Can I grow acorn squash from seeds I take from squash?

According to this article, you can.

It never hurts to try. You wash the seeds, pat with papr towel, air dry them and store in a paper bag in cool garage or refrigerator. Then get planting instructions on Google, and Bob’s your uncle.

We have saved heirloom tomato sees with great success. I have also had nice canteloupe, tomato and acorn squash plants grow from my compost heap, with no help from me or a divinity.

I have also tossed a rotten tomato out my kitchen door and had a lovely plant show up two months later.

My sister saves dozens of seeds, starts them in small containers on sunny window sills in March (zone 4b here) and transplants after last killing frost.

@gailcalled ‘Bob’s your Uncle?’ hahahaha I haven’t heard that expression in ages. ‘with no help from…. ’ that is precious.. can I use that? Where is it you live where seeds grow like triffids? I’m so jealous.

@pallen123 As long as it wasn’t some sort of mutant hybrid, you should be fine. I’d follow @gailcalled ‘s advice. She seems to have a proper green thumb (and probably index finger too)

There are two possible problems. The first and most likely problem you may encounter is that what you’re buying may be a cultivar: they may have grafted the stem from one plant onto the roots of another. The second and growing problem are terminator genes. Not many people know that more than 70% of all the patents thus far issued for genetically engineers frankenfoods have nothing to do with improving the plant; they’re for the development of “traitor” genes which prevent the plant from growing unless a chemical “key” is introduced. This is how evil corporations like Monsanto prevent farmers from harvesting the seeds for replanting. Either the plant has been engineered to make its seeds infertile, or the plant which grows from the seeds will not produce food without the introduction of a patented secret chemical which only Monsanto produces.

Sadly, there’s no sure way to avoid terminator seeds. The evil agri-corporations have been quietly infiltrating their genetic mutilations into wild species for years now, to the point that, for example, some 60%+ of all the corn and maize grown in Mexiko now shows signs of genetic tampering… and none of the evil corporations are taking responsibility for it. So even a wild species you find and harvest yourself may be genetically engineered not to grow for you.

@cazzie: I live in the eastern, middle tier of New York State. It’s rural and the soil is mainly clay and shale. We have to improve it with dried manure, compost, and the like. So I can’t simply dig a hole and drop a seed into it.

The accidentals grow in my compost, either on the original pile, or in areas where I have spread it around on beds.

@gailcalled I’m in Norway, just over the 63 degree latitude mark, but I live on a fjord, so it’s not as cold and snowy as you might think. For the first time living here in 8 years, I will have a garden to tend this spring. I’m on a HUGE learning curve as to what needs to be started indoors and when and when it can be planted out. The neighbours and I share some outdoor gardening area and she’s not very interested in gardening, so I’m trying to lead the way. Between us, we have two compost bins, but I don’t think either have been used or turned in years. The soil here is rocky clay too.

Once again, I will be learning something new and doing it in high heels and backwards. (my metaphor, borrowed from what Ginger Rodgers did for Fred Astaire, for trying to learn new things by reading and listening in my ‘second language’.)

@pallen123 What @SmashTheState said is quite true and what I was trying to refer to when I said ‘funky hybrid’. Some species of fruit and veg are ‘single generation’ plants, bred so that their seeds can’t be propagated because the seed sellers don’t want ‘free food’ on the market when they can genetically engineer the hell out of botanicals and charge a fortune to keep the farmers dependant on them. Monsanto is probably the largest most evil company behind this. It makes for spine chilling reading. Something out of a futuristic sci fi novel, but even scarier, because it’s true.

Thank goodness the government here in Norway has set aside a huge lab and storage facility on Svalbard to collect and preserve seeds. They’re not kidding around.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault