VegetableSquash
Blue Banana Squash
Blue Banana Squash is a rare heirloom winter squash that lives up to its distinctive name with elongated fruits wrapped in smooth, bluish-gray skin. These impressive vines produce large harvests of 18 to 24-inch-long squashes weighing 10 to 20 pounds each, filled with sweet, deep orange flesh that bakes beautifully and stores remarkably well. From zones 3 to 13, this open-pollinated variety takes 100 to 109 days to mature, rewarding patient gardeners with yields substantial enough to carry through winter months.
Photo © True Leaf Market
Growing Conditions
USDA Zone
3-13
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Well-drained, Fertile Loam, Rich
Growth Stats
30 in
Height
TypeSpreading
Spacing
48
Plant Profile
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Zones
3-13
Size
30in H x ?in W
Growth
—
Care
Moderate
Hover over chart points for details
Highlights
The flesh inside these blue-skinned giants is a vibrant deep orange and carries a distinctly sweet, nutty character that makes them exceptional for roasting, soups, and pies. A single plant can produce impressive yields despite spreading to just 24 to 30 inches tall, and the fruit's legendary storage life means your harvest feeds you well into the cold months. This is an heirloom variety preserved specifically for home growers seeking authentic flavor and abundance in one plant.
Common Uses
This squash shines in any application where you want rich, nutty sweetness and substantial flesh. Roast wedges until the skin caramelizes and the interior becomes creamy, blend it into soups where it adds body and warmth, or scoop the flesh into pie filling that rivals any pumpkin variety. The dense, sweet flesh also excels in gratins, curries, and anywhere you'd use butternut squash but want more depth of flavor.
Growing Timeline
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Care Instructions
Start Indoors
Start seeds indoors 3 to 4 weeks before your last spring frost date, sowing at a depth of about 1 inch in warm soil. Keep soil temperature between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit for best germination. Grow seedlings in a warm, bright location, then harden them off gradually by exposing them to outdoor conditions for a week before transplanting.
Transplant Outdoors
Transplant seedlings outdoors only after all frost danger has passed and soil has warmed to at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Space plants 48 inches apart and 144 inches between rows to give vines ample room to sprawl. Handle seedlings carefully, as squash vines are sensitive to root disturbance.
Direct Sow
Direct sow seeds into warm soil (70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit) after the last frost date has passed. Plant seeds about 1 inch deep, spacing them 48 inches apart. Thin seedlings once they develop true leaves if multiple seeds germinated in the same spot.
Harvesting
Harvest Blue Banana Squash when the skin has turned a deep, uniform bluish-gray and the fruit feels hard to fingernail pressure, typically around 100 to 109 days after planting. The stem should be woody and difficult to snap. Cut squashes from the vine with 2 to 3 inches of stem attached, which helps extend storage life. Late summer harvest, before the first frost, ensures fruit reaches full maturity and develops its best flavor and storage potential.
Growing Calendar
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Companion Planting
Pests & Diseases
Ecology & Traits
Edible
Scientific Classification
Cucurbita maxima
Family
Cucurbitaceae
Genus
Cucurbita
Growth Habit
Spreading
Native Status
L48 (I)PR (I)
History & Origin
“Blue Banana Squash carries the lineage of a rare heirloom winter squash, preserved and passed through generations of home gardeners who recognized its distinctive qualities. As an open-pollinated cultivar within the Cucurbita maxima species, it represents the kind of variety that seed companies actively protect and catalog because commercial production long ago abandoned it in favor of easier-to-ship, less flavorful alternatives. Today, it survives in the collections of heirloom seed companies precisely because gardeners have chosen to keep growing it.”