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How do I save the seeds from a butternut squash to plant next sping in my garden?

A friend gave me one from his garden and I would love to save the seeds for next springs' planting. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

Public Comments

1. make sure they are dry, then keep them in a in a dark area, zip lock bag until your ready to plant.
2. Wash 'em clean.dry 'em in newspaper or blotting paper and store them in an envelope in a cool dark place.One word of warning,they're sluts and will breed with any other member of a similar plant,so what you plant has a good chance of not growing into what you were expecting.You get all kinds of weird crossbreeds,still edible though,but sometimes they look like something out off star trek.
3. Separate them from the "pulp" and clean them well. Then you have to dry them for a few weeks. One little moist seed stored in an envelope with good ones will get moldy and spoil the entire batch. Store them in a paper envelope in a cool and dry place.
4. We love to grow butternut squash. We had plenty of strays come up in the compost late this summer. Like a few have already said, choose the best-looking fruit and save those seeds. Remove all pulp and dry openly on paper for a few days or until dry. Then store in a paper envelope and keep in a dry, cool place. Plant those seeds after the last frost in the spring. They need a long, warm growing season. All squash are monoecious, meaning its flowers are either female or male and grow on the same plant. You can pollinate the flowers yourself by plucking the male flower and rubbing it aginst the female flower. Within just a few days the female flower will enlarge with a growing fruit. The one problem is that male flowers tend to bloom first before female flowers, so timing is crucial. A male flower can easily pollinate several female flowers. Once I showed my husband how to pollinate butternut squash, he'd go out every morning to see if new flowers had come up and would pollinate the flowers right away for a bumper crop. Sometimes the bees didn't always pollinate the flowers so we didn't want to waste the flowers. This way we also were guaranteed to get butternut squash and not some mutant squash from across the neighborhood.
5. 1-Firstly, you must isolate the plants you want to collect seed from. While it is possible to save enough seed from only one plant, it is advisable to save seed from more than one plant. This is because of plant diversity. They are all basically the same plant, but over time they develop slightly different characteristics. Some plants may tolerate more sun, some more shade, others still may be more insect tolerant. Most years there will be no problems, but if you get a freak wet summer and you have only been saving seed from one plant, then there will be no plant diversity. Your plants will probably not cope very well with the continual water-logging and possible pest invasion. As a result, you may lose your entire crop. 2-Once you have chosen your plants, mark them. You can simply stick a tag in next to the plants to identify them as important 3-Now you need to wait. Eventually the lettuce plants will bolt. This is the term used for lettuce that is going to seed. Slowly a stalk will emerge from the top of the plant. This stalk will grow and eventually flower. Each flower will self pollinate and then turn into a tiny little puff ball, not unlike the ‘clocks’ on dandelions, only smaller 4-You will now need to collect the seed. Let the seed heads dry a little. Carefully cut each stalk and shake it onto a sheet or into a basket. A lot of the seed will shake free. The rest may need to dry further to release the seeds.thanks