My two yellow crookneck squash are producing lumpy, warty fruit. The plants are prolific, but I don't want to eat these tough-fleshed outballs. I've Googled and found a number of diseases, but not one is described like this. Does anyone have any ideas? I live in Northern California.
Diane M
Is there catnip growing nearby?
I used to get the same thing; the squash plants would be healthy until they started blooming, then they would get this virus -- yellow squash would be green and warty, zucchini would turn a sick yellow. The plants would get this twisted tortured look to them and die.
My brother mentioned the catnip to me. He says it's an alternate host to a squash virus. I figure the squash and catnip are blooming at the same time and bees visit both and carry infected pollen to the squash. The virus infects the fruit and then moves it's way down.
I started a catnip eradication campaign, and I didn't grow any squash for a couple of years until I got the catnip under control. And the problem went away. Might be a coincidence, I dunno.
Catnip still comes up wild around here, but I pull most of it up (and feed it to the cat) and I never let any of it bloom.
Hope this helps, :-) Bob
Nope, no catnip, just dill, basil, chives and tarragon.
Diane
If the foliage is healthy, I might suggest another possibility; the plant may have reverted to a gourd-type squash or the seed parent crossed with a gourd.
I used to grow a variety of yellow acorn squash that occasionally produced plants which grew lumpy, hard-shelled and bitter squash. (And I remember reading that this reversion to a gourd-like fruit was a known defect in the variety.)
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