Still have a stored winter squash...

[lakelady]

I still have one more Butternut type Italian squash left that's been in my basement since September. No rotting at all still firm . I should cook it lol....my question is, even after winter storage, can I still save seeds, and will they be viable? I'd like to share them but not if I send out duds!

[Jeannine Anne]

The seeds will be just fine. I have several squash that I will just have to open this week as I have promised seeds to folks. I prefer getting my squash seeds from well matured squash.

XX Jeannine

[Tracydr]

I still need to eat a kabocha, butternut and a couple of spaghetti squash from last year. I keep forgetting about them.
That reminds me!
My husband doesn't eat much squash but I can cook them and take them for lunches. He will eat the spaghetti squash with marinara. Makes a nice, low-cal, easy dinner after work.

[fortyonenorth]

We just ate the last squash from our 2012 harvest last week. Ironically, we ate the last squash from our 2010 harvest (vegetable spaghetti) in January. I dated it when I picked it - August-2010 -- 17 months from harvest to table!

[tjg911]

i thought that spaghetti squash was a c. pepo and had a storage life of just a few months?

tom

[Tormato]

I also have a few that I forgot about. It looks like it's time to dust them off, and cut them open.
First, I have to sharpen my axe, since one of the varieties I have left is Ironbark.

Tormato

TormatoQUOTE=Tracydr;260946]I still need to eat a kabocha, butternut and a couple of spaghetti squash from last year. I keep forgetting about them.
That reminds me!
My husband doesn't eat much squash but I can cook them and take them for lunches. He will eat the spaghetti squash with marinara. Makes a nice, low-cal, easy dinner after work.[/QUOTE]

[fortyonenorth]

I thought that too, Tom. There were a few seeds which had sprouted inside, but otherwise it was in excellent shape. I actually had two from the same plant that lasted more than a year.

Originally Posted by tjg911

i thought that spaghetti squash was a c. pepo and had a storage life of just a few months?

tom

[lakelady]

holy cow that is a long time. The only winter squash I am planting this year is Marina di Chiogga. Love that bluish warty texture, it looks pretty neat. If I had room, I'd definately plant the Italian butternut again, I loved it. I'll have to alternate it every other year

[kath]

We still have one butternut squash left and it hasn't got a blemish on it...I'm going to save seeds from it since I didn't grow anything else that could have crossed with it.

[tjg911]

i never keep butternut this late, by mid april they are losing their sugar. i had 3 left. i used 1 about 10 days ago, not too good but with maple syrup and cinnamon it was ok. i cooked another late last week, i bought 3 ears of corn so i planned on mixing them. the corn was crunching and juicy but not really sweet. i mixed the 2 non sweet things, added a little butter and salt and much to my surprise it was really sweet and good! i have 1 large solid unblemished butternut left, hard to imagine it lasted to june! i doubt it has any sweetness but i'll cook it and mix in some corn next week or the week after and i'm sure it'll be fine. strange to have bn in storage and growing in the garden, this is a 1st!

tom

[Tormato]

I still have one Ironbark and one Tetsukabuto left. It's about time to see how well they taste after the longest storage I've ever tried.

Gary

[O.P. Mater]

Am cooking a cheese pumpkin today and still have about 7 more from last fall. Was surprised that they would keep so long.

Sounds like the seeds from these older pumpkins might be better than the ones I saved last fall? Will plant a few this afternoon. Thanks for the tip!

[BLTLOVER]

What kind of environment did you store them in?

[tjg911]

i store mine in the basement about 70 degrees initially in late september. this is in staples paper boxes leaving room so none touch. when the basement drops to 58 or 60 i take them upstairs and put them into a north bedroom walk in closet. it remains 58-62 all winter. this is a good temperature for storage, leaving them in the basement at 45 or 50 reduced their storage.

tom

[Jeannine Anne]

I have 2 Triamble and 1 Hubbard Blue still good as new. I also have a deyhdrtaed Triamble that was grown in 2009, just a lighweight shell but it never rotted.