Musquee de Maroc: Growing the Warted Moroccan Heirloom Pumpkin in Kansas

By Autumn Prairie Pumpkins

Some pumpkins ask you to choose between beauty and dinner. Musquee de Maroc refuses to pick a side.

This North African heirloom is a Cucurbita moschata, the same tough-stemmed species as Seminole and Musquee de Provence. That is the single most important fact for a Kansas gardener: moschata's solid stems make it naturally resistant to squash vine borers, the pest that flattens most C. pepo pumpkin patches by mid-July. If borers have broken your heart before, this species is how you stop replanting and start harvesting.

What to Expect

Musquee de Maroc produces round to bell-shaped fruits, typically 7 to 13 pounds, in shifting shades of terracotta, green, yellow, and buff. When summer heat kicks in, the skin covers itself in ornamental warts, no two fruits alike. Underneath is firm, sweet flesh with a nutty flavor that roasts well and holds together in soups and stews. Cure it and it will keep 4 to 6 months in a cool room.

When to Plant in Kansas (Zone 6b)

Wait until all frost danger has passed and soil holds steady above 60 F, usually mid to late May in central Kansas. Moschata hates cold feet. If you want a head start, sow indoors 3 to 4 weeks before your last frost and transplant carefully; squash roots resent disturbance, so use large cells or soil blocks.

How to Plant

Sow seeds 1/2 to 1 inch deep. In hills, plant 4 to 5 seeds and thin to the strongest 2. Give plants 18 to 36 inches of spacing and rows plenty of room, because these vines run. A cattle panel tunnel works well if ground space is tight and keeps fruit clean.

Care Through the Season

This is a heavy feeder. Work compost into the bed before planting and side-dress mid-season. Mulch deep to hold moisture through Kansas wind and heat, and water deeply rather than often. The plants shrug off heat better than most, which is exactly what a prairie summer demands.

Watch for squash bugs and keep an eye on powdery mildew late in the season; good air circulation and watering at the base help. For vine borer identification and management across your whole patch, K-State's guide is the best free resource in the state: K-State MF3309: Squash Vine Borer.

Harvest and Storage

Plan on roughly 90 to 110 days from planting, depending on your season. Harvest when the stem corks over and skin resists a fingernail, leaving 2 to 3 inches of stem. Cure in a warm, dry spot for two weeks, then store at 55 to 60 F. Properly cured fruit keeps up to 6 months.

Saving Seeds

Musquee de Maroc is open-pollinated, so saved seeds grow true, as long as it does not cross with other moschata varieties flowering nearby. Hand-pollinate and close blossoms if you grow more than one moschata. Let fruit fully mature, ferment seeds two days, rinse, and dry. Stored cool and dry, they stay viable about four years.

Related Growing Guides

Ready to grow it? Shop Musquee de Maroc pumpkin seeds, packed in Newton, Kansas and shipped nationwide.

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