American Indian Child Resource Center

This Spring 2022 we launched our first annual squash growing contest. The choice squash for this competition is a traditionally grown squash, the Rancho Marques squash. There are two categories for the competition, a youth category and an adult category. There will be one winner from each category with prizes to be announced. We encourage all participants to take pictures of their progress at all stages of growth and tag @aicrc510 on Instagram and @American Indian Child Resource Center on Facebook to share with our community on social media. Add any questions, comments or growing tips to the forum as well. Happy planting! 

To sign up, please email your name, category and contact info to christian@aicrc.org  

 
Rules of the Squash growing contest: 

1. All participants will be provided with a packet of 8 seeds (Rancho Marques). 

2. The seeds may be propagated under cover, but the plants must be grown outdoors. 

3. Seeds may be propagated by friends on a competitor's behalf.  

4. The squash must be weighed by mid-October. Exact date to be announced. 

5. A photograph must be taken of the squash being weighed with a 2-liter bottle for comparison if you are not able to bring the squash in person to the AICRC office (for contestants living outside the Bay Area).  

6. The heaviest squash is the winner. 

Rancho Marques: Cucurbita moschata. An incredibly beautiful and varied accession from Rancho Marques in Sonora, Mexico. A good keeper with good flavor that gets sweeter with storage. Mottled green to buff, yellow, and orange markings and a wide variety of shapes. Prolific producers at the conservation farm in Patagonia, AZ. From our Seed Bank Collection. Origin: low desert at about 3200' elevation. Cucurbita moschata. Includes Butternut and Big Cheese fruit types. They can cross with C. argyrosperma, but usually flower later. They have a non-stringy texture and are good keepers.Squash fruits vary in shape, color and flavor. Flowers, seeds and growing tips of vines are all edible. All fruits can be eaten when small and immature as summer squash, and mature as winter squash.

Time of Planting: Sow seeds outdoors after danger of frost has passed in the spring, or start from seed indoors and transplant out in the spring.

Spacing Requirements: Create 12 inch diameter hills 6 feet apart. Plant 6-8 seeds per hill and later thin to 3-4 plants per hill. Sow seeds 1 inch deep.

Time to Germination: 5-10 days

Common Pests and Diseases: Common pests include aphids and slugs. Common diseases include powdery mildew, downy mildew, and cucumber mosaic virus. Watch plants carefully for signs of this virus - yellow mottling, puckering of leaves, and rotting fruit, and remove plants from the garden. Do not place infected plants in the compost pile that you use for your garden. Aphids can carry the virus, so you may want to consider pest control methods to control aphids in the garden.

When and How to Harvest: As there are four different species in the squash family, harvest time varies by species and variety. Yellow squash and zucchini should be cut with a knife or pruners, leaving about ½-1 inch of stalk on the fruit. Other types of squash, like pumpkins and gourds, can be harvested when the stem turns brown. Stems can be twisted off or cut.

How to Save Squash Seeds: There are four species of domesticated squash that are commonly grown in gardens. All four species have the same mating system and are essentially cultivated in the same manner when grown for seed. However, generally a seed saver can grow one variety of each species for seed without worrying about crossing.

Life Cycle: Annual

Assessing Seed Maturity: At seed maturity, summer squash will be much larger than their market-mature size, and they typically undergo a color change. Fruits are ready to harvest when the rind is too hard to dent with a fingernail and the stem is dry. Winter squash are typically mature when fruits are normally harvested for eating: after they change color and fruit stems are dry.

Harvesting: All types of squash benefit from a period of post-harvest ripening during which the seeds continue to mature. Fruits are typically held for at least 20 days beyond fruit maturity before their seeds are extracted. Although they can further ripen on the vine, squash are susceptible to diseases and sunscald, and it is generally recommended that fruits be harvested and moved to a shady location or indoors for post-harvest ripening. Commercial seed growers process winter squash after 20 days, but seeds can be extracted from squash later in the winter instead, when the fruits are used for cooking.