Please help me identify... the Squash that ate EVERYTHING

Hi Permies!
This vigorous squash plant volunteered in my garden row. I was certain before it fruited that it would be a butternut or spaghetti squash (the plants that grew in the same spot last year). However, it does not appear to be either. Even though the fruits are still young, can you help me identify what variety? I think it may be kabocha, or maybe acorn (but the shape isn't quite acorn-ish).

I'm going to have to prune it so it doesn't overtake the other plants!

TIA!

Hi Austin, your picture didn't come through.

I am quite familiar with "The Squash that Ate the Bronx." They're a lot of fun -- in the right location.

Whoops! They sure didn't. Take 2:

Do you know what was planted in the last couple of years? Sometimes squash revert, and sometimes they form new hybrids if they are all close enough. I mean, those bees get around, you know?

One solution to a super-spreader (heh) is to set up a ladder or other wooden structure that it can climb on. Train it upward and it will be happy; then chop all fronds that intrude on the rest of your garden. I have done this, and it works.

Great tips, Douglas!

Just butternut and spaghetti in that area; before that it was a lawn. But who knows what was in the compost I used!

And yes, squash are almost as promiscuous as citrus! ;)

My neighbor trained her spaghetti squash upwards, so that is exactly what I plan to do with this one. I'll make a trellis from a hog panel.

Thanks!

Maybe Seminole pumpkins.
On the vine:


After curing:

Images from David The Good.

I got my seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. My last pumpkin harvested just before the first frost is now 7 months old. No sign of expiration. I'm just going to call this a long keeper and eat it up. Seeds are going in the ground in the next couple of days.

yeah, the stems make me think moschata. if butternuts were the last moschata squash grown there, do you remember if they were a hybrid?  that would explain the relatively random shapes.

Hehe

Cute mystery squash!

I don't have a picture, but last October I got my "squash baby" for Halloween. The gal who was selling them had 2 of them and was figuring the pumpkins got randy with some zucchini. It was like finding a giant hidden monster zucchini, but ribbed and orange. Surprisingly, it kept as a hard winter squash. I roasted it early in May and have been making a bread with it.

The seeds from the pumpchini are trying to escape our compost pile now lol

greg mosser wrote:yeah, the stems make me think moschata. if butternuts were the last moschata squash grown there, do you remember if they were a hybrid?  that would explain the relatively random shapes.

I took a few more pics of the stems and leaves, and I agree Greg! moschata definitely seems like the variety.

Last year, I planted the back part of the yard with heirloom pumpkins (a musque de provence/Cinderella style) and they produced all sorts of beautiful and delicious fruits. The vine never died (no frost dates in my zone) and now they're roaring back, even with no irrigation (I laid down lots of wood chips though)!

Sure enough, the fruits in the "back 40" look EXACTLY the same as the ones in question! So some seeds apparently migrated 30 feet or so and took hold there.
These pumpkins keep a LONG time. I am still eating ones I harvested in January!

BTW I found this thread after I posted and it was extremely helpful!

Thanks to all who replied!