...wide and short...diameter around 13"...

...chiseled shoulder region from father Buttercup through xenia only...
How will F1 be shaped?
Dear BreaHouston, would you like to figure out, because my growing space is limited, and I have to breed so many other varieties?

This post was edited by acorneti on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 8:27

Dear Brea Houston, yesterday you wrote that:
"I've eaten a lot of winter squash in my time, but Blue Hubbard is hands down the winner every time, especially when slow-baked in the oven so that it's sugars can carmelize a bit."
I have studied agriculture and gardening in the 1980s, but I love cooking since my childhood. I learned a lot from french starred chef cooks since the 1970s, and I developed cuisine around the globe.
And I say: Brea, you are right!
...yes, slow baked on a low heat (150ðC or 300ðF) with air circulation!
But the best pumpkin/squash out of C. maxima group to caramalize in my mind is a Buttercup, and so I think, you will love this Blue Gyroscope as a fusion of your best and my best to caramalize squash!

This post was edited by acorneti on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 9:44

Does the Blue Gyroscope have the storage ability of the Blue mother or of it's pollinator father? I am assuming you have placed some into storage at the end of the 2014 harvest season. How are they holding up now that January is here? Have you tasted any of them yet?

It certainly looks beautiful, like a "cheese" type. What shape are you going for as the end product when you choose among the offspring to save seed?

There is an oblong-roundish squash called "Red Warty Thing", so a "Blue Warty Thing" would be interesting, and it would stand out in seed catalogs.

However, it would also stand out if it kept the cheese wheel shape/ribbing and it's skin was all blue-bumpy-warts.

I really like Blue Gyroscope's chiseled shoulders and ribbing. I wonder what it naturally wants to do when it grows. I'd love to see how it develops in 2015. I have space to grow some. I am making a few 12ft x 4ft x 8 in raised beds just for squash in 2015.

One bed will be full of Blue Hubbards. I can use the 2nd bed for Blue Gyroscope, if you would like me to grow some out for you and keep records of their development. (Hand pollinating would be mandatory since they would be too close together to the Blue Hubbards and both would cross otherwise).

Something for you to keep in mind, however, is that we get lots of wilt in our area and it cuts into the end of our growing season. This coming spring I intend to start my Blue Hubs inside in large bio-degradable containers so I can transplant them without disturbing roots and get a jump on the growing season. .

Hi again, Brea!
Your propagation method is great! ...as you are...
I do not want to buy a slave, and so I never want to accept your offer. You are not only a grower, you have more qualifications for serious breeding then most of the giant pumpkin breeders have.
And so I will give you seed of the Brea Houstonôs Blue Gyroscope for free.
I only can tell you some words about breeding: you are free to follow or to do what you want.
I do hand pollination, when I want to cross or select exactly that one idea, I am shure, it is the only best. But I do combinations of artificial pollination and free work of insects to make varieties better. These are so called 'recurrent selection' methods.
Please let nature assist, as much as possible.
And so you should keep all the male flowers on both varieties.
Do your artificial pollination, but also let insects do better breeding to find some cross-bred fruits between NE Blue and the Blue Gyroscope with some free females on both varieties.
I will retain a few seeds in my seed bank, but I do not grow your Gyroscope these years.
If you also have a small place for my New England Orange (from the Boston Marrow), I also would not grow it here in Bavaria but ceded all to you.
Have a nice evening at NYôs Eve and have your best growing season ever for the time being in 2015. Take care and stay healthy. All the best for you and your family.
Please write your address to ludwig.ammer@gmail.com and tell me, if you want the New England Orange too.
I have no experience about storability through the winter, since I wanted to harvest all seed before it germs in the fruit...but look at the parents: all are long storable, and the hard shelled skin of the NE Blue is some kind of guarantee for all the offspring, if you select this trait. I have made crudité, fries and baked products with the Gyroscope, and all was the best...but I have some more best squash varieties to breed! Please help me and take away some.