I never keep any stems on my butternuts, and they last more than a year. One "trick" is to dip your winter squash in a dilute bleach solution to kill surface bacteria. In the interest of long term storage, that seems to work wonders.

That's fine but not preferred. What you don't want to do is completely remove the stem if your goal is long term storage:

Let me amend what I said. I think A J is right. I never keep *long* stems on my winter squash. Just a half inch or so. Still, bleach 'em.

Bleaching? I've never tried it. A couple years back I had a monster crop of the most delicious Butternuts that molded after three or four months in storage in my attached garage. I figured they must have simply not been completely ripe although the flavor was excellent. I've avoided Butternuts since then. Maybe a bleach dip would have saved them? What's the bleach mixture recipe?

Yes, bleaching is a well known preservation strategy. A 1:10 mixture of bleach to water is recommended. Just dip, slosh, remove, and dry. Some people just wipe the squash with that mixture but, if you dip it, you're sure to cover all the surface. Again, I routinely get butternuts lasting a year or more this way.

Thanks. I've heard of the bleach method but it always seemed a bit unnecessary. Not so much anymore. Would you recommend this for Maximas as well? I have a huge crop of Crown Prince that are going to take a long, long time to eat. And I suppose as long as I have the solution prepared, it wouldn't hurt to dip the Delicatas.

I've only used it with butternuts, but extension services recommend it for all winter squash, pumpkins, and gourds.

Random extension office's PDF (OSU):

Cut the stem 2 to 4 inches from the fruit

Dipped in 135 to 140°F water for 3 minutes, and dried quickly before storage (mentions 1:10 bleach as well).

Never below 50°F. Best storage temperature is between 50 and 55°F

1-6 month max.

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/sites/default/files/documents/ec1632.pdf

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I clip at 1"-2", wash very quick in warm soapy water, let dry, and store at room temp. My spring butternut squash only has had a few start to turn bad. Rest are still going. This is the 5th month and I consider that good. The above is the first I've seen of "hot dipping" them.

I may dip the squash. I'm leaving today for 5 days so it will have to wait until I return. I think keeping qualities also vary with variety. We like the flavor of Confection from Johnny's, it's a kabocha type. I remember my inlaws grew buttercup (not nut) and stored under the bed in a second floor bedroom that didn't get much heat in their old cape. Whatever variety they grew didn't keep much past Christmas here in NH. The kabochas are drier and sweeter and seem to keep longer but also need a few weeks before their flavor seems to develop after harvest. The only butternut I have liked is a long neck PA Dutch from Baker Creek seeds. It seemed to be drier than Waltham butternuts plus the long neck gave more flesh than seed cavity. It also kept very well. We store in the coldest part of our cellar where we have an exterior garage door but we also heat with a wood furnace so temperature for storage is probably more like 55 - 60. I'll have to check this year.

This is my best harvest of winter squash ever so if it spoils early because of the short stems I'm going to be very disappointed. I thought my husband knew better than that. He thought he was helping out with the storage shelves instead of putting them in wood crates under the work bench.

tcstoehr, I remember a few years back someone posted a picture of moldy butternuts that had been stored in an attached garage in Oregon. The consensus was that your climate is too damp to leave squash in an environment that is open to the outdoors (even if the garage doors open only sporadically). Dry seems to be a lot more important than cool for squash, so somewhere indoors (where it's heated, and therefore dryer) would most likely give you better luck with storage.

defrost, it sounds like you'll do fine, but if you start to notice the beginnings of spoilage, squash can be easily steamed and frozen -- it tastes great used later in recipes. I've also made squash soup and frozen that.

interesting point about climate. In NH, we've done ok storing in a basement garage. The door might only get opened once every two weeks when it's time to bring in more fire wood. But we are probably a lot drier than Oregon.

I store min indoors, through this last summer with seasonally constant temps around 76F 40%RH in the summer. Near the floor, where it's a bit cooler, and away from any sunlight. As I said, they last a year. I'm surprised, but pleased. Done this for three years.