I got a volunteer! Very happy about it. I grew some last year, and put leavings in the compost bin, and I guess the rest is history. I've grown gourds (I have several planted in some beds back there) and know they have male and female flowers. My question is, do squash plants do the same thing? Here is what I'm thinking is a male flower -- you'll need to lean hard to port to see it right (sorry) --
And then this would be a female?
You are right on all three counts. Curious tho, did you plant one of the round zucchinis like Roly Poly or Cue Ball ? Looks like you are going to have some type of round green squash.
No, I was assuming it was summer squash because I grew some last year. HMMMM... It will be interesting to find out what this is!!! It just volunteered where a compost bin had been. I know it's not one of the gourds I've grown because the blooms are orangey-yellow, and about 7-8 inches across. That little female does look pretty spherical, doesn't it? Well -- I'll post pics as it matures and know for sure before I eat it!
Thank you, Farmerdill!
Then this could be a cross between two kinds of curcubit, right? Like a pumpkin/squash or a winter squash/cuke mix?
I honestly don't know. The only cucurbit I grew last year was summer squash, though I did grow some birdhouse gourds, but that's lagenaria or however you spell it. But I don't know if maybe a neighbor was growing something and the pollen snuck over the fence on some really macho bee or something.
Or of course it could be something from the compost bin that I'd gotten at the grocery. Think I'll do some research -- maybe the flower will be the ID key.
Hmph. For all my googling, I could find plenty of Native American jewelry and squash raquets but couldn't find one that would ID the squash by the blossom. If I can't find it in a book at home, I'll take a picture of a full bloom and maybe someone can say, OH, THAT'S A ______. We'll see...
I doubt if anyone can identify a squash by the blossom. only the C. pepo and C.maxima squash cross. Cukes only cross with cukes. Some of the ornamental gourds are C. pepo, but the birdhouse type is entirely different. If it is a cross with a winter squash, there is a high probability that it will vine. Most modern summer squash are bushes. You never did say what type of summer squash you grew last year. There are a number of round green ones.
The ones I grew last year were more bush than vine, and this one is sending out a runner. I'll take a picture when I get home this evening. It's worth a thousand words, and no one wants to read a thousand word post on My Probable Squash Plant.
Now that I'm pounding around in my brain, I did empty seeds from some ornamental gourds (the little fragile ones, not the lagenaria which I deliberately grew) at some point in the dead of winter. I do not recall how I disposed of them so it could have been in the compost. It's on the list of possibilities. I'll also take a picture of the next full blossom just in case someone can tell from that.
