Cucurbita ficifolia

[The Future]

This is another item I picked up from ebay. 

I just put 4 transplants in the ground today and can tell already these are vigorous vines.

According to Wikipedia one plant can produce 50 fruits!   

In reading up on it, it seems to have significant benefits including being arguably the longest storing squash - 2 years with no special treatment.  And it gets sweeter with time.  According to this
 site

"This species is another cool-climate (but not frost-tolerant) member of the genus Cucurbita and is the only perennial among commercial cucurbits. It is pest resistant and short-day flowering. In some places, the rampant, irrepressible vine runs wild, climbing trees and shrouding shrubs with its figlike leaves. Its elongated or globe-shaped fruits may weigh 11 kg.

Cultivated extensively in the Andean highlands—mostly at 1,000–2,000 m elevation 8 —the young fruits are used like zucchini. The mature fruits are prized especially for desserts, usually cooked and served in sweet syrup. They are also fed to domestic animals (horses, cattle, and sheep) during the dry season.

No fruit anywhere keeps as well as these. Mature, they are commonly stored (kept dry, but without any other special care) for two years, and yet their flesh remains fresh and actually gets sweeter with age. They are eaten boiled or in preserves. Immature ones can pass for zucchini in looks and in recipes. Especially delicious and nutritious is a pudding made by simmering this squash with milk and cinnamon.

The seeds are baked and eaten like peanuts and are greatly appreciated. They have an unusually high concentration of oleic acid, the prime ingredient in olive oil. "

Again full disclosure, I've arranged with the ebay guy to get a credit if he gets enough orders.  Please send a note to him with "Ref SE" if ordering.

[Wellspring]

My small plant has stopped growing (along with my Moringa).  Sure wish I had a greenhouse for these types of plants that require warm temps.  We've had very unseasonably cool weather the last couple of weeks.

Anyone have suggestions for a relatively inexpensive greenhouse design?  I've used cold frames over my beds with great success, but I'm thinking a genuine greenhouse would be more effective.  Of course, heating it would also be an issue.  I know I read in Mother Earth News awhile back that building your compost piles right next to the greenhouse is a great way to generate heat in the greenhouse.  Again, that would require more time and expensive than I currently have.

Actually, maybe a better, simpler solution would be to create an interior greenhouse in my empty garage.  Wouldn't it be easier to control the heating variables if it was indoors?

[opsec]

PVC pipes and rolled plastic is about as cheap as one can get.

[The Future]

Medicinal uses

ABSTRACT
Cucurbita ficifolia (C. ficifolia) commonly known as pumpkin is a cultivated plant whose fruit can be used for treating various diseases, one of which is diabetes mellitus. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of long term feeding of C. ficifolia fruit extract on blood glucose, lipid profiles and the oral glucose tolerance test in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic rats. Treatment for 30 days showed a significant decrease in blood glucose, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein and a significant increase in high density lipoprotein level. A significant effect on oral glucose tolerance was also noted. Chronic administration showed an improvement in the oral glucose tolerance curve. These results suggest that C. ficifolia fruit extract exhibits hypoglycemic as well as hypolipidemic effects in the STZ-induced diabetic rats.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Cucurbita ficifolia, also referred to as pumpkin, is commonly used as a traditional remedy for diabetes in Asia, Africa and South America. The present study investigated the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of C. ficifolia fruit extract in rats with streptozotocin-induced experimental diabetes. Findings from this study demonstrate that C. ficifolia fruit extract has been shown to have, besides hypoglycemic properties, strong hypolipidemic action on diabetic hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia as well. Therefore, consumption of C. ficifolia fruit as a therapeutic diet may be useful in the treatment of diabetes.

[The Future]

I've checked around the web and some people are reporting dozens of fruits per vine.  The vines appear to be voracious.  One picture posted on a forum shows vines in one are piling on top of each other to the point of being 5ft off the ground.  Given the fruit can last two years, this might be an unexpected advantage.  Great for Guerilla gardening and also for plots in plains sight and unprotected.  Hidden food in plain sight that will last for months and maybe years (not sure how ground/rain affects storage).

[Wellspring]

My ficifolia ready to go in the ground today.

Note to others thinking of growing it:

I have found that it's very sensitive to temperature swings and especially more intense heat.
I've had to move the pot under my Apricot tree in the middle of the day on a hot day.
I think I may need to throw shade cloth over it when the temperatures get really high.

[The Future]

Try growing it under the apricot tree.  Especially if it is positioned to get morning and evening light.

[Wellspring]

Try growing it under the apricot tree.  Especially if it is positioned to get morning and evening light.

Well, I've already erected my arbor which is out in all day sun.
Based on your experience, do you think I should only plant in morning and evening light??

[The Future]

Not sure what you mean?  Arbor should be fine.

[Wellspring]

Well, the arch I've made for it to grow up and over on is in all day sun.  So it will be exposed.
Just wondering if they need more filtered light or morning/evening light.

[The Future]

The vertical and horizntal portions of your arch will make for a "self shading" configuration.  Best if facing south that way it catches morning and evening light and is shaded at midday.  This also facilitates catching more light as the angle of the sun changes, going south (starting tommorow!)

[opsec]

I ordered 5 packages of seeds and mentioned the "RefSE". He dropped the price from $3.99/pk to $3.10/pk. The sale lasts for one more day in case anybody is interested.

[The Future]

Great stuff.  It was good fortune for me to get items from his site.  Funny this is, most of the things I didn't fully read up on until after I received them.  The achocha looks like another multi-purpose gem.  My ajipa are up and growing.  I think only 3 or 4 out of 40 did not sprout.

[opsec]

The American SS got my Curcubita Ficifolia seeds. They put a letter inside saying that they had been removed and destroyed and that a written permit for small lots of seeds from the USDA was required. In reading the letter, there are several check boxes that list reasons that an item can be siezed. Some relate to soil safety, others relate to meat products. The only one that is checked on my Mail Interception Notice says "Material not authroized for entry". They didn't say that it was unsafe for any discernable reason, it's just that I failed to bribe the bureaucracy in exchange for a promise to not intercept my seeds. I would understand if they were just looking for something illicit. They have to do that much. But they weren't, they took my stuff merely because I had not given them money to not take my stuff. Oh well, my Jaspee de Vendee seeds showed up on the same day. That blunts my sense of loss anyways.

[The Future]

wierd.  Seperately, I talked to the seller in Bolivia and he aid to expect 10 - 30 fruits per vine.  As far as he knows, they are not daylight sensitive.  Some reports say they are and won't flower until after days shorten below 12 hours.  For those in cooler climes, let's hope he is right.