5 Tips for When to Harvest Butternut Squash
After growing butternut squash for nearly 20 years, I’ve found several tips for knowing when to harvest butternut squash. If you get the timing right and cure the squash properly, you’ll have richly flavored squash that can last 6-9 months at room temperature!
My Experience
I love butternut squash! But one year I had a prolific harvest of over 100 butternut squash. Due to this huge number my family got so sick of them. Who am I kidding, even I got sick of them!
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We gave many away but still had too much. So in years following the huge harvest, I pulled way back and only grew a few plants.
Then a reader told me about a mini butternut called Honeypatch and all the sudden my whole family fell in love with butternut squash all over again.
Even though different varieties slight differences in flavor and texture, there are some very important tips to making sure your harvesting at the right time for the optimum flavor.
Tip #1 Wait until the butternut squash has zero green on it
If you’ve ever seen butternut squash at the grocery store, the common color is a beige or tan. This is the color at full maturity for most varieties of butternut squash. However, there are a few varieties that are more of a burnt orange color.
Either way, the change in color from green to tan is an easy indicator of a squash that is at full maturity. There should be no green remaining.
What about green streaks near the stem?
The best case scenario is to wait until ALL the green is gone. However, some varieties like Waltham Butternut Squash often have green streaks near the stem for a long time after it looks ready.
If you can wait a bit longer to harvest that is ideal. It is not ready to eat until all the green is gone. But if you have lots of wet, cool weather in fall or a frost is imminent, then harvest even if there are some green streaks near the stem.
Tip #2 Do a Fingernail Test on the Skin
Take your fingernail and press into the squash. Did it go into the squash or make a small impression? If your fingernail poked into the squash, it’s not ready.
A light impression or none at all after pressing in your fingernail is a sign the butternut squash is mature. That is because as the squash ripens the skin will get very tough!
You can take your fingernail and test multiple squashes so you get an idea of when a skin is tough and ready and which ones aren’t.
Tip # 3 Wait until the Butternut Squash stem is hard and Mostly Brown
Another great way to tell when to harvest butternut squash is to look at the stem. When it is mature it will start to turn greenish-brown or tan. This shows the squash is curing in place and no longer needs the water and nutrients from the plant.
I usually have a range of stem colors from greenish-brown to more of a tan when mature. The difference in color can be due to several factors like whether or not that part of the plant was in sun leading to a more tan/brown stem.
I’ve also noticed that a stem is less green and more brown when the surrounding leaves are a little diseased or suffering from squash bug damage.
Any stem in that color range, helps determine if a butternut squash is ready to pick. When looked at in combination with all the other tips you’ll be able to know for sure.
Usually the stems get so tough you can’t remove them with just your hands without destroying the vines on the rest of the plant. The reason that happens is because the vines are soft and the stem is super tough!
You’ll need a sharp knife to cut the stem away from the vine if you are wanting to save the vines and let other squash mature.
Tip #4 Calculate Days to Maturity
My favorite type of butternut squash to grow is a small but very sweet variety called Honeypatch. The days to maturity is 110 days. That means on average it takes 110 days from planting a seed to harvesting a mature squash.
One of the most popular varieties of butternut squash is Waltham which is 105 days to maturity. As long as you took notes on when you planted you should get a rough idea of when to harvest.
The image below is an example of what Waltham butternut squash looks like in my garden calendar. If direct sowing in June, the harvest dates would be around the end of September.
The days to maturity is not an exact science, it is an estimate. Cool weather and cool nights will add days and hot weather often makes the squash mature more quickly. Even the amount of sun and daylight hours can affect maturity dates.
So calculate the days to maturity and then start looking around then. If the squash isn’t showing readiness based on the other indicators like a fingernail test, tough stem, and beige color, it’s not ready.
Not all butternut squash mature at once, so the days to maturity is the number of days until the first harvest, not the entire harvest.
Tip #5 Harvest Before a Frost
Even if your squash isn’t quite ready, you need to harvest all of it before a frost. Frost will damage the squash and destroy all your hard work!
You’ll want to harvest only the butternut squash that are mature or very nearly mature. As mentioned above, this is one time where if there are a few green streaks on the butternut it’s still ok to harvest as long as you let the squash cure inside in a warm place.
Another tip to help your squash mature faster if you’re getting close to your average first frost is to remove all squashes that are small and green.
This will help the plant focus its energy into the fruits that are nearly mature.
Bonus Tip! Properly cure the squash for peak flavor and longevity
Butternut squash sweetens with storage! If you eat it immediately after picking it will be a little starchy and not sweet. However, it cures and sweetens even more if you let it sit at room temperature for about a month or two.
It can be difficult to wait but the flavor and texture difference after that month or two in storage makes a huge difference.
I store all my butternut squash at room temperature about 70ºF because that is my best option. However, the ideal temperature is closer to 55ºF. Here is a guide and chart to storing winter squash (butternut squash is a type of winter squash).
When is the optimum eating period after harvesting butternut squash?
After harvesting, there is a 1-2 month storage period, then from 3-6 months post harvest the flavor and texture of butternut squash is at it’s best. After that the quality starts to diminish little by little. I personally have eaten butternut squash about 9 months post harvest and found it still tasty but not in prime condition.
Important note: Mini varieties of butternut squash like Honeynut and Honeypatch only need one month of curing time and should be eaten in months 2-3 post harvest.
The mini varieties don’t last as long as the large varieties of butternut squash and are more likely to go bad after that timeframe has elapsed.
Wondering about how to store other varieties of winter squash? Here is a great chart for how long each winter squash variety lasts from Johnny’s Seeds.
I hope you found these tips helpful!
