Cucurbita maxima
In the mid-1800s there was a seed producer who commissioned a book of botanical iconography featuring gorgeous illustrations of plants, and in one of the reprints of the book, a striking Turk’s turban squash graced the cover.
Later, artist Margaret Ann Eden featured one of these fascinating fruits in her watercolors. Invariably, turban squash feature prominently in decorative fall and winter displays.
All that is to say that there are few types of squash as iconic and recognizable as turban.
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If you want to wow your guests, serve up a fall feast with soups and stuffing inside the unusual skins.
Roast the flesh to make pies and vegetable sides. Or just pile them up with other unusually-shaped gourds in a fall display.
In our guide to growing winter squash, we cover how to cultivate the various types of Cucubita maxima in your vegetable garden.
In this guide, we’re going to talk about how to grow turban squash. Here’s the lineup:
Sometimes called American, Turk’s cap, Turk’s turban, French turban, or Mexican hat squash, the turban squash is a winter type.
The fruits have a turban-like shape with a mushroom cap-like shape at the stem end and a bulbous base at the blossom end.
Quick Look
Common name(s): American, Turk’s cap, Turk’s turban, French turban, Mexican hat squash
Plant type: Annual vining vegetable
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 3-10
Native to: Caribbean
Bloom time / season: Summer
Exposure: Full sun
Soil type: Sandy, loamy, well draining
Soil pH: 6.0-6.8, slightly acidic
Time to maturity: 95-102 days
Spacing: 10 feet between rows
Planting depth: 1 inch (seeds)
Mature size: 10 feet wide x 2 feet high
Water Needs: Moderate
The medium to large fruits have a combination of red, orange, yellow, and green coloring with stripes and corky warts.
When mature, they can weigh up to six pounds and be over a foot in diameter.
The squash likely came from the Caribbean before making its way to France, where it is known as the giraumon turban.
It was first described in the Le Bon Jardinier in 1818 and later appeared as a beautiful illustration in Vilmorin-Andrieux’s Les Plantes and Potageres in 1871.
It was introduced into the US sometime in the early 1800s. While it’s largely ignored for cooking in Europe and North America, it’s a popular ingredient in the Caribbean.
How to Sow
As with all winter squash, you can grow these from seed or by purchasing nursery starts. The fruits take three to four months to mature.
If you don’t have that long of a growing season, it’s best to start seeds indoors or purchase transplants from the nursery. Alternatively you can sow seeds directly outdoors.
If your soil is heavy or poorly draining, it’s better to grow in a raised bed, container, or create a hill.
These plants don’t have deep root systems, so you only need a good foot of depth and two feet of width of amended soil. A five-gallon container is a good size. Fill it with any potting soil.
Sowing Outdoors
If you’re going to sow your seeds outdoors, prepare the soil by working in plenty of well-rotted compost.
Sow your seeds about one inch deep and space the rows five feet apart. Water the soil well and keep it moist as the seeds germinate, which can take a few weeks.
Sowing Indoors
To start indoors, fill five-inch containers with a potting medium or seed-starting mix.
Moisten the medium well and insert a seed an inch deep in the center of each pot. Place the pots in a spot that receives six hours or more of direct sunlight or under supplemental lighting.
Keep the soil moist at all times as the seeds germinate.
Continue to care for the seedlings by keeping the soil evenly moist but not waterlogged, until the soil temperature outdoors is over 60°F.
At that point, you can transplant the seedlings outdoors after hardening off over the course of about a week.
Transplanting
To transplant nursery starts or seedlings you have started indoors, prepare the soil and dig a hole twice as wide and the same depth as the container the plant is currently growing in.
Gently remove the plant from its pot and put it in the ground. Firm the soil up around the roots and the base of the stem.
It’s fine to bury the base of the stem just a little deeper than it was in the container to provide some support and encourage rooting. Don’t bury any leaves, though.
Remove any foliage that is under or touching the soil.
Water the soil well and add more soil if it settles.
How to Grow
For such large squash, the plants are relatively small, so they’ll develop lots of fruits in a small space.
The vines can grow about 10 feet long, so put them somewhere with plenty of room.
Light
Grow turban squash in a full sun location. While the plants may grow fine in partial sun, they won’t provide an abundance of fruits, and those that do develop may not achieve a very large size.
Choose a spot with six or more hours of direct sunlight per day.
Soil
Like all winter types, turban thrives in organically-rich, well-draining soil with a lightly acidic to neutral pH of 5.5 to 7.0.
I recommend working plenty of well-rotted compost into your soil and if you have heavy clay or very sandy soil, do yourself a favor and grow in a raised bed instead.
Water
You want the soil to remain consistently moist. Once the surface of the soil feels dry, add some water.
The soil should feel like a well-wrung-out sponge at all times. Overly soggy conditions will cause rot, and lack of water can lead to wilting.
Mulch
I strongly encourage gardeners to use an abundance of straw mulch around their plants.
