Post by macmex on Apr 8, 2021 11:57:39 GMT -6
I've been meaning to start a thread about this squash for almost a year. Today I'm going to "give the ball a kick," to get it rolling.
Many of you know that I'm a huge fan of Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin. Honestly, I could get along just fine with just that squash. Others in our group have grown Seminole (a large version of it) and found it to be outstanding. That fact is that most any squash from the c. moschata species is likely to be very very good for our climate (hot, humid & buggy). Anyway, a little over a year ago I dropped in on a seed saving/swapping group with a good many International members. The moderator of the group encouraged everyone who joined, to post something they grow. I happily posted about Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin and was promptly asked about doing a swap. I thought, "Sure, why not?" So I agreed, only to discover that my new friend resides in France. When I mailed the seeds it cost much more than I anticipated. Now, in his defense, he did send me seeds at his own expense, as well, and even offered more more seeds at no extra expense. It's just that as time goes by, I'm getting less inclined to grow more things and more inclined to whittle things down to some favorites.
Still, I did receive seed to this squash, a Ukrainian variety called Arabat. Here's what my friend Roland Jansen wrote about this squash.
1/13/2020
Roland Jansen/ Facebook
Killed today a very good tasting Cucurbita Arabat (1325) Butternut Type ± 5 kilo for seed
Seeds are fermenting in the moment
Description:
Late-ripening variety. The plant is powerful, climbing. The fruit is 30-60 cm long, slightly weakly segmented. The background colour is orange with a bluish bloom, pattern in the form of orange spots. The pulp, which occupies the main part of the fruit, is dense, crunchy, sweet, juicy. Drought-resistant, high-yielding variety with high palatability and carotene content.
Appearance: muscat butternut (Cucurbita moschata)
Origin of a grade: Ukraine
Ripening period: 118-127 days
Bark Colour: Orange , Much darker as a Butternut
Pulp colour: orange , Much darker as a Butternut
Fruit Form: Pear Shaped
Average fruit weight: 4.5-9 kg
_____________________________-
I made my first attempt at planting on April 25, planting six seeds in my Three Sisters' garden, out near the road. When they came up something got them, probably a rodent. I ended up replanting on June 2. The second planting did pretty well. The summer wasn't as hot as usual and we had a bit more rain. I barely got to water this garden. Also, since I had Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin growing in my other garden, I had to hand pollinate both varieties, in order to save seed. They would surely have crossed. By the middle of August Arabat was maturing fruit. It appeared that it had petered out, and wasn't going to produce any more, but that was not so. By the end of August the vines put on new growth and I harvested a number of squash from this late push.
I suspect that Arabat can do even better than it did last year. Remember, it really takes at least 3 grow outs to be able to come to sound conclusions about a new variety. Nevertheless, here are some observations.
1) I had no problem with borers and some squash bugs. This is to be expected when planting c. moschata squash in my location. I lost no plants to insect damage and didn't resort to any chemical/spray/dust remedies.
2) The variety makes copious amounts of hairy roots all along the vine, wherever it touches the ground. This is a good trait, as it enables it to draw sustenance along the entire length of the vine. Years ago a melon squash demonstrated this to me. Something actually cut the vine, where it emerged from the soil, and I didn't know it until cleaning up the garden in the fall. The vine just kept on growing and producing with the roots it had set along the vine!
3) Arabat climbed a bean trellis and set fruit off the ground too. The fruit was not so large as to pull the trellis down.
4) I suspect the largest fruit I got from Arabat was around 5 lb. According to Roland's description it may produce much larger fruit. Most folk I know prefer smaller size winter squash. My favorite size is between 10 and 20 lb. I like to have enough flesh to use in a meal or pie and to freeze for another time as well. To have extra I had to cut more than one Arabat at a time.
5) The flavor and texture of this squash is good. Actually, my experience is that all c. moschata taste about the same, but some have coarser flesh than others. This one has extremely fine textured flesh. I know the picture might make it look stringy, but I didn't bother to scrape out the strings which had held the seed in place. The texture is very fine.
6) Some fruit are more butternut shaped than others and some have more hollowed out space inside than a good butternut. I suspect Arabat is a primitive butternut, a "prototype" of the modern butternut.
Conclusion:
This is going to be a good squash. It needs to be grown out more. It was fun to tell folk that "this squash is so rare, I am probably the only one in this hemisphere growing it!
