Honeybaby Butternut Squash: Growing the Mini Butternut Hybrid in Kansas

Honeybaby is the butternut for people who were told they did not have room for one. The vines stop at 2 to 3 feet, the plant stands about 8 inches tall, and each fruit is a 4 to 8 ounce, light-bulb shaped squash that feeds one person with nothing left to wrap in foil. It is a Cucurbita moschata hybrid, which means the vine borer resistance Kansas growers depend on comes standard, and it earned its All-America Selections award in 2017 in the Heartland region trials, judged in gardens that get the same heat, wind, and humidity we do.

What Is Honeybaby Butternut Squash?

Honeybaby F1 (Cucurbita moschata) is a mini butternut in the same family as Honeynut and Butterscotch, bred for a short, semi-bush plant and a heavy set of small, sweet fruit. Fruit runs 6 to 7 inches long and a quarter to a half pound, wider and stubbier than a classic butternut, and ripens to a warm orange rather than tan. The flesh is deep orange, sweet, and nutty, with more meat to the wall than most minis. It is an F1 hybrid, so it will not breed true from saved seed, and the payoff is a plant that fits where a Waltham never could, with powdery mildew tolerance and crack resistance added in.

What stands out in the trial reports is how much fruit comes off so little plant. The AAS judges described it as very productive, with numerous fruits on a compact plant, which puts Honeybaby among the better yield-per-square-foot winter squash you can put in a Kansas bed.

Why It Fits Zone 6b Kansas

Trialed in Our Region

All-America Selections runs separate regional trials, and Honeybaby won its award in the Heartland, the trial region that includes Kansas. An AAS display garden in Zone 6a reported personal-size fruit in August from an early May planting. That is exactly the calendar a Newton garden runs on.

Vine Borer Resistance

The squash vine borer (Melittia cucurbitae) tunnels soft, hollow stems and takes out most Cucurbita pepo plantings in Kansas by midsummer. Honeybaby's dense moschata stems are a poor target and borers rarely finish their life cycle on them. K-State's squash vine borer management guide (MF3309) lists resistant species as the first line of defense; this is that advice on a two foot vine.

Small Plant, Short Season

Ninety days from sowing is on the quick end for a moschata. Sown the first week of May, Honeybaby is ripening in early August with weeks of warm weather to spare, so an early frost is not the threat it is to a 110 day cushaw. That margin also makes it a strong candidate for a late June second planting after peas or garlic come out.

How to Grow It in Kansas

Starting Seeds

Direct sowing is what the breeder recommends: plant as soon as the soil reaches 65 F, typically late April to mid May in Zone 6b, 1 inch deep, 2 seeds per spot, thinned to the strongest. If you want a head start, sow indoors no more than 3 weeks ahead in individual 3 inch pots and transplant without disturbing the roots; moschata seedlings resent being moved and a set-back transplant loses the time you were trying to gain.

Spacing

Set plants 2 to 3 feet apart. In a bed, one plant per 2 by 3 foot block gives the vines room to lie down without crossing. In a container, use at least 10 gallons of soil, and expect to give the short vines a small stake or cage since they do not have the mass to hold themselves up on a patio.

Soil and Feeding

Work 2 to 3 inches of compost into the bed and aim for pH 6.0 to 6.8. Balanced fertilizer at planting, a light nitrogen side-dress when the plant begins to run, then a lower-nitrogen feed at first flower. Honeybaby tolerates the dry side better than most squash, but small plants in containers still need daily water through July. Mulch once the soil is warm to keep fruit clean and moisture even, which is also your best defense against skin cracking after a heavy rain.

Days to Maturity and Harvest

90 to 100 days from direct seed. Harvest when the skin has turned fully orange, the stem is corking, and your thumbnail no longer marks the rind. Cut with 1 to 2 inches of stem. Pick everything before a hard freeze; a light frost or two on mature fruit is tolerable.

Curing and Storage

Cure in a warm, dry, ventilated spot for 5 to 10 days, then store at 50 to 55 F with air moving around the fruit. Like other minis, Honeybaby is a squash for the front of the storage shelf: eat these through the fall and early winter and let your full-size butternuts and cheese pumpkins carry the late months.

In the Kitchen

One squash is one serving, which changes how you cook it. Halve, scoop, roast cut side down until the edges brown, and serve it in the shell. The dense flesh holds its shape in soups and stews, and the natural sweetness means a Honeybaby soup needs little more than onion, stock, and salt. It also steams well for a quick weeknight side without turning the oven on in August.

Saving Seed

Honeybaby is an F1 hybrid. Saved seed will germinate, but the next generation splits back toward its parent lines and you will get a mix of vine lengths and fruit sizes. Grow it for the table and save seed from an open-pollinated moschata such as Waltham Butternut if seed saving matters to you.

Related Growing Guides

Compare the other single-serving moschatas in the Butterscotch butternut growing guide and the Honeynut squash growing guide. For layouts, see best pumpkin and squash varieties for small gardens and container gardening with pumpkins. Thinking about a second planting? Read succession planting squash to extend your harvest.

Get the Seeds

Shop Honeybaby butternut squash seeds in 10 and 20 seed packets, F1 hybrid and non-GMO, shipped from Newton, Kansas. Browse the full Vine Borer Resistant collection for the rest of the family.