A New Mochata Squash

A few years ago I tried growing butterbush squash.  They did not fare well, but it was a cold crappy summer and no squashes did well.  What they did do was manage to mature a few squash, which most were incapable of in that summer.  For the most part, the plants gave the described 1.5# butternut squashes, which were cute and the right size for a meal for 2 people.  One plant though gave me a 4# mini crookneck, identical in shape to the huge crooknecks (which tend to be very long season fruits) and I saved seeds from it.  Last year I grew seeds just from that one squash and had a whole slew of variations of shapes, but had a plant give me cooknecks and longer necked squash again.  I saved seeds from those, but this year only planted a few hills at one location (The Minnetonka garden) so I could make sure it was isolated.  Being where it was saved it from the drunk driver that took the Ness Farm garden squash out at least, but the minimal number of plants only gave me about a dozen squashes.

This abbreviated cool & wet, then boiling hot, then cool, then frozen summer left me without a lot of mature squash, but every one on these plants made it to maturity and cured in under 90 days.  The largest was 12# and the smallest was 2#, plus I got from one plant these three 4# long necked mochata squashes.  I am going to save seeds from the largest one (a large mochata squash that matures in under 3 months in crappy weather is a nice thing to have) and the three long necked ones and continue growing them out (in separate locations) next year.

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7 Responses to A New Mochata Squash

  1. Ray says:

    Originally a cross of some description? Nice when the unexpected leads to something good.

    • Tom says:

      The original grow out of Burpee Butterbush was isolated. Completely. Just one that was a crookneck in miniature that I have been growing and selecting. If there was a cross I dont know where it came from.

    • roel says:

      It sounds like ccbruuits getting bacterial wilt is a real problem this year. I’ve lost a cucumber plant and an acorn squash plant to the wilt so far. It looks like the summer squash escaped the vine borer only to succumb to the wilt now. Only the butternut is doing OK, knock on wood. I’ve got a healthy looking Fairytale that is thick with little eggplants. This is the third attempt after two years of losing this variety. Can’t wait to try it on the grill.

  2. lodia says:

    hi!!!

    • Vinod says:

      This is my second year grniwnog Bennings Green Tint’ and I would not call it terribly compact. I do find it is slower growing and produces later than my other squash plants, so I guess you could say it stays compact for longer than the others. I froze chunks of it quite successfully last year for stir frys (cut into large chunks, blanch for 3 minutes, drain, freeze thaw and drain again before adding to stir-fry) and I plan to freeze more this year. It’s not the same as fresh, but compared to what is available in the grocery store in February, they look pretty good!