'South Anna Butternut' Squash

Cucurbita moschata

Origin: Virginia

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~20 

Germination tested 11/2023: 97%

Life cycle: Annual

Days to maturity: 100

We are excited to offer this variety from our friend and top-notch cucurbit breeder, Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers!

South Anna is a new Downy Mildew resistant butternut developed from a cross between Seminole Pumpkin and Waltham butternut. Edmund made the cross in 2011 and has been working on it each year since, intensively selecting for Downy Mildew resistance, productivity, eating quality, brix, dry matter, keeping quality, and butternut shape. This is F8 seed (the eighth generation after the cross). While selection work will continue through 2019 and possibly 2020, the progress made to date is exciting. Expect 95% butternut-shaped fruits, with good productivity, Downy Mildew resistance, rich sweet flavor, and very good keeping quality. Immature fruits vary between light and dark green in color (most immature butternuts are light green). The dark green ones take longer to turn fully tan, but when they do you can be sure that they are ripe.

South Anna will avoid the crop failure that can occur in years when Downy Mildew comes early, and provide higher yields in years with average DM pressure. The healthier foliage also leads to better fruit quality, with sweeter, riper fruits of a rich tan color. When used as a late planting, South Anna grows strong until frost, allowing for later harvests that will keep better into the winter and spring.

This variety carries the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) pledge, which states: “You have the freedom to use these OSSI-Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict other's use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.” More information on OSSI can be found at osseeds.org.

100 days. Grown by Edmund Frost at Twin Oaks Seed Farm. Certified organic by QCS.

GROWING TIPS: Direct seed in May or early June, or transplant in healthy plant starts around this time. Plants should end up 30-36 inches apart in rows 5-6 feet apart.