasn't happy I did... The places where they had gotten a little frost were the fastest to rot once they were stored. I vote with Diane here -- I will pick when they are fully tan / no green stripes left... Emily |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| To help reduce spoilage of squash after harvesting. A dip into a weak solution of water and chlorine beach will help. The chlorine will kill off any surface fungus or mold, so they will not spoil as quickly. Also, even though squash it quite hard, they can bruise easily, so use care when handling them. I preference is buttercup, or some of the similar strains. They seem to have a sweeter richer flavor. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| So... I got a late start and we got an early frost and my squash isn't ripe, they all got faint lines on them still and we just had a freak frost last night (I didn't cover them - suppose I should have) now as the ground thaws it looks like the leaves will be dropping off the vine. Is there anything I can do to get the fruits to further mature? Is it possible the vine is still alive? We won't have another frost for a couple weeks. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| If there was a frost and leaves are dying, no, it will not continue to grow. Most all plants need healthy leaves to give the strength to their fruits. Without leaves, the fruits will quickly die. The squash should not be left out in a frost as it will also perish quickly. They can harden a little indoors, but use the method I mentioned to reduce/prevent fungal damages. Try covering the plants with a heavy weight plastic frost barrier plastic. Because leaves have been frost bitten, they will not return and more will soon die too. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| No no... We had a FREAK frost, we will not have another one for 3 weeks or so, and many leaves have been killed, but not all. So the vines are still alive, just without most of their leaves, meanwhile the squash are large, but unripe. I can leave the squash outside for another 3 weeks without risk of frost, so worrying about future frost isn't the issue. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Eileen4flowers, I would love your soup recipe too! I grew butternuts for the first time this year. Still a few on the vine, if the bugs don't get them. . . |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I'm not worried about frost.... only gophers, who eat the squashes from the ground up, unseen. I just raised the last few big ones up off the ground with some "pot feet" in hopes of deterring the gopher. It would be nice if the last would get ripe before the vines die of old age. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Here it was a big huge woodchuck that feasted on my very special butter squash and the vines. Also got all my sweet potatoes. It was war and I had to get a Conabear trap to get that rodent. Spent a small fortune on the traps, lures and even scent marker. It finally took the bait. The trap can snap a mans arm in two, and requires 60 pounds of pull on each of the two springs. No other varment since then will cross my garden and get away with destroying it. My watermelon vines died out just about the same time as the melons were ripe enough. For watermelons, you look at the tendril opposite the melon stem if its brown, the melon is ripe. If I hadn't started the melons indoors early May, there would have been very few ready. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I never heard of them getting over-ripe. I pick mine when I see the vine where it attaches is no longer green. I keep them in a cool dry place until baked. They last for months. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Would love the soup recipe! Thanks!
diana |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| The dip into a weak water and bleach solution can prevent early spoliage. As mentioned before, squash, even though quite hard, can get bruised. Once it happens, it will travel into the flesh. There are granular products used to deter moles and gophers. I lost many crocus bulbs and added an abrasive pelletized product underneath the bulbs. Castor bean oil has also been used to ge rid of them, but it just chases them away. If you find an open burrow, add smoke bombs to the holes and quickly cover them kill the rodents. Voles also destroy roots and other tubers. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| I am so glad, Iroberge, you asked this question. I have never raised winter squash because I didn't know what to do or when. Also, didn't know about the bleach water. Thanks for asking and thank everyone for responding. My Grandmother used to punch a hole in the mole runs and drop a few castor beans in. She also dug down into the gopher hole and dropped some. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Castor is fine to chase them away, but a smoke bomb dropped into the holes will usually do them in. Once they get asphyxiated from the poison smoke, they are already in the right place for their death. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Here's how I make squash soup: Cook a winter squash and scrape out the insides (seeds can be discarded or used elsewhere). In a souppot, saute a chopped onion and a couple cloves of garlic. Add a can of chicken broth and a chopped up apple (peeled and cored). Add the squash. Cook until all is tender (5-10 minutes). Then run the soup through a blender (in batches). Put back in the souppot, add milk to the consistency you like and heat back up. It's delicious. |
What does butternut squash look like
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| I had bought some butternut squash plants from an old farmer. Now that they are producing I am not so sure they are butternut squash. They are round and have green stripes on them. Not at all a "nut" shape like you would think. Does this happen later on or did I get watermelon or some other variety of butternut I am not aware of. Thank you. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Yes, that variety sounds like Buttercup, as opposed to Butternut. They are actually two very different varieties of winter squash, and don't look at all alike, although the name would insinuate that they would :) |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Is it still too late for that recipe??? Thanks!! |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Butternut are not 'nut' shaped, although some buttercup are shaped like acorns with their crown attached. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Yikes! Looks like I picked mine way too early as they had stopped getting any bigger and some were brown. So I picked those. It seems though, that since the stems were still green that was not the best thing to do (it's ok I have a lot coming up!) But what to do with the ones I picked? Some are light green but had hail damage so I picked those too so the bugs wouldn't get them. Any ideas? |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Once picked the squash will not ripen further. Always pick when stems are tan and dry. If they are sitting on the ground, place them on a piece of wood or some heavy fabric mulch which will help reduce insect damages. |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| The round green striped mystery squash sounds like it could also maybe be a delicata? Especially if she thinks it looks like a little watermelon... Here are pictures of both.
Buttercup
 Delicata
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RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Buttercup usually has a lighter rounded area of ligher green color at the opposite end to the stem. This area is bulging out a little too. Kobacha is similar and looks like what you have in the photo |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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- Posted by loolie So Cal, z10 (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 1, 09 at 19:43
| I had a nice big crop this year but have eaten two squash and both have been a bit dry, flesh more like an acorn or hubbard. I love the smooth texture and the sweetness of butternut. What might have happened, what could I have done wrong? Thanks! |
RE: inquiry-when to pick butternut squash
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| Sorry, loolie, I hadn't noticed your questions. There was a post on one of the Vegetable Forums about this. One poster said: RE: What Makes Butternut Squash Dry?
clip this post email this post what is this?
see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by zeedman 5_Great Lakes (My Page) on
Fri, Sep 12, 08 at 17:45 Most squashes are at their "driest" immediately after harvest... not in terms of their moisture content, but in their cooked consistency. At this point (provided the squash was fully ripe) the starch content is very high, and the cooked texture will resemble mashed potatoes. So if you cooked a fresh-picked squash, Casey, that was probably the reason for the dryness. Personally, I prefer squash at this stage, when it can be used as the starch in a meal. I leave them on the vine as long as possible to preserve their starch content, and also to allow the seeds to fatten up for seed saving. Once a squash has been separated from the vine, the starch begins the process of conversion to sugars. The squash becomes sweeter, and the consistency (when cooked) begins to soften. Some prefer their squash in this stage... and if they have always eaten winter squash after it has aged, it may be that the soft, sweet stage is all they know. It comes down, I suppose, to personal preference. I like acorn squash when fresh-picked, and hubbards & buttercups after they have aged. The entire thread is linked below. Hope this helps! |
Here is a link that might be useful: What Makes Butternut Squash Dry?
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