Feral Squash?

organichris · June 1, 2011

A couple years ago when my brother-in-law moved into his country home, we found some wild yellow squash growing near his cellar. Since we were grilling, I threw some on the grill and ate it. I figured maybe it was a volunteer from the year before.

I was just there the other day and discovered what appeared to be more squash plants, though they were not bearing fruit yet. Since living there he has never grown a garden. Anyone ever heard of feral squash?

I may collect some seeds from it later in the year, if anyone is interested.

mjc · June 2, 2011

Yes, there are both feral and wild squash in the US.

All it takes to go feral is for it to be in an area where some seeds will survive the winter. After a few years of overwintering, it will, somewhat, be better able to do so.

It's probably a common yellow squash...but it has been coming back there for a while, so it's probably on its way to becoming something 'more' than the common squash it started out as and probably worth keeping (especially if it was tasty).

For zukes and yellow squash, you need to let them fully mature before harvesting them for seeds...they'll get hard and orange, like most other closely related squash.

organichris · June 2, 2011

Yeah, as far as I remember it was just like any other yellow squash as far as flavor goes. Fruits were small and straightnecked if I remember correctly. I'm thinking its probably a feral Early Prolific Straighneck.

I will examine the fruits if and when I can find some. I won't harvest it until the seed is mature. I may try to plant them next year and see what happen. May grow side-by-side with Early Prolific Straightneck for comparison.

As a side note, I thinking of trying to cross Early Prolific Straightneck with Striata d'Italia this year just to see what it produces. If I could improve the flavor of the EPS and produce something not as viney as the Striata d'Italia.

June 1, 2011	#1
organichris Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 630	Feral Squash? A couple years ago when my brother-in-law moved into his country home, we found some wild yellow squash growing near his cellar. Since we were grilling, I threw some on the grill and ate it. I figured maybe it was a volunteer from the year before. I was just there the other day and discovered what appeared to be more squash plants, though they were not bearing fruit yet. Since living there he has never grown a garden. Anyone ever heard of feral squash? I may collect some seeds from it later in the year, if anyone is interested.

June 2, 2011	#2
mjc Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: WV Posts: 603	Yes, there are both feral and wild squash in the US. All it takes to go feral is for it to be in an area where some seeds will survive the winter. After a few years of overwintering, it will, somewhat, be better able to do so. It's probably a common yellow squash...but it has been coming back there for a while, so it's probably on its way to becoming something 'more' than the common squash it started out as and probably worth keeping (especially if it was tasty). For zukes and yellow squash, you need to let them fully mature before harvesting them for seeds...they'll get hard and orange, like most other closely related squash.