Performance of Butternut Squash Cultivars, Plateau Research and

Education Center, 2007

A. Brent Smith

Interpretative Summary

Dry weather significantly reduced the yield of butternut squash.  >Butternut 401= produced more fruit per acre.  >Atlas= fruit had significantly higher average weight and total yield.

 Introduction

 Butternut squash are grown throughout Tennessee for both decoration and consumption.  Cultivars have been found to perform differently at different locations.  Rainfall and temperature differences affect fruit set and development and disease problems.  Butternut squash have been a profitable crop for producers in recent years, and acreage production seems to increase each year.  Several tobacco and row crop producers have considered or actually produced acorn squash as an alternative crop.  Butternut squash production is over-all quite easy, but a few problems exist  that need to be considered by growers.  Weed control can be a problem in butternut squash as labeled herbicides fail to control all species of weeds adequately.  Insecticides and fungicides need to be applied on a 7 to 10 day frequency.  Bees are needed for pollination.   An experiment was conducted at the Plateau Research and Education Center in Crossville, TN in 2007 to evaluate performance of 8 butternut squash cultivars.  

 Materials and Methods

The site was prepared for planting by conventional tillage methods.  Fertilizer was broadcast at 350 lb/A of 15-15-15 and incorporated with a disk on June 4.  Plots were direct seeded with the selected cultivars on June11.  Plot size was one row, 6 ft by 20 ft.  Each row contained 5 hills with 3 seeds/hill.  Plants were later thinned to 2 plants/hill.  Experimental plot design was a randomized complete block with four replications.  A preemergence application of clomazone (Command) at 0.375 lb ai/A and ethalfluralin (Curbit) at 0.60 lb ai/A was made on June 12.  Following the practices of most local growers, no irrigation was used on the trial.

 Insect control was by esfenvalerate (Asana) at 0.05 lb ai/A or endosulfan (Thiodan) at 0.5 lb ai/A on a 7 to 14 day frequency.  Fungicides were azoxystrobin (Quadris) at 0.25 lb ai/A or chlorothalonil (Bravo) at 2.0 lb ai/A applied with each insecticide treatment.  Squash were harvested on Sept 5 to give all varieties time to complete fruiting cycle.  Harvested acorn squash were counted and weights taken.  Colors of the varieties were noted, as well as any anomalies in the given crop.  Stem quality was also evaluated.

 The data were analyzed by analysis of variance methods, and means were separated by Duncan=s multiple range tests at the 0.05 level of probability.               

Results and Discussion

 Squash yields were effected by the very dry weather that occurred during the 2007 growing season, with dramatically fewer fruit than what is expected for these varieties.  >Atlas= had significantly higher average weight per fruit and total yield of the varieties evaluated (Table 1).  No significant differences where seen between the total yield of the other varieties tested.  >Avalon=, >Butternut 401', and >Waltham= were among several varieties to have lower average weights per fruit.  >Butternut= had significantly more fruit produced per acre than other varieties.  No significant differences in the number of fruit per acre where observed between the other varieties in the test.      

 No significant difference was found in the stem quality and fruit appearance of the varieties evaluated (Table 2).  All the varieties tested were tan colored traditional varieties.