Winter squashes include Acorn, Butternut, Hubbard, Banana, Buttercup, Spaghetti, and pumpkins.
Winter squash refers to squash planted in spring, grown in summer season, harvested in fall, and stored for wintry climate use. Winter squashes require additional days to succeed in maturity than summer season squash. Winter squashes store smartly while summer season squashes do not.
When to Harvest Winter Squash
- Winter squash is able for harvest when the rind is hard and is hard to scratch with a fingernail. The skin of mature squash shall be dull and dry looking; immature squash may have a colourful pores and pores and skin with a sheen.
- Harvest wintry climate squash previous than midnight temperatures dip into the 40°s F and previous than the main frost.
- Squash harvested after frost shall be sweeter on the other hand isn’t going to store as long as squash harvested previous than frost.
How you can Harvest Winter Squash
- Decrease the squash transparent of the vine cleanly with a pruner or lopper.
- Move away a 2- to 4-inch stem to treatment with the squash. Ripping fruit from the vine can pass away a wound that can turn to rot.
How you can Get in a position Winter Squash for Curing
- Squash with a broken or free stem isn’t going to store smartly. The exception is Hubbard-type squash which shops easiest conceivable with the stem utterly removed.
- Clean squash for storage with a dry towel; remove grime and debris and any blossom this is nonetheless on the squash.
- Don’t use water to scrub the outside of the squash. Keep the squash dry. Do not take care of or harvest wet fruit.
- Remedy and store most simple blemish-free squash; do not treatment squash that is bruised or punctured or deeply reduce. Curing can be in agreement heal minor cuts and scratches.
- Slightly immature squash will also be cured but it surely for sure easiest conceivable to harvest and treatment mature squash.
How you can Remedy Winter Squash
- Winter squash when harvested will have to be in a position for storage. Preparation is unassuming—known as curing—and requires little effort. Curing is essential for the long storage of wintry climate squash.
- Curing—a kind of drying—we could in additional moisture inside the squash to simply evaporate and slows the fruit’s breathing value; each and every are necessary for long-term storage.
- As water evaporates from the squash, natural sugars are concentrated and the squash becomes sweeter tasting.
- Curing moreover causes the outside or rind of wintry climate squash to become harder. Exhausting pores and pores and skin slows breathing, helps the stored squash resist rot and collapse, and we could in long storage.
- Remedy squash and pumpkins for 10 days at temperatures between 80°F and 85°F and relative humidity of 80 to 85 %.
- Curing wintry climate squash calls for roughly 10 to 14 days of simply letting the squash sit in a warmth place with very good air flow into. To treatment wintry climate squash set it on an larger rack or mesh frame—hen twine stretched all through a frame or a window show will do—and let the air float into. Keep the squash dry everywhere curing.
- Winter squashes that require curing include Blue Hubbard, Buttercup, Butternut, and Spaghetti. Acorn squash is a wintry climate squash that should no longer be cured; curing Acorn squash will cut back its storage lifestyles and prime quality.
- If squash can’t be cured out of doors, use a small cabinet with a thermostatically controlled electric heater or set squash in a warmth shed or garage with a small fan to deal with very good air flow into.
How you can Store Winter Squash
- Store wintry climate squash in a cool, dry place; store wintry climate squash at 50° to 55° F with a relative humidity of 50 to 70 %—higher humidity can result in rot.
- Store cured squash on a shelf or rack, no longer on the flooring.
- Keep the skins of cured squash dry to forestall the growth of fungi and bacteria.
- Do not store squash just about apples, pears, or other ripening fruit. Ethylene gas introduced from ripening fruit may motive the squash to yellow and one day rot.
- Wiping the outside of wintry climate squash for storage with 1 phase circle of relatives bleach in 10 parts of water can gradual the growth of microorganisms that can purpose rot.
- Inspect stored wintry climate squash weekly. Squash that starts to spot will have to be moved transparent of various stored squash and used as soon as conceivable. Pores and pores and skin spotting generally is a sign of rot setting in.
Storage Life of Winter Squashes
The storage life of wintry climate squashes is:
- Acorn and spaghetti squash, about 1 month. The skin of Acorn-type squashes stored longer than 1 to 2 months will become yellow and the flesh stringy.
- Butternut, 2 to 3 months.
- Hubbard varieties, 3 to 6 months.
- Banana, 3 to 6 months.
- Buttercup or turban varieties, 3 to 6 months.
- Jack O’ Lantern and Connecticut field pumpkins will also be stored 2 to 3 months.
Moreover of passion:
How you can Harvest and Store Summer season Squash
How you can Increase Winter Squash
