Gemsquash is a distinctly South African vegetable variety and was developed here. It is only now slowly being accepted in other countries. Perhaps with so many South Africans having emigrated, this may change.
The variety Little Gem dominated our market for many years and was smaller and not as dark as our current varieties. It had a slight light fleck, while the fruit rind became yellow when slightly over-mature. It was more stringy than current varieties and this became more pronounced as maturity advanced. A problem with marketing them was the yellow colour at full or over-maturity lowered the value, although the variety had good flavour.
To make the fruit more attractive, government breeders developed the Rolet variety, which is slightly larger with a darker rind and stringless flesh. The Rolet has a longer harvesting and marketing life, so Little Gem has become history. Now, more compact growers ( F1 hybrids) are coming onto the market and providing a higher yield, due to their short internodes and concentration of fruit. As fruit size shrinks in frost-free winters, I’ve developed a hybrid with slightly larger fruit, specifically for production at this time. Several hybrids with a compact growth are also now available. As we’ve discussed, spacing is important for both growth type and growing conditions.
Running types are usually spaced 30cm in rows of 1,5m to 2m. Semi-runner compact types can be row-spaced 1,2m or slightly wider, depending on the variety and conditions. These tend to set fruit close to the crown over a short period, and then start to run and set more fruit. Usually the spacing is geared to utilise the first flush only, or separate harvesting will be needed with the associated damage caused by the labour on the first pick. The running types will spread the crop for a longer period, setting fruit along the vines as they grow to full length.
Farmers normally wait until the first fruit is rather mature and the younger fruit firm enough to handle to avoid harvesting too often. Also, less labour is needed to fill a bag when there’s more to harvest at one time. – Bill Kerr ((016) 366 0616 or e-mail [email protected]). |fw
