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Pumpkins, Squash & Gourds Vegetable Gardening Harvest

Harvest Butternut and Tromboncino Squash now or mid October (frost?) ?

4 months ago

last modified: 4 months ago

I am in Toronto zone 5 and will be away from Sep 22 to Oct 13. Should I harvest my squashes now to have a week or so for curing, or after Oct 13 ? ?? . I would like to leave them out till October 13th, but my fear is that we might have light frost nights by then and the squash may get hit.

Right now about 2/3 of of my butternut squash ( Honey Baby ) and another butternut variety have a nice tan color already but the stems are not dry /brittle yet; the rest are still mostly or all green. And there are some squashes that don't have the shape of a butternut and are green like an acorn squash but more round, although the seeds were all supposed to be Honey Baby ...these don't have any dry stems yet either. I don't expect them to turn tan.

Three of my Tromboncino Squash are absolutely huge but still soft and green. I was planning to leave them to harden for eating later in winter. Now I wish I had eaten them when small because they are still not hard and are too big for me to consume before I leave. The small ones I keep using now like zucchini, no problem.

Featured Answer

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

4 months ago

No question that if you leave Trombocino on the vine, it'll harden like a winter squash. It's Moschata like Butternut. But if there is a risk of frost, better pick.

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Comments (6)

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
4 months ago
At least for butternut, when they're tan, they're largely ripe. If you leave the ripe fruit on the vine for a few more weeks, that mainly increases their storability. It should be noted that while freezing temperatures are certainly bad for the fruit, they can suffer "chilling injury" with temperatures below 50F. This leads to pitting in the surface, and increased incidence of decay in storage.
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
4 months ago
Tromboncino is usually used as a summer squash. That's the only way I've ever had it. So I'd pick it now rather than leave it to harden. Even large ones are delicious ime. They should keep fine in the fridge.
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What can it hurt.I have seen lots of other people do it.... --------------------------------------------------------- What can hurt is that if there are several squashes hanging down from a vine and then you get a wind blowing ... then the vine might not be able to hold on. Luckily, butternut squashes are not very big, in comparison to other winter squashes. but still not a good practice, IMO. You trellis cukse, summer squash, because they are smaller AND are harvested in a week or so. But winter squash needs to stay there for months.
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I have done that before on the cukes. That is some big cuke! lol With me, I shouldn't be surprised because I really haven't gotten in there and inspected the whole thing. It was just that the area where I found this last one, was in the area I walk past every day and it's suprising that it's just all of a sudden so visible. What is also interesting, is that I had thought of trimming the ends of some of the vine because it was going everywhere, but, I found I could manuever it around plants, so I didn't. Some of these new squash are on parts of the vine I would have trimmed off. This is really working out for me, because when I've tried to grow them in the backyard, with about 5-6hrs of sun only and tree roots to contend with, I've had either no squash or one squash. I gave up trying to grow them and we do eat a lot of butternut squash. And I had not even contemplated growing them in front because I didn't think I had room for it. And now I have potentially 5 squash and it really didn't take room away from anything else. Very happy about it. Now if they just mature and taste good. [g]
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Donald V Zone 6 north Ohio
4 months ago
I think, but do not know, that a light frost will not harm flavor. It might not really get through skin to deep. So if that is true a light frost might be ok. I am curious if left on the vine will it "over ripen"?
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Donald V Zone 6 north Ohio
4 months ago
I think, but do not know, that a light frost will not harm flavor. It might not really get through skin to deep. So if that is true a light frost might be ok. I am curious if left on the vine will it "over ripen"?
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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
4 months ago
The issue is whether a light frost will kill the plant. It is true that winter squash are somewhat more frost tolerant than summer squash, but why take the risk?
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doriswk thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

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