Butternut Pumpkin Problems
I have just started harvesting my butternut pumpkins (Walthams) which look great, however the first one so far tasted bland and starchy, not at all sweet. They have grown well, appear ripe and are a very good size. Have I picked too early or is it to do with the soil or weather? I welcome any suggestions. Rockmelons grown on the same site by contrast are very sweet but not nearly as abundant.
Elisa Harris
8 March, 2010 at 9:40 am
The butternuts will develop sweetness when they are fully ripe. Wait until the attached stalk has dried before you pick them.
8 March, 2010 at 11:26 am
I heard Peter Cundall say on talk-back radio in Tas last weekend that pumpkins sweeten up with keeping. They get lighter but concentrate the flavour. Not sure if it applies to butternuts but if they are fully vine-ripened, then you can just wait and see.
10 March, 2010 at 10:48 am
You have picked them too early – let them get more orange but pick before the first frost. Enjoy a sweeter taste hopefully. CB
11 March, 2010 at 9:24 am
Mine have pretty much taken over the front yard for the time being. I have some that are a lovely orange now and appear to be ripe enough to try this weekend in a Thai Pumpkin soup I love.
One of the later vines that was slow to start has some lovely green ones yet to mature, so hopefully it’ll be a long cropping period this time around.
Cheers
M
18 March, 2010 at 10:42 am
please could butter nut &cucumbers or melons or zucchinis cross as i have butter nut pumpkin up to 2 feet long
9 April, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Has the ph of the soil anything to do with you getting all male or all female flowers on butternut vines. I can never seem to get a balance of both together.