Varieties And Cultivation Of Butternut Pumpkins

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Sectional pumpkin of Musk Th Provance variety

Nut-flavored pumpkins

Everyone in our family loves pumpkin very much. With her we cook both the first and second courses. And candied peels can be used in baking: in pies, cakes, puddings. They are also good with tea instead of sweets, and much more useful. And how pumpkin juice helps your health! My advice to you is to grow a pumpkin in your summer cottage!

All gardeners, when growing pumpkins in their beds, are increasingly opting for varieties of butternut pumpkin Cucurbita moschata). And this is despite the fact that it is close to a watermelon in terms of warmth. And everything is explained simply: firstly, new varieties of it appeared, more adapted to the difficult conditions and weather in Russia. Secondly, in the open field, a good harvest of this pumpkin can be obtained by growing it through seedlings or using temporary shelters. And most importantly, why gardeners are trying to grow this type of pumpkin - this tropicana has not only excellent taste, but also a lot of substances useful to human health.

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Well-ripened butternut squash contains a record amount of carotene, sugars, pectin and trace elements, especially iron. And, finally, it can be stored for about a year - until the new harvest, even in room conditions.

Culinary experts have long awarded the title of queen of the gourmet table to butternut squash. Its juicy red-orange flesh is great even raw, and it becomes very tender when cooked hot. The light aroma of nutmeg, which gave the name to the species, gives a special piquancy to the dishes.

By morphological characteristics, this type of pumpkin occupies an intermediate position between the hard-bark and large-fruited pumpkins. The leaves of butternut squash are softer, large, rounded, dark green, often with white or silvery spots in the corners, between the veins. The flowers are pale orange, bell-shaped with pointed petals. The stem is creeping, the root system is branched as widely as its lashes. The stem (tail) is faceted, widened at the base. Seeds are dirty gray with a darker colored fringed scar. Fruits with soft, thin bark are of great variety in shape and color. This is the latest ripening pumpkin.

Butternut squash is famous for its wide variety of subspecies. Botanists distinguish six of them: Turkestan, North American, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Colombian. Our gardeners are familiar, perhaps, only the first three subspecies.

The earliest varieties are in the Turkestan subspecies, which is dominated by weakly segmented elongated fruits with very thick pulp. In shape, they can be club-shaped, interceptions, pitcher-shaped, pear-shaped, elliptical, spherical, flattened. The best palatability of butternut squash includes interceptors, the cylindrical fruits of which are expanded at the base of the floral end. They are elongated and shortened. Unfortunately, most of the Russian varieties (Zhemchuzhina, Intercept, Honey Guitar, etc.) are rather late ripening, so in regions with shorter summers they are grown only through seedlings.

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Pumpkin variety Walbeden Buttersib

The American variety Walbeden Buttersib is very popular in the world. It is super early ripening (85-95 days), sweet with a wonderful nutty flavor, with a dense, oily orange pulp. Its fruits can be stored in the apartment all winter. The plant itself is powerful, long-leaved. Fruits are round-cylindrical, even, up to 60 cm long, up to 14 cm in diameter. Seeds are located throughout the fruit. Its flesh is crispy, orange with an amazing nutmeg and nutty and sweet aftertaste. Fruit weight - 6-10 kg.

Even more miniature Japanese interceptors (weighing 1-2 kg) are especially appreciated. Unfortunately, their varieties in Russia can only be found among amateurs. This includes the Barbara variety. This is an early variety with fruits weighing 0.8-1.2 kg. It has a dark green skin with creamy stripes. The pulp is orange with excellent taste, the fruits are up to 15-20 cm long. They have fantastic shapes - oval-elongated-finger-shaped with a small seed chamber at the end of the fruit. Ideal for eating raw, for making purees, juices and all kinds of sweets.

Not so long ago, seeds of two varieties of very sweet pumpkin appeared on the market. This is a popular French variety Musk Th Provance. It is a late-ripening (120-140 days) table variety for dietary and medical nutrition, resistant to a complex of diseases and drought. The plant itself is long-leaved. The shape of the fruit is unusual - round-flat with pronounced ribs of a dark yellow color. Intense orange-red pulp, excellent taste, very sweet and aromatic. The fruit can be stored all winter. This pumpkin is used by chefs all over the world and can be found on the menus of the world's best restaurants. It is intended for use in fresh, boiled, stewed, canned, dried and dried form.

And here is a variety from China Thailand Pumpkin. A very interesting and high-yielding variety. Mid-season (100-120 days), table nutmeg variety for dietary and medical nutrition. The plant is vigorous, long-leaved (up to 5 m), well-branched. The shape of the fruit is round-flat with pronounced ribs. The surface of the fruit is wrinkled, rough. The color of the fruits is gray-turquoise-greenish with a yellow spot. The pulp is very dense, bright orange of excellent taste, very sweet and aromatic, with a nutty flavor. The seed chamber is small and dense. It is used fresh, boiled, stewed, canned, dried and dried. It keeps well throughout the year due to its dense and tough rind.

