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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-208
Cushaw Squash
Cucurbita argyrosperma
Cushaw squash is a hot-weather, borer-resistant squash - specifically the green-striped form, which an extension source names directly as one of the varieties least attractive to the squash vine borer that threatens most other squash. It stores up to six months after harvest, a real winter store just short of butternut's nine, and each fruit runs 10 to 20 pounds, so even a small planting produces bulk. It tolerates heat well but dislikes wet feet, so it needs a raised bed or mound on heavy clay rather than a low spot that holds water after a storm. Unlike some of its relatives, its sprouting seed carries a known toxin, so the seed is dry-roasted or ground rather than sprouted for food or feed.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–11
- Soil
- Silt · Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Vine- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 9–18 in
- Mature spread
- 10–15 ft
- Plant spacing
- 12–36 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-deep
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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