Menina Brasileira Precoce (Early Brazilian Girl) Summer Squash (Certified Organic)

Grown by Twin Oaks Seed Farm – 75 days – Cucurbita moschata

With help from a SARE grant, we started a new project in 2023 to find summer squash that holds up better to the pests and diseases common in our region, including vine borer, downy mildew, and plectosporium blight. Moschata summer squashes, while rare in the US,  are notable for their immunity to vine borers. Menina Brasileira Precoce is the first moschata summer squash we are able to offer – it has very strong resistance to downy mildew as well as immunity to vine borer. The fruits are medium green, generally straight, and stay tender to at least two pounds. But take note – this variety takes a long time to mature compared to common summer squashes, and the plants are fully vining and vigorous (space rows at least 8 feet apart). If you can wait, the productivity and eating quality are very good, and they will just keep on producing till frost. We think the fruits are attractive and have good marketing potential. We obtained seedstock from Isla Seeds in Brazil and did a small seed production growout in addition to the trials. 320 seeds/oz.  2g (approx. 23 seeds) packet. 

Note: we were also impressed by several of the Korean moschata summer squashes we trialed this year. These yield much earlier and have very compact vines. However, while immune to vine borers, they don’t have great resistance to downy mildew. We will be offering some of these in future years.