Kikuza Squash Seeds, Rare Japanese Heirloom

Kikuza is one of those squash that looks carved for a still life and then turns out to cook even better than it shows. A Japanese moschata heirloom brought to the States in 1927, it carries deep chrysanthemum ribbing, which is what the name points to, and a rind that ages from soft buff to warm copper as it cures on the vine.

Cut one open and the flesh is dense, deep orange, and genuinely sweet, with a nutmeg-and-spice note that grows rounder the longer the fruit sits. Roast it, fold it into soup, or bake it down for pie. Fruits run about four to seven pounds, a comfortable size for one kitchen.

Why it earns a place in the patch: like all of our Cucurbita moschata, Kikuza is highly resistant to the squash vine borer, the pest that levels so much summer squash here in Kansas. Resistant, not bulletproof, but it gives you a real head start. We have grown it on our own Zone 6b ground here in Newton, where it took the heat and humidity in stride and stored three to four months in a cool, dry spot, sweetening as it waited.

Growing notes (Zone 6b): direct sow after your last frost once the soil is warm, or start indoors about three weeks ahead. Give the long-season vines room to run, or train them up a sturdy trellis. Figure roughly 95 to 105 days from sowing to a cured, ready-to-store fruit.

This lot: 85% germination, tested October 2025. Open-pollinated, non-GMO, tested and packed by hand here on the prairie.

New to growing moschata squash? Start with our vine borer resistant growing guide.