Tetsukabuto croce

[Carol Deppe]

Remove the smaller of the two fruits and any fertilized flowers or smaller fruits so all the plants energy goes into the biggest fruit.

When frost threatens cover most of plant with clear plastic held down in several places with shovels full of soil along the edge but mostly open to air. That can protect plant from being damaged by a hard frost so as to be able to take advantage of the warmer weather that sometimes follows the first frost.

Don't know if this works for squash, but with corn if the ears are too unripe to pick if you cut entire plant and bring it into an attached garage where it is warmer than outside but doesn't dry too fast the plant will use a good bit of the energy in the stalk to finish ripening the ears of corn.

Most squash fruits go through an after-ripening period during which the squash fruit transfers some nutrients to the squash seed and the seed continues to mature and get heavier. So when you pick the fruit, even if it looks immature, let it sit at room temperature a while. But examine it and turn the fruit daily and harvest the seed the instant you see any sign of mold.

[Adrian]

Thank you Carol Deppe,
The fecondation of this cross is at normal time very capricious, i already seeing avorted fruits with a weight above of 500g in the lasts generations.  They should have a weight up to 6kg if the season is good. Unfortunately ours summer was extrem and the plants has wait mid-september for started the fructification.

Can i also put mini greenhouse above the fruits?

[Carol Deppe]

If you have an ability to put a mini-greenhouse over the plant in the field, that's the best solution of all for giving the plant time to ripen the precious fruit. I would still remove all but the biggest fruit.

That's a very interesting cross.

If you are getting your F2, F3, etc by hand pollination, I would suggest you do the hand pollinations on the first or second female flower of the vine only, and use the pollen from three or more male flowers on every female flower. With such a cross, many of the pollen grains will have lethal chromosomal abnormalities that make the pollen unable to germinate, unable to grow its pollen tubes down the female style, or the pollen tubes can't recognize the signals the ova send out so grow all over the style instead of growing straight for the ova and merging with it. The ova is also going to be full of potentially lethal chromosomal incompatibilities but more of these are survivable through the Ova stage than through the pollen stage.