Grow Better Squash with ‘Multipik’

by | Apr 29, 2020 | General Gardening, Integrated Pest Management, Pests, Vegetable Gardening

‘Multipik’ fruit. Photo courtesy the author.

Never one to be satisfied growing “standard” vegetable varieties, last year I decided to peruse various seed sources in search of a superior yellow summer squash selection.  Plain ‘Yellow Crookneck’ just wasn’t doing it for me anymore.  After doing a little research and consulting a friend who works for Johnny’s Selected Seeds, I settled on a straightneck variety called ‘Multipik’.

Developed in the 1980’s by Harris Seed and now sold by many seed purveyors, ‘Multipik’ enjoyed immediate popularity with commercial squash growers due to its many outstanding qualities but curiously, is just making inroads with the home garden market.  Even as it is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary next year, two years of personal experience with ‘Multipik’ verify several important characteristics making it a superior choice to many other traditional summer squash varieties: earliness/heavy yields and a precocious gene.

Newly developing ‘Multipik’ fruit. 4 weeks after planting. Photo courtesy the author.

The longer I garden, the more I’m convinced that earliness to maturity is directly related to yield potential in home gardens, especially in the Panhandle.  Lots of varieties have high yield potential but that potential is often at least partially wasted here due to the length of time from seed to harvest.  Ideally, you could plant, grow a crop and be done by mid-late June, before intense heat, humidity and all the wonderful garden pests and diseases arrive to destroy spring gardens.  Maturing just 50 days from planting, ‘Multipik’ beats that deadline (when planted on time in late March) and yields heavily for at least a month before succumbing to the harsh Panhandle summer.  Many traditional summer squash varieties, including ‘Yellow Crookneck’ mature 8-14 days later.  While 8-14 days doesn’t sound like much, it can mean a major yield difference when factoring in the almost certain late season pests, diseases, and adverse weather conditions.

The next major advantage ‘Multipik’ offers is a precocious gene, meaning that it will mask symptoms and maintain its yellow color if infected with either Watermelon Mosaic Virus (WMV) or Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV), two destructive pathogens commonly affecting squash by discoloring fruit and reducing yield.  This trait is critical to commercial growers because yellow squash that isn’t yellow isn’t marketable and is important to home gardeners too as a means to eke out higher yields under virus pressure.  While the precocious gene isn’t a cure for either virus, it can help hold them at bay while you harvest!  Another quirk caused by the precocious gene is the all-yellow appearance of the fruit, from the peduncle (the stalk holding the fruit to the plant) to the apex!  From one end of the fruit to the other, Multipik ensures that when you plant yellow squash, you harvest yellow squash.

‘Multipik’ just days from harvest. Photo courtesy the author.

Whether you are trying to avoid yield loss from late season insect and disease pressure plaguing your traditional squash plantings or just want to try something a little different, I highly recommend planting ‘Multipik’ Squash.  This early, disease-resistant cultivar with delicious medium sized, light yellow fruit is sure to be a hit in both in the garden and on the table.  As always, if you have any questions about vegetable gardening or any other horticultural topic, give your local UF/IFAS County Extension Office a call!  Happy gardening!

Daniel J. Leonard
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