Baby Squash Dr. Dan Cantliffe UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department

Baby Squash 2-3 in long Edible blossoms Variety of color/shape –Yellow summer –Zucchini –Patty pan/Scallop –Middle Eastern/Cousa

Tying tips Tie at least every other day Tie loosely enough so the stems can expand Avoid trapping future fruits and buds when tying Plant spacing: in apart

Good Tying

Bad Tying

Disease control We use a Nova- Quadris in rotation beginning a month after transplanting. We spray these two fungicides for a month. We also prune off diseased leaves

Zucchini-type yields per plant CultivarAvg. ft. wt. (g) Baby fruit no. Baby fruit wt. (g) Fancy fruit no. Fancy fruit wt. (g) Cull no. Bareket 30.1 c 16 c d 4 d d< 1 Eight Ball 36.5 b 20 bc bc 7 c c< 1 Gold Rush 24.3 d 21 ab cd 4 d d< 1 Goldy 26.4 cd 19 bc d 5 d d< 1 Raven 34.8 b 25 a ab 11 b b< 1 Revenue 45.4 a 22 ab a 17 a a 3 Sebring 27.2 cd 17 c d 5 cd d< 1 LSD NS

Yellow-summer type yields per plant CultivarAvg. ft. wt. (g) Baby fruit no. Baby fruit wt. (g) Fancy fruit no. Fancy fruit wt. (g) Cull no. Seneca Supreme 26.8 b a b Sunray 27.6 b a b Supersett 25.1 b a b Yellow Crookneck 24.4 b ab a Zephyr 31.4 a b b LSD 3.5NS 247.1NS 8.7

Patty pan/scallop-type yields per plant CultivarAvg. ft. wt. (g) Baby fruit no. Baby fruit wt. (g) Fancy fruit no. Fancy fruit wt. (g) Cull no. Butter Scallop 26.1 b 51 b a a< 2 Patty Green Tint 28.9 a 50 b a a< 2 Starship 25.2 b 51 b b b< 1 Sunburst 22.1 c 67 a b b< 3 LSD NS NS

Cousa-type yields per plant CultivarAvg. ft. wt. (g) Baby fruit no. Baby fruit wt. (g) Fancy fruit no. Fancy fruit wt. (g) Cull no. HA a < 1 Magda b < 1 LSDNS4.3NS

Recommended cultivars Zucchini: Raven and Revenue (green) and Gold Rush, Goldy and Sebring (yellow) Patty pan/scallop: Butter Scallop, Patty Green Tint, Starship and Sunburst Yellow-summer: Seneca Supreme Cousa: HA-187 and Magda

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