Tromba D'Albenga cultivar (Albenga tubes)

And absolutely for lovers of exotic, the long-fruited Italian variety Tromba D'Albenga (Tubes of Albenga). An original and rarest variety of butternut pumpkin (65-75 days). The fruit forms long (more than 1 m), thickened at the end, which resemble a musical horn in their shape. Average fruit weight is 2-3 kg (so-called portioned varieties). The pulp is bright yellow in color, completely fills the fruit, and the seed chamber is only thickened. The variety is noted for its high taste and marketability, good keeping quality and very abundant yield. Harvested in small fruits or allowed to grow larger. The flowers of this variety look like huge gramophones. Young unopened flowers are used in cooking.

The fruits of the Tuba Albenga variety grow up to 1-1.5 m long and at first have a green color, therefore they are very similar to snakes. As they grow, they can be formed into different "cool" compositions. By the end of the season, they are almost brown. Ripe pumpkins have a dense dark beige flesh that tastes like a nut. The variety is quite unpretentious and fast-growing. It is better to grow with a garter to the support, since on the ground in damp weather, young fruits can rot. The fruits are stored for 6-8 months. Their shape is unique - almost 1.5 m in length, the pumpkin is graceful, like a corresponding musical instrument. The seed chamber takes up only a few centimeters where the flower was. A high-yielding pumpkin, the fruits are tied with a garland. It's amazing how she feeds such large offspring.

Variety Guitar Share

Variety Guitar Dolya is a consistently productive mid-season (91-136 days) variety. The plant is medium-growing. Fruits are aligned, cylindrical up to 50 cm long with a slight thickening at the flower end. Weighing 2.3-5.8 kg. The pulp is red-orange, tender, sweet, juicy. Productivity 4-5 kg per 1m². The surface of the fruit is slightly segmented; when ripe, it acquires a brown-orange color. The bark is thin, leathery, smooth, easy to cut. The pumpkin retains its marketability and taste for 120 days after storage.

Pumpkin variety Kjeb

Keb is an old Adyghe variety. The fruits are very sweet, weighing up to 20 kg, oblong, orange with a green line pattern throughout the fruit, with a small seed chamber. The rest of the space is occupied by the flesh of a bright red color with the smell of watermelon, which can be eaten raw. An excellent variety for long-term winter storage and culinary processing. Refers to the nutmeg pumpkin species.

Pumpkin variety Honey

Variety Medovaya - has fruits of medium size, weighing 5-8 kg, club-shaped with a small seed chamber at the end of the fruit. They are fleshy, very sweet with a nutmeg, watermelon flavor. The variety is mid-season, a powerful bush, long-flowered. It is an excellent variety for all types of processing.

Pumpkin variety Honey guitar

Variety Honey guitar. A stunningly beautiful variety that stands out among the butternut squash. The lash is up to 10 m or more long, the pumpkin is very productive. Its fruits are crescent-shaped with a club-shaped end; they are more than 1 m long, with a large amount of pulp, the seeds are collected at the end of the fruit in a large part. Very tasty variety, fruits can be eaten raw. Fruit weight over 15 kg, honey pulp, very sweet, orange-red in color with honey-watermelon nutmeg aroma. In terms of the content of carotene, other vitamins and useful microelements, it surpasses carrots and apricots. It has high nutritional and dietary properties. It is used in home cooking for the preparation of delicacies and juices, as well as for dietary healing nutrition. Stored for 8-10 months, while becoming even more fragrant and sweeter.

Pumpkin variety Musk Acorn Sugar

The Musk Acorn Sugar is a late (110-130 days) table variety for dietary and medical nutrition. The plant is long-leaved. The shape of the fruit is round-elongated. Fruits of brown-orange color have a pronounced ribbing. Fruit weight reaches 15 kg. The pulp is orange in color, excellent taste, very sweet and aromatic, can be stored all winter. The pumpkin is resistant to a complex of diseases and drought. Suitable for use fresh, boiled, stewed, canned, dried and dried.

Sweet Meet cultivar - the plant belongs to the Muscat pumpkin species. Awesome delicacy from America. One of the most beautiful and unique pumpkins! The variety is mid-season (105-130 days). The plant is long-leaved, forms 2-3 lateral lashes, which allows the plant to set many fruits. Fruits are gray-green-orange, turbid-rounded, ribbed, weighing up to 5 kg. The pulp is dark red-orange, very sweet with a pleasant Muscat watermelon-melon aroma. Young fruits are also edible, they are cooked and consumed as zucchini, and mature ones are suitable for stuffing, baking, cereals and soups, for preparing delicious side dishes and desserts. Delicious, high yielding and long shelf life pumpkin. Plant it - you won't regret it!

