Ideally what I'm looking for is resistance to squash vine borers and good keeping qualities. I've got good C. moschata and C. pepo selections and have grown them in the past but mixta and maxima squashes I haven't fooled with before so I'm pretty well having to go by description. I ordered Green Striped Cushaw (C. mixta) because it's reputed to have borer resistance. I also ordered Sweet Meat Squash (C. maxima) because it's supposed to keep very well, though no word on borer resistance.

Baker Creek has a White Cushaw (Jonathan pumpkin) that is also reputed to be squash bug resistant so I may order that as well. Anyone grown the two before that can say if one is better than the other?

This year's Seed Saver's Yearbook has an Amish pie pumpkin that supposedly keeps very well that states "minimal pest problems noted when growing." This seems to be about as good as it gets for maximas though there's also a Red Kuri listed that is supposedly borer tolerant due to rooting at every node. Not sure if that would work in my mulched garden or not.

Anyone want to make any suggestions or should I just stay with what I've already ordered?

.....Alan.

.....Alan.

I hate it when no one pops up with an answer to a question, so thought I'd tackle this one although I am no authority on squash.

I am growing many of the squash you mention, and I don't usually have problems with squash vine borers. Many of mine do root right through the mulch, so maybe that is why they do so well.

When I've grown Amish pie pumpkin, it has grown and produced extremely well, with no disease or pest problems.

Also, I have grown a pumpkin for several years now that I think I originally got from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, although I think Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has it too. It is native to Florida and is called Seminole. It grows very much like Amish pie pumpkin: a rampant grower that won't quit and resists insects and disease. The fruit are small, maybe 3 or 4 lbs., tan-buff in color, and there are lots of them. Never once have they had a squash borer.

I have seed of Red Kuri. If you'd like some seed so you can try it, e-mail me your address and I'll snail mail you some seed.

Dawn

The Seminole Pumpkin is my C. moschata selection that I'm growing this year. I alternate it with Waltham Butternut as they both grow about as well, seem well nigh invulnerable to everything and keep better than anything I've seen.

Sure wish I could say the same for my summer squash...

.....Alan.

O.K., let's whine a little.

What are your top two summer squash problems?

Mine are squash borers and squash bugs. I hate them both.
It is a constant battle. Some years I win. Some years they win.

How about you?

Squash borers have been a problem some years and not other years. I'll be planting new ground this year so I expect they won't be much of a problem, but next year I think they likely will.

Pickle worms have been a problem at times. Even if they don't ruin the fruit they seem to spread a virus or something that causes many of the squash to turn green and/or taste bad.

Squash bugs I've seen but for some reason they're not often a problem.

.....Alan.

And even though I always have tons of squash bugs, I never have pickle worms.

BTW, I sent you some snail mail today.

Dawn

Vine borers have not been a problem for me; knock wood. I have squash bugs, but control them by hand-picking. Radishes help deter them from the bush varieties, but it's hard to interplant heavily enough with the vining types.

I'm wondering, too, if this thread wouldn't be better placed on the vegetable growing forum?

Around here yellow squash and zucchini seem about equally as productive and both susceptible to much the same insects and diseases. You can get a heck of a lot of squash while they last, but the powdery mildew is going to get them sooner or later. I've started succession planting them to get a longer season.

.....Alan.

I appreciate your problems, Alan. When it comes to insect pests and diseases you're in one of the two worst parts of the county. I think it's amazing you ever get to bring in _any_ crops, given your conditions.

What about growing summer squash as a fall crop? Does that work, given your longer season? I'm thinking if you planted them in, say, August, you might get an October harvest?

I wonder, too, if growing some of the vining marrows on trellises wouldn't help you control pests better?

I'd like to try trellising summer squash, but the few varieties that do run appreciably don't really appeal to me. I like a straight forward yellow squash like Early Prolific Straightneck or Yellow Crookneck. My winter squash like Waltham Butternut and Seminole Pumpkin I let climb. Easier to keep the vines healthy that way and takes up less space.

.....Alan.