The mulch shouldn’t touch the stems, but it will prevent weeds from sneaking up under the leaves.
Before I got into the habit of using mulch, I would always have to go out and pluck the tall stalks of grass or thistles that poked up between the leaves.
And if you’ve ever worked around cucurbits with bare arms, you know it can feel like rubbing against prickly sandpaper.
Mulch also helps the soil retain water and provides a cushion for the developing fruits.
This can help prevent discoloration and misshapen growth, though it always helps to slightly rotate the fruits as they grow.
Fertilizing
Unless your soil is very depleted, which you can find out via a soil test, you don’t need to apply any fertilizer.
Side dress with well-rotted manure or compost after the plant starts to flower and once the fruits begin to develop.
Where to Buy
Though they aren’t wildly popular in kitchens, Turk’s turban is a favorite in decorative squash gardens.
You can normally find seeds available at your local garden center or nursery.
Turban Squash Seeds
Or if you like shopping online, True Leaf Market carries seeds from Mountain Valley Seed Co. in two-gram, ounce, and four-ounce packets.
You can also find them available at Eden Brothers.
Managing Pests and Disease
Dealing with pests and diseases are a way of life when growing any cucurbits.
Most years I escape the worst of the potential problems, but it’s a rare season that cucumber beetles or powdery mildew don’t at least make a brief appearance.
Pests
The pests that feed on squash plants have evolved alongside them, so they’re really good at finding and devouring your vines.
Squash bugs (Anasa tristis) are one of the most common pests and also one of the most deadly for your cucurbits.
Not only can their feeding drain a plant’s nutrients and kill them, they also inject toxic substances into the plant, and they spread deadly viral diseases.
When they feed, they cause yellow and brown spots, rapidly followed by wilting.
The leaves might turn black and the whole plant might collapse. Look for the clusters of eggs and the brown adult bugs.
We have an entire guide dedicated to squash bugs, so check it out to learn how to identify and deal with these pests.
You should also watch out for frass at the bottom of vines, which is a sign of vine borers.
The adults are clearwing moths active during the early summer. Wherever they lay eggs, the worm-like borers follow, causing the plant to wilt and collapse.
Once they get inside your vines there isn’t much you can do other than use a knife to dig them out, so take some preventative measures and use floating row covers during the spring and early summer.
Beyond these, keep an eye out for cucumber beetles and flea beetles.
You can also plant marigolds and radishes nearby and around the plants. These can deter some of the pests that like to feed on cucurbits.
Disease
Turban squash can potentially be impacted by any disease that threatens most other winter squash varieties.
I’ve never come across leaf spot, viruses, or gummy blight, all of which can infect your plants.
But nearly every year I deal with powdery mildew to some degree.
It lands on my melons, smothers my zucchinis, and covers my pumpkins every single year.
The familiar coating covers the leaves, making it look like they’ve been sprinkled with gray powder.
Fortunately, this isn’t usually a deadly disease, though it can reduce your harvest, so learn how to deal with powdery mildew here.
Harvesting
The fruit is usually about five or six pounds and 12 inches in diameter when mature, but it can be a bit larger or smaller.
They’re typically ready after 95 to 102 days, which is usually around September, depending on when you planted and the region you’re gardening in.
Come harvest time, cut the squash from the vine, don’t pull it.
You want to leave a little bit of stem attached to the fruit. If you damage the cap, the squash will rot quickly, so process those ones right away.
If you keep them in a cool, dark place, they can be stored until the following summer.
Cooking Ideas
Most people, at least in North America, don’t use Turk’s turbans for cooking. They’re more of an ornamental type.
But cooked right, I think they can be a tasty treat. The flesh is somewhat starchy, which can be a challenge, but the flavor is sweet, nutty, and mild.
I’ve heard people describe it as floury and bland, but I disagree.
The biggest negative in my opinion is that the skin is basically impossible to remove. It’s tough with a capital T.
Instead of trying to peel the squash, cut it in half (you might need a hatchet or chainsaw), and scoop out the seeds.
Bake it in a bowl of water at 400°F for about 45 minutes, or poke holes in the skin, place it in a bowl of water, cover in plastic wrap, and microwave until the flesh is soft and can be scooped out.
The cooked flesh is fairly versatile – I’ve spiced it up to use as pumpkin pie filling, and it makes a killer base for split pea soup. It’s also fantastic as a base for curried squash.
You can cut off the smaller cap end and scoop out most of the flesh before filling it with soup to create a squash bowl. It’s easiest to cook the squash first before you start scraping out the flesh.
And please, don’t forget to roast up those seeds!
A Turban That’s Pretty Enough to Eat
I’m not one of those people who thinks that turban squash isn’t good for anything but decoration but I have to admit it’s one incredible-looking fruit.
What are your plans for growing turban squash? Are you going to make a fabulous fall display? Or serve up a harvest soup in the skins? Make an incredible pie? Or perhaps all three? Let us know your ideas in the comments section below.
And for more information about growing winter squash in your vegetable garden, check out these guides next:
