Stuffradio-I too, eat my spaghetti squash by scraping it out of the shell with a fork. It makes strings, sort of like pasta. We like to serve it with marinara "spaghetti" style and use it as a low calorie, healthy pasta substitute. It always reminds me of a mix between a summer and winter squash, not as sweet as most winter squashes, not as bland as most summer squashes. It's one of few squashes my husband likes, although this year's bumper crop of zunchinni and patty pan which are so tasty compared to store bought. We have a lot of spaghetti squash on the one plant, as well, which haven't been harvested yet, and a few kabocha, my personal favorite, which he has never tasted.

" This was already pointed out years ago on this thread, but squash is notoriously easy to cross pollinate. Unless pollination is tightly controlled, there's no telling what saved seeds will produce." That is especially true for squashes in the C. pepo species, since they are so widely grown. Besides spaghetti squash, acorn squash, most pumpkins, nearly all summer squash, and even warted gourds are all C. pepo. The flowers are conspicuous & very good pollen sources, and bees will travel surprisingly great distances to feed on them... collecting & spreading pollen all the way. I have a rural garden, with no other gardens within at least 1/4 mile. Several years ago, I grew acorn squash there, and saved seed. No other members of the same species were grown there. When I grew out that seed the next year, there were several obvious crosses... apparently with a yellow zucchini & a pumpkin. Those were interesting to look at, but unpalatable. Seed saving of squash (especially C. pepo) is so problematic that hand pollination is generally necessary to ensure pure seed. By coincidence, I am growing that same bush acorn squash this year, and have hand pollinated several squashes for seed.

Well, it is not going to hurt if you leave them on the vine. You can keep them for months. But the mature one definitely will develop that "SPAGHETTI" characteristic when cooked. But when the stem has turned brown(no longer is green) it is don with the plant and can live without it.

We planted what should have been yellow spaghetti squash, from a plant, a few months ago. Now I have this giant green thing. The last time we planted squash, it was a pale color from the get go. Its the one growing so far...but we can see more will be growing. What is this thing!?!