I like squash that will hold for the full season, ideally one whole year for the best, but normally as the next squash crop is growing, I will use up the last of the squash that I have in holding..
My best garden guru just let me know that the label on this plant and what I thought it was is not what it is.. live and learn.. so for right now.. I will not guess again on what it could be, I will instead call it a unknown squash.. until I can breed it out and proven it one thing or another.. Sorry for the mistake in ID.
I don’t just want squash that can hold for the winter, I need it to hold not six months or even nine but ideally 12 to 16 months if possible.
There are a goodly number that can do the three to six months, even fewer that can do the full 9 to 12 months and its a odd one instead that can go longer..
This Cucuzza squash was harvested in late sept of 2015, it was a year old in fall of 2016 so today it was one year and five months or 17 months old.. It was still holding on the outside but I wanted to see what the inside was doing and I wanted the seeds for this years planting..
There were a number of these grown from the same plant and plants and they were used in the first six months, the whole slender stem was solid flesh when used under six months in age. the closer to the bulb, the more its been used, with still a reasonable amount of flesh at the end..
But that was not the case when this one was opened up, the squash had been eating itself to keep itself going.. very interesting.. it means that while it can hold, now I will need to see if I can get a number of them into storage and do one per month to figure out the best holding time without loosing so much of the squash to eating, as it is..
The bulb end shows no sign of rot at all, its just very dry, the seeds appear dry and self-cured, over 70 percent of them are nicely firm and plump and I have saved them for future planting. I have moved them all to their own space on a drying tray and will look forward to seeing what kind of germination rate I will have a bit later this spring.
What is the longest you have held a winter squash for? What kind is your favorite keeper? Have you held longer then a year? I have a big French pumpkin that is said to hold for two years.. we will see..
Just another Day on the Farm 
LOL, obviously it was saving itself, for itself (not for you; )
What seeds you don’t need for sowing, you can toast in some vegetable/olive oil. Mmmm! Very nutritious. Slightly chewy, but good!
I do a lot of pumpkin an sunflower seeds but I have never done many squash seed, I will give them a try..
I think what you have there is a tromboncino squash. It’s an Italian heirloom squash. It can be used as either as summer squash when they are young and tender or saved as a winter squash when they are large and harder. Cucuzza squash has no bulb that the end and looks more like a club or a bat. I have grown both of them. tromboncino turns into a tan color as it matures. It starts out more of a light yellowish green. Cucuzza on the other hand has a fuzz on the skin and does not become tan.
Thank you Neil, that was one of the choices that it could be from the seeds that were started. it did start out yellow-green and turned tan.. its a great squash..
Yes, it’s a keeper! My first year, in limited space, I got a dozen smaller ones (18″) that we ate as summer squash and I let about a dozen huge ones mature to 24″ to 38″ and we ate them all fall, finishing the last ones after Christmas. I probably could have kept a few of them longer but didn’t try. The only problem I had was squash vine borers that really chewed up the plants bad. And the leaves/vines take up a LOT of space! They are great climbers, and took over my entire garden area and all trellises.