Can these really be butternut squash?

[c'est la vie]

Maybe this is a silly question but I am growing 'Hunter F1' butternut squash for the first time, simply because the seeds were sent out to me in France! The plants are like triffids, I'm fertilising by hand as the poor bees can't get anywhere near the female flowers! All is going well and I have numerous squash but, although they have the right shape the skins are green 'stripey' and look more like marrows than butternuts, also maybe I shouldn't be complaining but they are ENORMOUS!!! So I do wonder if I really have got butternuts, could they have been cross pollinated? I know I am growing them in a different climate to the one they were developed for, could this be the reason for their size and colour? Has anyone else had experience of this strain?

Must be the first time anyone has questioned how big their veg are growing

[Jeanied]

Some of my butternuts were stripey last year- especially before they were sun-ripened - and one or two of the squash were quite large! However they can be a bit variable if the seeds came from a crossed fruit - so the real test will be their keeping and eating quality.

[bearded bloke]

Hunter F1 should be a buff colour,at least mine were last year,slugs got them this

Edit : Here we go,bit deeper coloured than the piccy .... Butternut Squash Vegetable Seeds - Hunter F1

[Thelma Sanders]

Mine were also green & stripey before they ripened last year
But Hunter weren't one of the huge growers, certainly not triffids

[reetnproper]

I haven't grown hunters but I do grow Cobnuts which are a butternut-like squash. Here's a picture of a Cobnut squash I grew last year. It did eventually go yellow but kept it's --- urm, unique shape



I reckon it isn't unusual for odd shapes to occur, as Mother Nature is totally unpredictable at the best of times but I did wonder if a touch of courgette had found it's way in via the helpful bumble bees.

HTH
Reet
x

[c'est la vie]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. This is only the 2nd year I've grown butternuts and last years' were nothing like this! I suppose the proof will be in the eating...... patience as a gardener is not high on my list of qualities!!!
There are courgettes and melons in the next raised bed so there is a possiblity of cross pollination, but would all of them have succumbed?

Reet,
I love the photo!!!! ..... did it taste as it should have done?

I've attached some photos with a tennis ball to estimate the size of two of the bigger ones.











I do wonder if I've overdone the feeding as the sunflowers in the picture are nearly 3 metres high! Either that or it's something in our well water

[rustylady]

Were the seeds in a sealed pack? Or were they a gift from a friend (maybe home saved seed).

[reetnproper]

I love the photo!!!! ..... did it taste as it should have done?

It was delicious and huge. Did 2 meals, roasted as part of Sunday dinner for 4

Reet
x

PS. I was commenting to OH that this year my cobnuts plants have outdone themselves in terms of triffid like behaviour. I grow mine up our post and rail fence, inset with chicken wire, and this year, for the first time in 3 years of growing one of the plants has topped the fence and seems intent on growing down the other side. One of its' siblings isn't far behind it and they were out of a sealed packet bought from Wilkos .

[c'est la vie]

It was delicious and huge. Did 2 meals, roasted as part of Sunday dinner for 4

Reet,
That's good to hear.... reckon one of these will do us all month
I've never eaten cobnuts, are they anything like butternuts?

Maybe the extreme growth has something to do with the unusual weather? Or maybe squash are taking over the world

Were the seeds in a sealed pack? Or were they a gift from a friend (maybe home saved seed).

Rustylady,
They were Unwins in a sealed packet

[reetnproper]

Cobnuts are just like butternuts but I think, and please don't quote me on this, they're a little more tolerant and easier to grow - well that's my experience

Here's a picture of 3 more of the cobnuts (and a couple of other winter squashes) from last year:



Reet
x

[Florence Fennel]

They look delicious Reet. First time for me this year with some squash, can't wait now.

[chris]

I'm leaning the same direction as rusty... Looks like the seed has been crossed with a courgette or similar.

[c'est la vie]

I'm leaning the same direction as rusty... Looks like the seed has been crossed with a courgette or similar.

Oh B****** Chris, what if they get as rampant as courgettes....... I'll need a warehouse to store them in

[c'est la vie]

Cobnuts are just like butternuts but I think, and please don't quote me on this, they're a little more tolerant and easier to grow - well that's my experience

They look great Reet, I must try some next year

[taff]

mine last year were similar to the bottom one before they ripened to buff. Don't worry about cross-pollination, that'll only be a problem if you were going to save the seeds from those ones above. It doesn't make a difference to the fruit that's growing this year.