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Butternut squash from saved supermarket seeds

tarkboffintarkboffin Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
Hi,

 Last year we saved some seeds from a supermarket butternut squash on a whim. When we couldn't go out to buy seeds durign lockdown we planted these instead and they are now spreading nicely and growing squashes. But someone im my family has said we should not eat them, as they may revert to being poisonous.

 Are Butternut squashes grown from saved seeds a problem/dangerous?

Thanks
M
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Posts

  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    Really don't think that would be the case. I've done exactly the same last year and got a couple of lovely squashes. Easy enough to cook a small one and taste it. If it's anything like the current bad strain of courgettes it would be very bitter. But let's see what everyone else thinks! 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • pinutpinut Posts: 194
    Generally, no, they are not dangerous. I have grown butternuts from supermarket saved seeds and collected the seeds from those and have grown those on. The same goes for pumpkins, marrows, cucumbers and bottle gourd.

    Ocassionally, I do get strange crosses (from cross pollination) but the fruits from those still turned out ok to eat.

    In any case, you can detect if there are problems if the fruits taste bitter. Don't worry - you would need a massive dose to kill you so a little taste test will cause no harm.


  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Welcome to the Forum.
    Forgive my asking but where does your family member get this notion that "they may revert to being poisonous." ? Is there any evidence to back it up?
    I've never heard of "poisonous" butternut squash.
    Devon.
  • tarkboffintarkboffin Posts: 2
    Hostafan1 said:
    Welcome to the Forum.
    Forgive my asking but where does your family member get this notion that "they may revert to being poisonous." ? Is there any evidence to back it up?
    I've never heard of "poisonous" butternut squash.
    They don't have evidence, hence my question here.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    My guess is that, given that gardeners, world wide, have " saved seed " for millenia, such cases as described by @pansyface are very rare indeed ( rouge batch of courgette seed notwithstanding )
    Devon.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The thing is that this year there have been several cases of folk being hospitalised after eating fruit from a rogue batch of seeds. These seeds would have come from a producer who should have endured that the plants they were growing for seed were well away from other squashes which could have cross fertilised them. 

    What we should bear in mind is that growers who are producing squashes for sale as fruit will have had no need to ensure they will not be cross fertilised as they are not being sold for seed. 

    Therefore logic dictates that the likelihood of cross-fertilisation of fruit grown for sake as fruit is higher than in fruit grown for sale as seed.  

    For that reason it is logical to be wary of growing squashes from the seed of bought fruit. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • 1943roly1943roly Posts: 1
    Some time ago my Sister read in an ecology magazine that Monsanto the company that produces seed for use commercially has modified their seed so that seed from the crops produced can't be used again. (Farmers have traditionally reserved part of their harvest to use for the next crop) So insuring increased future sales for Monsanto. Possibly some of that seed had got on to the market somehow and is what has caused the cases of poisoning.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    No it’s not that ... although I hold no brief for Monsanto ... it’s a well known but usually uncommon occurrence caused by pollinators visiting inedible ornamental squash then pollinating the plant breeder’s courgettes. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • GardenGrower11GardenGrower11 Posts: 312
    Dovefromabove said:
    What we should bear in mind is that growers who are producing squashes for sale as fruit will have had no need to ensure they will not be cross fertilised as they are not being sold for seed. 

    Therefore logic dictates that the likelihood of cross-fertilisation of fruit grown for sake as fruit is higher than in fruit grown for sale as seed.  

    For that reason it is logical to be wary of growing squashes from the seed of bought fruit. 
    That might seem to be logical, but in practice there are other and more important factors.

    Commercially grown will mean large areas of identical plants, effectively monoculture, so the chances of cross pollination from a different variety will actually be very low.

    When people get unexpected results from seeds saved from supermarket produce, it's more likely to be the genetic lottery from saving seed from an F1 hybrid, and not from cross pollination.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2020
    Gardengrower ... I agree... however my post that you’ve quoted refers to courgettes grown from commercially produced seeds. 

    😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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