Butternut squash advice needed

This is the first time I've ever grown these (Waltham butternut). Started from seed about 6+ weeks ago, the vines are now about 8-10 feet long and lots of fruits already as much as 4" long. How will I know when to pick them? They are green striped and all the butternuts I have ever seen in stores are tan.

TIA

All the butternuts I ever encountered were shades of tan also, including the Waltham.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1192/index.html It is green when immature with hints of a stripe. For use as winter squash, leave them on the vine, untill just before frost, Cure for a couple of weeks in a cool dry place and then enjoy through out the winter. They can also used as a summer squash anytime up until the rind (shell) begins to harden.

Thanks, Farmerdill. I figured you or Shoe would show up with the answer!

I have a root cellar tucked partly into the hillside and hope to store lots next year. Being new to this area, I just want to test it this year.

Darius when ripe and the vines start looking puny cut off the vine and let cure in a sunny dry place for 10 days. They will keep longer that way. Some say store in a cool place I prefer warm the main thing is DRY.Ernie

Thanks Ernie!

I've still got 3 butternuts from last year on a shelf.!! This variety [Really Big] really keeps well.
Butternuts are not much bothered by insects unlike some other squash.

Yep, your squash will go from greenish to the tan you are looking for, darius. And yep, like Indy, I still have a few left from last year...they store forever!

As for bugs/insects...I eventually lost my plants to squash bugs but by that time the fruit (technically a fruit? or veggie?) had matured enough that they were edible and storable. Butternut is a great squash in that the squash vine borer leaves them alone! (Hard stems.)

I envy your root cellar (and that springhouse!)...One of these days I hope to come visit. I'll gladly haul all your veggies into storage for ya!

Shoe.

Shoe, you'd be very Welcome for a visit... I'll keep storage here, LOL.

Hehehe...Okay, will let you keep the storage.

Remind me in the Spring...I should send you some heirloom mater plants; that'll be your house-warming gift, okay?

Shoe.

Yep, that works! BTW, a couple of my butternuts are already 8 inches long, still green and growing. Should I cut them off at that size, or just wait for the vines to die back? They could get huge!

Hmm..I've never picked a green butternut. I just let them turn tan on the vine. As for the size of yours, 8 inches is okay and I've have them get bigger and their flavor is the same. It's not like they get "overly big" and the texture/flavor wanes.

Maybe you should pick a green one and see how they taste, huh? They might make a good "summer squash" at that stage.

Shoe

Shoe, I'm pretty tired of summer squash since mine did so well this year!

Uh-oh, I didn't know butternut squash was a vining plant. I think i planted too many (12).

There are both bush and vining varieties, The fruits also vary in size a good deal among varieties. Pays to know the varietal specifics. Shoe's trombocino is actually a butternut, tho it looks like its on steroids. There are a couple of cultivars that get up into the 15 lb class.

Thanks Farmer Dill. I started some from seeds and they Waltham Butternut squash, the other six I got as a cell pack, and they simply say butternut squash.

My butternuts, at least the large ones, are loosing their green stripes and turning a light cream color. I guess it won't be long until they tan?

That bed is loaded with grasshoppers but I really don't see any damage.

All of my bigger ones are turning tan, and the vines are still flowering and putting on small squash. No frost forecast yet so I should have a bumper crop from my 6 plants!

Pumpkin pie is soon a baking.

LOL, I canned Cushaw for pumpkin pies!

Butternuts do well in all sweet potato recipes. I especially like them scalloped. Just for future reference, Cushaws keep pretty well also, tho not as well as a butternut. I prefer them in squash pie recipes.

Scalloped butternut? Recipe please!

My last cushaw didn't keep well which is why I canned this time.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/108890

Thanks! Sounds yummy, and rich.

We had a touch of frost 2 nights ago but didn't seem to hurt the butternuts except a few leaves. I think I shall have a lot of them off 6 vines!

What a great picture Darius. Well, I just planted mine this morning (you know, we're still hitting 100 here in Phoenix, lol, but the weather people say the temps should start dropping...um, I'm not holding my breath, but at least I'm getting the Fall Garden in. ;) I'm so excited to try out that scalloped squash recipe once these guys start growing!!

Here's my harvest but there are a few large ones still on the vine and not ready.

Thanks everyone for the help! I feel like a champ as a newbie veggie gardener. I think I had 6 plants.

Congrats Darius!!!!!!!!!!! Ü

That's a terrific batch of butternuts! I'm jealous.
Good work!

Wow, Darius. You will be eating a lot of squash over the next year. Butternut is my favorite so far, but I have others I hope to try this year. Lots of butternuts, too, of course. We too will be eating a lot of squash this year.

Next year I will branch out to more varieties. Too hard this year when I had been here just 30 days!

Darius, your harvest looks fantastic!! I grew Waltham Butternut this year and they taste soooooooooooooooooo good! very sweet and fantastic in stews!! I'll grow loads next year

Me, too. I hope they keep well in storage. I have tons of recipes for them.

I have mine in a spare room hanging from the beams in tights!!! been fine no problems!! well one.... ypoi need a really sharp knife to cut/peel them!!

Darius, enjoy, DH planted ours, but a neighbor, who begged 3 rows in the garden tilled them up. I only have 1 butternut, and am almost weeping over that.

Now, now, it was an accident... It WAS an accident, right?

D they keep very well I keep mine warm let them breath in a dry warm space and they will last a long time when cured properly I may have told you this a time ago . Oh well now its my mind fermenting lol. Ernie

Edited because they is spelled they not the lol

This message was edited Oct 23, 2006 12:17 PM

Ernie, I hoped to put them in my hillside root cellar. It will not be warm but won't freeze either. I'd say average of 35-40ºF. Otherwise they will have to be under my bed, 70ºF.

That is cool, The butternuts will be ok, but maybe you should consider the sweet potatoes under the bed. When I had a root cellar, it was under the house and all but about 16 inches below ground, the concrete walls at the exposed level were insulted with fiberglass insulation. Enough heat came from the house to keep it above 50 even when the outside temperature dipped to -15 degrees. When I was a kid, we had a concrete block well house, bermed about halfway up and insulated with cellotex. This was on the east of the Blue Ridge and did not get quite as cold. We kept both the canned stuff and the winter vegetables in there. If the temps got down into single digits, we would light a brooder lamp ( an old metal kerosene lamp with a 2 inch wick) that was designed for keeping young chicks warm) It gave off enough heat to hold the temps up. We did not have electricity in those days, but I imagine that thing was about the heat equivalent of a 300 watt bulb. So if electricity in available to your root cellar you might consider a small thermostaticaly controlled electric heater set at about 55 degrees.

Farmerdill - (not trying to hijack your thread darius), have you ever heard of an Alladin lamp? (the ones w/the catallic converter over the mantle)?
Not sure of the spelling.

Yep, It was Aladdin. Never had one. Did have a Rayo, which we used for a reading lamp. It had a circular wick, much brighter than than the standard #2 wick kerosene lamp. Aladdin's were supposed to be as bright as a gas light which they emulated. Did not have a catalytic converter tho. Most of them use a wick to heat the mantle which glowed. A few actually were pressurized (pump-up) like a blow torch. http://www.antiquelampsupply.com/category/171-2/ They are still in business. http://www.aladdinlamps.com/store/dynamicIndex.asp Great to read old black and white seed catalogs by.