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Heirloom Plants & Gardens

Heirloom Kabocha squash?

17 years ago

I had kabocha squash in a thai pumpkin curry dish and since then, have been planning to grow it when I had room. That day has finally happened - I've gone from a 4x16 plot to a full back yard. Are heirloom varieties of Kabocha squash available? Do you have a seed source (including SSE, I just joined)? Are the heirloom versions as sweet as the hybrid? And, since I'm already out of control on the amount of plants I plan on growing, could you suggest any other very sweet, preferably nutty type of heirloom winter squash?

Thank you!

Bellatrix

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Comments (5)

galina
17 years ago
Sweet and tasty heirlooms - Uchiki Kuri (just about old enough to be called 'heirloom') and Buttercup. A very sweet acorn squash (recently bred but delicious) is Tuffy.
zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
17 years ago
Bella trix, Galina is on the right track - "Kabocha" squashes are usually C. maxima, buttercup type. Generally, the blossom end does not protrude. Besides the Asian kabochas, the gray Austalian squash "Queensland Blue" & many of the buttercups have similar quality. Sand Hill Preservation & Baker Creek are both good sources for kabocha & similar.
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Too late? This is my first year for growing these & mine are at about the same growth state as yours. I planted Sunshine & the literature states it takes 95 days. So that means mine should be ready in early November, which should be just perfect here in north Mississippi. You being in Ga leads me to think you too have timed this correctly. My goal is to harvest my pumpkins & different winter squash before Thanksgiving.
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Full disclosure- my philosophy on growing plants is that you don't know a plant til you've killed it at least three times. I do a lot of things by trial and error. In general I don't do a lot of things other people do. Watering- I stick my finger in the dirt up to the second knuckle. If it's dry I water. If it's not I don't. When I water I deep water. Sprinkling a little at a time just encourages shallow roots IMO. Fertilizing- I don't. I probably would get better yields if I did and pretty much everyone that grows vegetables does but I get enough for me most of the time. I'm a big fan of compost. Ants (and bugs in general) haven't been a huge problem for me. Bugs get the best of plants that are stressed or at the end of the season. I don't use sprays and sooner or later what likes to eat that particular bug shows up. Exceptions are tomato hornworms (I hand pick) and squash vine borers (some years I get some squash, some years I don't). And in the end Mother Nature always wins :-) Lisa
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llnda_mami
17 years ago
Im looking to find where they harvest this Kabocha Squash at Im in California do you know of where I can find this squash or who grows them ????
galina
17 years ago
The biggest selection of hybrid (not heirloom) Kabocha squashes is stocked by Kitawaza seeds:
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seeds_winter_squash.html

similarly Evergreen
http://www.evergreenseeds.com/

Synergy seeds stock a heirloom Kabocha, open pollinated, not hybrid
http://www.redwoods.quik.com/webteck/george/vines.html

Also Kokopelli seeds stock open pollinated Kabocha, if you can get seeds from France.
rareseed
12 years ago
I'm about to order some open pollinated Kabocha. Check it out! I'll be growing these in a my three sisters and a foreigner(the Kabocha)garden.

Blue Kuri
Cucurbita maxima
A traditional open pollinated Japanese kabocha squash that has globe-shaped fruit with blue-green skin. The flesh is thick, yellow and very sweet. Fruit matures to 2-3 lbs and is 6-8" in diameter. The plant has a vine growth habit.
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_043-187.html

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