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How to Grow Yellow Crookneck Squash (Yellow Crookneck OG)
This page provides instructions and photos on how to grow Yellow Crookneck Squash. Vegetable Gardening Made Easier will be using the Yellow Crookneck OG which is a summer squash, pictured at the right. Summer refers to when it is grow and eaten. Winter squash is still grown in the summer time but harvested and eaten in the winter. The Yellow Crookneck OG is a choice eating quality. Many choose this strain as the best yellow variety for buttery flavor and firm texture. Big plants are late to begin bearing, but then yield consistently over a long picking period. Best picked small, 4-5" long. Organically grown. Days to Maturity: 58 CULTURE: Yellow Crookneck Squash likes fertile, composted, well-drained soil. DIRECT SEEDING: Sow beginning in late spring after danger of frost, when soil temp. is minimum 62° for treated seeds and 70° for untreated seeds. Seeds will rot in cool soil, especially cool, wet soil! Sow 2-3 seeds every 9-12" (thin to 1 plant), 1/2-1" deep; or sow about 4" apart (thin to 1 plant/ft.), rows 5-6' apart. ROW COVERS: AG-19 (heavier grade) floating row covers will provide about 4° of frost protection, and add warmth for vigor and earlier harvest. DISEASES: If the first few fruits wither, blacken, and/or fail to enlarge, it indicates absence of pollination, remedied when male blossoms appear and provide pollen. Virus diseases tend to be cyclic; watch for resistant varieties. Downy mildew may occur in cool, damp weather, powdery mildew in hot, droughty periods and in the fall. Till in the vines before winter or remove and compost mildewed plants. Copper fungicides offer some control. INSECT PESTS: Protect young plants with floating row covers. Cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and vine borers can be a challenge. Rotenone and pyrethrin offer some control. Squash bug eggs laid on underside of leaves may be located and crushed. Keep borders well mowed. For vine borers, use rotenone around the base of young plants. Cut borers out of vines and hill soil over the wound. Clean up refuse in the fall, and spring-plow the ground to bury the pupae. HARVEST: Harvest regularly, 2-3 times a week depending on age of plants and growing weather. Pick the vegetables when they are about six inches long and 3/4 inches in diameter. Letting them get bigger than this will affect the taste. STORAGE: Refrigerate at 32-50°F and high humidity to store 1-2 weeks. Can also be canned but not as good as fresh.
April 2010 Below is a picture of my Yellow Squash seedlings. So far they are coming along all right.
May 2010 Below are pictures of our yellow squash. The first one is a squash on the vine. The second is what it looks like harvested. I like to pick mine when they are small and tender. Others like to wait until they are larger. When it comes to vegetables, larger is not necessarily better.
May 2010 Below are some pictures of our Yellow Crookneck squash buds. Soon we will be enjoying some summer squash. Soon after than we will have so much coming out our ears that we will try to give it away to our friends. There is also a flower that has been pollinated in the first picture. There are also some flowers waiting to be pollinated as well.
Below is a Yellow Crookneck Squash. I have had to pull the plants up and start again. I believe I put them out to early which made them susceptible to mildew.
10-15-2010 I direct planted some yellow crookneck seeds and these plants are going along great. Not sure why the difference between those started inside and those directly sown. In the picture below is our new squash plants. They are coming along great.
For more on the Crookneck visit Three Sisters where we discuss growing corn, squash and green beans together as the Native Indians did.
Thank you for your visit. Go to Squash Home Page from Yellow Crookneck Squash. Post your Garden Story, Question or PictureDo you have a garden story, question or picture you would like to share with Vegetable Gardening Made Easier and its readers? The post it! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
I have lots of blossoms and leaves and bees
my yellow crooknecks are only getting one to two inches long ang shriveling up i cant get ant to grow i lost about 40 or so already. does anyone have the right answer or advice.
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