Halloween is a variety from North America. The plant is vigorous, long-leaved, medium late, fruits are rounded, slightly elliptical in shape with pronounced ribbing, weighing up to 10 kg. The pulp is orange-red, very sweet, of the nutmeg type, an excellent variety to be eaten raw and processed.

Candied fruit - first of all, the rare, rich color of ripe fruits of this variety attracts attention - orange, with a green pattern. Classic color combination. Fruits are round-cylindrical, with a round seed chamber at the end. The length of the fruit is 40-45 cm. The pulp is bright orange-red, very firm and sweet, the taste is nutmeg-watermelon.

Usually, most of the harvest has already been harvested, only carrots, late cabbage and our late beauty - a pumpkin of this variety, remain in the beds. Its fruits have already poured (weighing 4-5 kg) and are waiting in the wings. I would especially like to note that this variety does not accumulate nitrates at all, it can be used for medicinal nutrition, it is also good fresh, without any culinary processing. The best candied fruits are made from it.

Miracle Yudo - this variety of miracle pumpkin can be eaten fresh, like sweet fruits! A new, unusually tasty mid-late (up to 120 days) variety has an exceptionally high carotene content (25.5%), sugar content - 4.25%. The plant is vigorous, long-leaved, the fruit is oval, slightly segmented, weighing 6-8 kg. The background color of the bark is orange with a gray bloom and a mesh pattern, the pulp is bright orange with a red tint, the fruits are well stored in winter. A great variety for culinary delights.

Pumpkin variety Vitamin in the context

Vitamin is a great variety for juicing. The shape of the fruit is oblong, orange in color, round-oval, up to 20 cm long, weighing 8-10 kg. Fruits are beige with cream stripes, smooth ribbed. The pulp is red, with the smell of watermelon and nutmeg-aromatic, dense, very sweet. Contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals. The seed chamber is small. The plant is long-leaved, mid-season (90-120 days), belongs to the muscat pumpkin species. This variety has a high yield and transportability of fruits, it is well stored until spring.

Pumpkin Peanut butter - early variety (60-70 days) for open field. The plant is long-leaved: the main lash can reach 5 m, it has 3-5 lashes of the second order, 2-3 lashes of the third order. Fruits are cylindrical-rounded, orange-yellow in color, 30-50 cm long with a pear-shaped seed chamber of small size at the end of the fruit, fruits are found without a seed chamber, only solid dense pulp.

It is very sweet, dense, deep orange in color. The fruits are stored for 6 to 12 months. In terms of carotene content, this pumpkin is 2-3 times higher than carrots. It removes toxins from the body, helps to strengthen immunity, is widely used in dietary nutrition, belongs to the nutmeg types of pumpkins. It is consumed raw, baked and boiled, the taste is high.

Butternut pumpkin seeds are not recommended for food. Unlike other types of pumpkin, its seeds are small and have a tough and hard shell. May look ugly or be cracked. The fruit, as a rule, contains few of them. They are located at the end of the pumpkin. The rest of the place is occupied by sweet pulp.

In the middle lane, butternut pumpkin is grown only through seedlings - otherwise it will not have time to ripen. I sow the seeds at the end of April in half-liter cups, pour them with warm water. I feed the seedlings twice with complex mineral fertilizer. Cabbage, onions, potatoes, root vegetables, legumes are good as precursors for pumpkin, but not “relatives” - squash, squash, cucumbers.

In late May - early June, the seedlings are carefully planted in the ground under film shelters, placing them at a distance of 0.6-1 m from each other. After the threat of return frosts has passed, I remove the film. Before the growth of the lashes, care consists in weeding and loosening the soil. On one plant I leave no more than 2-3 ovaries - it still won't have time to ripen more, I pinch the stem (50 cm above the fruit). During the growth of the fruit, the pumpkin needs good watering (at least 5 liters per plant).

I feed it several times: the first - before flowering, preferably with organic fertilizer (infusion of mullein 1:10), with the addition of 30–40 g of superphosphate, 15–25 g of potassium sulfate per 10 l of water. The second falls at the time of flowering: 50 g of potassium sulfate and 15-20 g of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water (or 1 glass of wood ash for the same amount of water). When the nights become cold, I cover the plantings with foil again.

I harvest butternut squash before the frost, usually in September, in dry weather. When harvesting, I try not to damage the bark and always keep a 3–4 cm long stem-stem. Unripe pumpkins ripen well in a warm room during storage. During storage, the bark hardens, acquires a beige or light brown color, the pale flesh turns orange or beige. Butternut squash keeps very well - it can lie for a whole year.

Valery Brizhan, experienced gardener

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