Mystery squash identification?

[TheMadOne]

Hello all,

I am connecting with you from Indiana, U.S. Found your forum board while searching to identify a mystery squash which has sprung from my plain old spaghetti squash plant area. It was the first fruit to show and has grown rapidly into the pictured squash. I also have some squash growing from the same batch of seeds that are easily identified as the spaghetti squash variety. Can anyone give me an ideal of what type/variety of squash this might be?

Here is an image of the other squash I have growing out of the same batch of seeds, definitely spaghetti squash :

I retained the seeds in question from last years harvest of spaghetti squash, which when purchased as pre-planted "zucchini" squash. I had 3 zucchini plants from the 4 plant flat thses came from and one was a surprise spaghetti squash plant when things started producing. All of the seeds I planted this season came from those "surprise" spaghetti squash. I'm thinking maybe there was some kind of cross pollination that may have occurred with those spaghetti squash I grew last year. It sure kinda looks like a giant zucchini mutant. It is now about 14 inches long and about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.

Thanks in advance for your help and any ideals on harvest and preparation! Yup we're definitely going to give this squash a try once we harvest it!

Mark J.

[SQWIB]

It's a spaghetti squash, some look Green like that.

[kayjay]

Hi. I’d have to guess cross-pollination, especially if the original plants were mixed up when you bought them. Did you bag the flowers before deciding to save the seed?

[TheMadOne]

Yup, thinking the cross pollination is a strong suspect, by the time we realized we were getting spaghetti squash last year it had likely already occurred. Squash bore took out pretty much all of my zucchini before we got much harvest on it. The spaghetti squash fared better but still took some hits. Using the Bt caterpillar pesticide this year with good success, when I see the signs I treat the plant with both a droplet spray and "injected" stream at any breaks or openings.

Biggest curiosity on this dark green and spotted spaghetti squash is when to harvest. All outward signs seem to point to its ready, its been in the same developmental state for nearly a month now with no further change or growth so I think I shall give it a try in the next couple of days.

Thanks for your inputs!

[applestar]

If we are assuming spaghetti squash x zucchini, then I imagine you would be better off harvesting like summer squash since spaghetti squash is said to be tasty as immature squash, but zucchini is not known to be tasty when overmature.

...but squash seeds so readily “volunteer” — from compost, undiscovered spoiled fruit in the squash patch, or even birds and squirrel dropped seeds — so It’s also possible that there was some mystery-sourced seeds in the ground where you grew your garden and quietly sprouted and mingled with the rest.

[kayjay]

I was going to mention that, too - harvest and cook early. I'd have to decide what to do with it after I see what the texture is like. If it was firm enough, I might make zucchini lasagna. If it was watery like an overgrown zucchini, I'd probably eat it raw with dip, stir-fry it, or thinly slice it into chips and put it in the dehydrator. I don't know if it would be stringy like spaghetti squash; I've never had an immature spag squash.

Let us know; I'm curious. I don't have the garden space to experiment with mystery squash, so I like hearing about other folks' experiments.

[SQWIB]

I'm the odd man out. I would leave it be untill the vine is shriveling or it starts to show a yellow hue.
Treat it like a regular spaghetti squash.

[TheMadOne]

Meh.... too late I harvested it yesterday. It has been in the same state of development for over 4 weeks now with no changes in size, color, sound or feel. Possibly did it early you could be right... we'll see. The whole plant its self this cam off of is a bit odd. The main body has the size, texture, stem thickness and leaves of a zucchini, but then there are a series of vine structures coming from the main body much more resembling of a spaghetti squash plant with the smaller leaf structures further out from the main body resembling spaghetti squash vines. I'll try to post some images tomorrow, away today, as well as what the fruit/squash its self looks like when I cut and prep it for cooking.

OTOH, I harvested a few of my butternut squash Saturday & they were quit ready, & quite nummy!! They were planted same time as the zucchini/spaghetti hybrid was.... Could be interesting next year as the butternut has crossed the rails and is growing intertwine with this year's spaghetti squash. Going to put in some new raised beds next early Spring and put the squash there next year... 4 beds 12" raised 6' X 16' or there abouts. Dedicate the 36' area on the southern side of the house to beans, tomatoes, spinach, corn, egg plant, and peppers... Prolly move the cucumbers out to the new beds as well.

Mark J.

[TheMadOne]

Well, it was absolutely delicious! Had the look of a spaghetti squash when I halved it for baking, turned out a little biit different when done, it would only give small shreds so we just cut it into chunks kind of like a butternut squash and used it in the Mexican Casserole we were going to use it in as the spaghetti substitute. Flavor was very much along the lines of a spaghetti squash only a bit sweeter with a texture similar to a butternut but slightly less "firm". The taste was noticeably better than a "regular" spaghetti squash and did not really have much of a zucchini taste or texture at all, much more of a flavor savor and firmer texture than any zucchini at all. In fact if someone else had served it to me and I did not know what it was I'd have never guessed it to have any zucchini in it at all. The texture was almost like a sweet potato, and the taste even gave me the very slightest similarity to a sweet potato??! At any rate it was very very good and did well in our casserole.

There are several more coming on and they seem to grow very quickly to a larger size. Hope the others are as good as this one was, as stated it was delicious!!! Here's an image of it just after we split it, looks very much like a spaghetti squash on the inside while still uncooked... even after, just didn't shred like one.

[applestar]

Oooh thanks for the follow-up. Sounds like you got a good surprise there. Sometimes something called “hybrid vigor” comes into play and the crossed off-springs will grow stronger and produce more prolifically than either of the parents.

If you were to allow fruit to mature and save seeds this year, you may not get the same results when you grow them next year, but you would likely see different characteristics in different, presumably F2 plants. I’m growing out offsprings from deliberately crossed squash just for the fun of it. The original parents were a flattened lobed kabocha-like squash and a long zucchini-like squash, but 3rd generation grew field pumpkin-like tall, pumpkin-shaped fruits last year.

[jal_ut]

Squash and gourds all freely cross pollinate. If you save seeds from this years crop, or if some come up volunteer, it is not likely they will be like anything you grew last year. They will be a hybrid and have their own look. These hybrids can at times be very good eating. You just gotta try it to see.

When planting squash, it is best to buy new seed from a reputable seed company.