Tags: Open Pollinated

Growing Practices: No Pesticides No Herbicides No Fungicides No Synthetic Fertilizers

Latin Name: Cucurbita pepo

Days to Maturity: 42

Description:

This is a brand-new zucchini variety that is extra early and vigorous and has shiny-smooth leafstalks for painless harvesting. It's also the first zucchini variety developed on my farm and is open-pollinated and easy to save seeds from, which is a big deal in the squash world!

Most zucchini varieties today are hybrids, making them unsuitable for home seed saving. They also all have a level of spininess on their leafstalks - even the so-called "spineless" varieties are rough-hairy. But this new variety is truly "glabrous" - a botanical term meaning smooth and glossy without bristles or spines. It is especially suitable for harvesting an abundance of very young fruits that are packed with rich flavor, as it makes more female flowers than most varieties and produces them very early (about 35 days after sowing).

The color of this zucchini is variable, as I purposely did not select for any particular color when developing the variety. Most fruits are lemon-yellow with other more greenish or whitish, with the occasional dark-green fruit. The yellow coloration has a completely different genetic source than that in regular "yellow zucchini" or summer squash that utilizes a gene called "B" (also called bicolor or precocious) which seems to impart an off-flavor that I personally don't care for.

About 42 days from sowing to full-size fruit. Seeds bred and grown in Morgantown, WV. Germination 95% 11-13-2023. Note the price is a little higher than normal - this is intentional to seek a fair compensation for a non-hybrid seed variety that is free to save by anyone!

THESE SEEDS OR THEIR OFFSPRING OR ANY GENES OR TRAITS THEY CARRY ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR PATENTING OR RESTRICTION OF ANY KIND BY ANY CORPORATION OR ENTITY. Please pass on this message when sharing any seeds. Thank you.

Story of this Seed:

The origin of 'Glabrous Goodness' goes back to 2015 when I began dehybridizing commercial green zucchinis. I selected an excellent plant from (Payroll F1 x Dunja F1) and used it as a parent. The other parent was a cross between Dunja F1 and 'Tatuma', a vining summer squash from Mexico sold by Botanical Interests. 'Tatuma' is also called 'Tatume' or 'Calabacita' and I hoped that it may show resistance to powdery mildew or squash vine borers. The particular strain I grew had rambling delicate vines with small leaves and made unremarkable round fruit. These plants showed no particular resistance at the time. However, after backcrossing it to regular zucchini, the resultant plants with 1/4 'Tatuma' genetics immediately exhibited incredible vigor and yields beyond anything I'd seen before! I knew I had stumbled on a remarkable combination and spent the next five years intercrossing and selecting it to become 'Glabrous Goodness'. These seeds are in the F6 generation and are quite uniform although a few slightly spiny plants may need thrown away in any planting.

Growing Tips:

They should be planted after soil has warmed in spring and are best covered with floating row cover until flowering to prevent early cucumber beetle or squash vine borer attacks. Plants do not necessarily show resistance to pests, but their vigor may allow them to outgrow pest damage. Fruits are great picked young (4 inches) or larger up to 10 inches. The shape is slightly variable and a good rule of thumb is to pick before the skin loses its shine - they are usually more slender than a regular zucchini. They are great sliced and sauteed, cut up and steamed, or made into frittata, zucchini bread, or the numberless other zucchini dishes.