Many of you know that I'm a huge fan of Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin. Honestly, I could get along just fine with just that squash. Others in our group have grown Seminole (a large version of it) and found it to be outstanding. That fact is that most any squash from the c. moschata species is likely to be very very good for our climate (hot, humid & buggy). Anyway, a little over a year ago I dropped in on a seed saving/swapping group with a good many International members. The moderator of the group encouraged everyone who joined, to post something they grow. I happily posted about Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin and was promptly asked about doing a swap. I thought, "Sure, why not?" So I agreed, only to discover that my new friend resides in France. When I mailed the seeds it cost much more than I anticipated. Now, in his defense, he did send me seeds at his own expense, as well, and even offered more more seeds at no extra expense. It's just that as time goes by, I'm getting less inclined to grow more things and more inclined to whittle things down to some favorites.
Still, I did receive seed to this squash, a Ukrainian variety called Arabat. Here's what my friend Roland Jansen wrote about this squash.
1/13/2020
Roland Jansen/ Facebook
Killed today a very good tasting Cucurbita Arabat (1325) Butternut Type ± 5 kilo for seed
Seeds are fermenting in the moment
Description:
Late-ripening variety. The plant is powerful, climbing. The fruit is 30-60 cm long, slightly weakly segmented. The background colour is orange with a bluish bloom, pattern in the form of orange spots. The pulp, which occupies the main part of the fruit, is dense, crunchy, sweet, juicy. Drought-resistant, high-yielding variety with high palatability and carotene content.
Appearance: muscat butternut (Cucurbita moschata)
Origin of a grade: Ukraine
Ripening period: 118-127 days
Bark Colour: Orange , Much darker as a Butternut
Pulp colour: orange , Much darker as a Butternut
Fruit Form: Pear Shaped
Average fruit weight: 4.5-9 kg
_____________________________-
I made my first attempt at planting on April 25, planting six seeds in my Three Sisters' garden, out near the road. When they came up something got them, probably a rodent. I ended up replanting on June 2. The second planting did pretty well. The summer wasn't as hot as usual and we had a bit more rain. I barely got to water this garden. Also, since I had Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin growing in my other garden, I had to hand pollinate both varieties, in order to save seed. They would surely have crossed. By the middle of August Arabat was maturing fruit. It appeared that it had petered out, and wasn't going to produce any more, but that was not so. By the end of August the vines put on new growth and I harvested a number of squash from this late push.
Here's a photo of some of the squash I harvested:
I suspect that Arabat can do even better than it did last year. Remember, it really takes at least 3 grow outs to be able to come to sound conclusions about a new variety. Nevertheless, here are some observations.
1) I had no problem with borers and some squash bugs. This is to be expected when planting c. moschata squash in my location. I lost no plants to insect damage and didn't resort to any chemical/spray/dust remedies.
2) The variety makes copious amounts of hairy roots all along the vine, wherever it touches the ground. This is a good trait, as it enables it to draw sustenance along the entire length of the vine. Years ago a melon squash demonstrated this to me. Something actually cut the vine, where it emerged from the soil, and I didn't know it until cleaning up the garden in the fall. The vine just kept on growing and producing with the roots it had set along the vine!
3) Arabat climbed a bean trellis and set fruit off the ground too. The fruit was not so large as to pull the trellis down.
4) I suspect the largest fruit I got from Arabat was around 5 lb. According to Roland's description it may produce much larger fruit. Most folk I know prefer smaller size winter squash. My favorite size is between 10 and 20 lb. I like to have enough flesh to use in a meal or pie and to freeze for another time as well. To have extra I had to cut more than one Arabat at a time.
5) The flavor and texture of this squash is good. Actually, my experience is that all c. moschata taste about the same, but some have coarser flesh than others. This one has extremely fine textured flesh. I know the picture might make it look stringy, but I didn't bother to scrape out the strings which had held the seed in place. The texture is very fine.
6) Some fruit are more butternut shaped than others and some have more hollowed out space inside than a good butternut. I suspect Arabat is a primitive butternut, a "prototype" of the modern butternut.
Conclusion:
This is going to be a good squash. It needs to be grown out more. It was fun to tell folk that "this squash is so rare, I am probably the only one in this hemisphere growing it!
