Can anyone identify this squash?

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Westi
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Hi All!

I found this wee plant in the flower bed & it just looked like a squash/pumpkin so transplanted it behind the greenhouse. It's a thug - one stem grown right over the greenhouse & other stem over the back fence into the neighbours path to their back garden which fortunately they don't use! (My greenhouse is 8 ft to give you an idea of size). Currently it is only producing male flowers but did have a wee yellow fruit when much smaller but the slugs got to that.

The flowers are quite distinctive though & not something I remember growing so maybe imported on bought compost? Can anyone identify what it might be from the flower?
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Thanks in advance!
Westi
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Pa Snip
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My money is going on a pumpkin, although no idea what variety

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When I grew squashes I found them very promiscuous so it may we'll be the result of some cross pollination. I occasionally found small seedlings sprouting up in border from compost spread from my compost heap where squash seeds had been tossed but only once transplanted one to grow to maturing because I am short of space and my experience is that, as you say, they have a tendency to take over and swamp everything else. This plant, if I recall produced a very small green melon sized squash which in no way resembled the sweet dumplings or butternut squash I,d grown the previous year. As I was also growing courgettes, who knows what its provenance originally was?

So as Pa suggests probably a pumpkin of some kind but it sounds as if it's worth more of a conversation piece than a viable vegetable. Interesting though to see what happens when nature has a free rein! I
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peter
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Primrose wrote:When I grew squashes I found them very promiscuous.......


They do make excellent tarts. :twisted:
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Pa Snip
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peter wrote:
Primrose wrote:When I grew squashes I found them very promiscuous.......


They do make excellent tarts. :twisted:


:lol: :lol: V Good , 10/10 for that one Peter

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Westi
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It's just got one more small round yellow fruit show on it (just before it goes over the garage roof!) I have never grown round courgettes, so can exclude that, haven't tried any F1 squash & pumpkins as they don't tend to need much assistance so I think it is an import in some compost - or the topsoil I patched the holes in the lawn with maybe!?

I shall let it continue as it is not excluding too much light from the greenhouse as is going along the rim & coping well with with leaves being cut off the other branch. Certainly won't be getting too much insight into what it might be this late in the season but being a softie I'll let it run it's course.
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Pa Snip
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In the (misquoted) words of Brian Conley

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"It's a Pumpkin"

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Westi
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What you saying Pa?? Speak up!

A Pumpkin you say???? Going by size & growth indeed it is, but I don't think I'll find out the variety as it is too late setting fruit I would think. Not to worry though it looks impressive with huge leaves so I will let it do what it wants.
Westi
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Well a couple of pumpkins have set on the beast & growing well. Definitely not any that I have grown before & my little search of the U.S. site that is full of pumpkins can't find one like it. Likely it will be a promiscuous rogue but still exciting.
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This was last week, doubled in size now but still looks the same except getting a few shallow ridges like a pumpkin should.
Westi
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Well I've searched & searched but not with much luck!

Apparently Autumn Gold has yellow fruit when immature but the pics show them much smaller than the beast when yellow and at this guys size should be going a kind of tan colour. The only other one I have found is a Yellow Paris (Jaune Gress de Paris), but it is rounder with less pronounced ridges.

I found a complete look alike on a US forum that several people also said they had but no one knew the variety. Anyway the beast is happy enough even if taking over the whole back of the little veg patch at home & trying to get in the greenhouse through the window, I estimate that to be about 18ft on that particular branch of vine & it has the hugest leaves which are 20'' across.

Whatever it is, lets hope it's tasty!
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Westi
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Primrose
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Westi. I suspect this is definitely going to be "between the sheets" variety. Is anybody else near you growing squashes in their back garden which could have possibly caused some cross fertilisation? You can only let it go on growingnuntil the first frosts cone to see what it's potential size might be because some of the smaller orange squashes like onion squash don,t normally grow as big as other pumpkins, especially if it was a rather late starter.
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Hi Primrose

I'm with you re: it being a rouge. It has no history just turned up in the flower bed so thought I grow it on to see what I got expecting I may have dropped a seed at some point but think it may have been in the bought compost I topped up the beds with overwinter. I just hope it has orange flesh & worthwhile eating but then Halloween is coming so the kids up the road may have something to carve!
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Good luck with the squash Westi. The stray one that grew in my compost heap last year looked really good. It was a nice colour, decent size and orange flesh but tasted insipid and watery so quite disappointing. I hope yours turns out better it certainly looks good.
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