Fascinating and informative, thank you. My urban neighborhood is riddled with volunteer squash plants that have appeared this year. Not near vegetable gardens so I'm assuming birds or squirrels. Last year I noticed one plant, this year dozens. I decided last year not to eat them and will likely do the same this year. But I'm wondering about the squash blossoms - they are so beautiful and I'd love to harvest some. I might try one for bitterness and whether it causes intestinal upset.
Good idea! I *think* that because, in grams, we tend to eat much less blossom than we would squash, you would be less likely to eat enough to make you sick, even if the cucurbitacin level was high. Also google tells me it concentrates in the roots and fruits, not leaves and flowers - but I think I need to do a deeper dive on that to say for sure!
I have been eating volunteer mut pumkins for several years and they taste great and make the best pies. I wonder the percentage of toxic pumpkins because it seems kind of rare.
We've been eating our volunteer squash in the form of soup, cooked, and will probably make a bread from the excess. They do not taste bitter, and all look like zucchini like we planted near it. It's growing huge in a pile of grass clippings near it. I did eat a bit much last night, and all I'm feeling is somewhat gassy, but otherwise fine. Thanks for the info, because now I'll watch how much of it I'll eat for the remainder of the season.
I have a volunteer squash plant about the size of yours. The leaves are very healthy looking but the fruit it is producing have a really unusual appearance. It looks like like acorn squash fruits are growing except the coloring of the fruit is yellowish white with thin bright yellow stripes. They look so pretty! I've found an unusual Delicata squash that has similar coloring and markings so I'm wondering if the shape of them will elongate more to resemble Delicata squash. I'm going to wait and see.
Not quite. Only some squash cross pollinate with each other - I’ve got this short video that briefly goes over which ones interact ruclips.net/video/4gcij4bHlSo/видео.html
Fascinating and informative, thank you. My urban neighborhood is riddled with volunteer squash plants that have appeared this year. Not near vegetable gardens so I'm assuming birds or squirrels. Last year I noticed one plant, this year dozens. I decided last year not to eat them and will likely do the same this year. But I'm wondering about the squash blossoms - they are so beautiful and I'd love to harvest some. I might try one for bitterness and whether it causes intestinal upset.
Good idea! I *think* that because, in grams, we tend to eat much less blossom than we would squash, you would be less likely to eat enough to make you sick, even if the cucurbitacin level was high. Also google tells me it concentrates in the roots and fruits, not leaves and flowers - but I think I need to do a deeper dive on that to say for sure!
I have been eating volunteer mut pumkins for several years and they taste great and make the best pies. I wonder the percentage of toxic pumpkins because it seems kind of rare.
We've been eating our volunteer squash in the form of soup, cooked, and will probably make a bread from the excess. They do not taste bitter, and all look like zucchini like we planted near it. It's growing huge in a pile of grass clippings near it. I did eat a bit much last night, and all I'm feeling is somewhat gassy, but otherwise fine. Thanks for the info, because now I'll watch how much of it I'll eat for the remainder of the season.
Thanks for the information 🤗🤗🤗
You’re welcome! The garden is always an adventure :)
I have a volunteer squash plant about the size of yours. The leaves are very healthy looking but the fruit it is producing have a really unusual appearance. It looks like like acorn squash fruits are growing except the coloring of the fruit is yellowish white with thin bright yellow stripes. They look so pretty! I've found an unusual Delicata squash that has similar coloring and markings so I'm wondering if the shape of them will elongate more to resemble Delicata squash. I'm going to wait and see.
Lovely! I actually got a second volunteer squash a few weeks later that I have been enjoying a lot - tastier than the ones I planted on purpose :)
So does this mean you can't collect squash seeds from any squash if you're growing more than one type?
Not quite. Only some squash cross pollinate with each other - I’ve got this short video that briefly goes over which ones interact
ruclips.net/video/4gcij4bHlSo/видео.html
I've got to know. Did you eat it? Was it good?
I did, but mainly as grated squash in zucchini bread recipes. It was fine, but not as tasty as my yellow zucchinis and patty pans!