Coosa in containers question

[Suze]

I have five Coosa (aka Cousa, Lebanese squash) seedlings in a 15 gal container. It is in the greenhouse and growing rapidly, but hasn't started to vine just yet. I usually put five to even six cucumber plants in the same size pot and it works great, but does the coosa need a little more room?

I have a 5' high, 20" diameter cage in this container - will this work or am I going to end up with a mess later on if I don't remove a couple of those five plants while I still can?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Suze

I have five Coosa (aka Cousa, Lebanese squash) seedlings in a 15 gal container. It is in the greenhouse and growing rapidly, but hasn't started to vine just yet. I usually put five to even six cucumber plants in the same size pot and it works great, but does the coosa need a little more room?

I have a 5' high, 20" diameter cage in this container - will this work or am I going to end up with a mess later on if I don't remove a couple of those five plants while I still can?

For sure cousa types need more room, but then I don't know what cuke variety you're referring to either.

There are both F1 and OP cousa types and cousas are my Most favorite summer squash, bar none. They have a nutty delicious taste that I don't find in other summer squash varieties.

I could see your cukes vining over the tops of the pots but cousas are large bush varieties similar to the many zukes and yellow squash that one might grow.

I prepare them just by slight steaming and then adding butter, salt and pepper and nothing more. To add anything else I think masks the taste of this squash.

The variety I have seeds for right now is Magda F1 and it's great, but there are other ones I've grown in the past.

Which variety do you have Suze?

[Suze]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

For sure cousa types need more room, but then I don't know what cuke variety you're referring to either.

Thanks, Carolyn - that's good to know. Cukes I tend to successfully grow several to a large container might include Poona Kheera, Diva, Straight Eight, etc.

I could see your cukes vining over the tops of the pots but cousas are large bush varieties similar to the many zukes and yellow squash that one might grow.

I see. Ouch. I did not know cousas were bush. I guess I'm going to have to thin them out a bit to maybe 2-3 in that container. How tall and wide do they usually get - do I even need that 5' cage in place? I guess I assumed (wrongly) they'd vine up to the top of that cage like the cukes I grow, and grow up and not out.

Which variety do you have Suze?

No idea - it was sent to me as an extra from a trade I did last fall with someone for my multiplier onions for theirs. All that person knows is it's "coosa" and they got the seed from someone in Israel.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Suze

Thanks, Carolyn - that's good to know. Cukes I tend to successfully grow several to a large container might include Poona Kheera, Diva, Straight Eight, etc.

I see. Ouch. I did not know cousas were bush. I guess I'm going to have to thin them out a bit to maybe 2-3 in that container. How tall and wide do they usually get - do I even need that 5' cage in place? I guess I assumed (wrongly) they'd vine up to the top of that cage like the cukes I grow, and grow up and not out.

No idea - it was sent to me as an extra from a trade I did last fall with someone for my multiplier onions for theirs. All that person knows is it's "coosa" and they got the seed from someone in Israel.

No, you don't need a 5 ft cage for them. In my experience they made larger plants when grown inground rather than in containers, but since I moved to my new home in 1999 I've been growing two plants each year in a 10 gal pot and if the weather is good and the plant is happy the two combo gets to be about maybe 2-3 ft tall and the same width.

The Cousa seeds from Isreal are probably OP seeds but that's just fine as well. The only difference I've seen between the OP ones and the several hybrid ones is that the latter tend to give me higher yields when the summer weather is not optimal, but the taste of both the OP and the F1's I've found to be nearly identical.