Reviews (15)
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2022 was a challenging growing season in the Northern Willamette Valley. Experimented this season with this squash. It managed to sprout in the cold, gray, dampness that was our Spring and Early Summer. Grew well and produced some crazy looking fruit. The flavor of the squash was extremely mild. I'll plant this one again next year. It's fun.
Posted by Paul on 6th Aug 2022
I want to add my comments to everybody else: grow this squash!
Finally, in 2021, I decided it give it a try, as zucchini just don't make it very long here due to borers, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles. Trombocino is unfazed. It's an extremely vigorous squash that's very attractive. It does need a strong trellis or fence or a lot of space! I am training mine on the garden fence so most of the fruit have plenty of room to grow straight. I planted in late (in June), and it started to produce in early August when I had to pull out my last zucchini plants.
As somebody else wrote, the suggestion to pick the squash when 5-6" long does not work at all... because the unfertilized flowers are that long. The fruit does not get open its flower nor get fertilized till 8-9 long, so for summer squash 18" to 2ft sounds right. Th trellis or fence is best to have straight fruit (otherwise they curl - hence the name "trombocino"). As summer squash, they are delicious, firmer and less watery than zucchini. I am letting the first 2 fruit mature to become winter squash (so I can judge the quality), but now that the vine has found its pace, there is plenty of new fruit coming. The vine tips are also edible, and make a delicious saute with onions, garlic, and olive oil (or go more tropical and ginger and a couple of diced plum tomato and/or coconut milk). And of course the male flowers are also edible. So one plant... 4 veggies; gorgeous; bug resistant: it definitively is a winner.
Next year, I need to make sure to seed them earlier to start picking the fruit earlier. If you have trouble growing zucchini, give trombocino a try... but make sure you have space for it.
Posted by Sylvie R on 12th Aug 2021
My favorite squash to grow is your trombochino. It is a delicious, firm summer squash when picked young like zucchini but much firmer with a better flavor as well as a tasty winter squash that keeps all winter. The flowers are also tasty battered and fried! It is very prolific and sprawling and also very beautiful to look at as it is growing.
I use the three sisters method of growing. I plant corn, pole beans and squash together with the corn in the middle, beans immediately around the corn 12 inches and the squash alternating between the beans. This system has worked very well for me for many years and I do not have to amend at all other than occasional worm castings and a cover crop in the winter which I sheet mulch with some compost and composted manure in the spring and then plant directly into it. The beans fix nitrogen and provide adequate fertilizer as the season goes on. I sometimes add a 4th plant, mammoth sunflowers. I love the trombochino as it sprawls out of my garden and into some young oak trees adjacent and downhill. As the squash grow, the vines climb the tree and the squash end up hanging out of the tree! This makes them easy to pick and it looks pretty amazing. I have gotten lots of comments from friends and neighbors.
Posted by Juan on 17th Jul 2019
We grow the Zucchetta Tromba d'Albenga squash. WONDERFUL !!
We start the seeds in small pots in early spring. When it's time for the garden, we plant about 10-12 inches apart along the garden fence .( Wire fencing.) The soil has added compost material.
The plants trellis the fence, leaving the beautiful fruit hanging.
We harvest small and medium size....young and tender. Several neighbors always look forward to their first, second, third, etc. serving.
One of our favorite ways to process the squash is to cut into spears and process in bread and butter mixture and can. Open a jar at family gatherings and oh what a hit!
If a squash gets too big, we use in fall decorations.
Posted by Susan on 17th Jul 2019
As a master gardener here in Oakland CA. we tested a number of summer squash to find the variety which does best in our climate. We discovered Zuchetta Tromba d'Albenga, purchased from Seeds From Italy was our favorite. This is a vining squash which does best on a trellis. The seed was direct sown on May 1 and continued producing into December! We don’t normally have frost but powdery mildew generally kills our summer squash by September. The plant is amazingly productive, the squash remains firm during cooking and is very tasty. It’s rumored you can let it grow into a winter squash but we couldn’t wait and consumed them early.
Posted by David on 17th Jul 2019
Great winer and summer squash. Mild creamy flavor and wonderful in squash soups. Productive and easy as long as you use a trellis
Posted by Truls on 24th Jan 2019
I picked these zucchini small made a tomato sauce or gravy as my grandmother would say sliced them about 1/4 inch thick when the sauce was done i put some in a frying pan and tossed the slices into the sauce. Cooked for 25-30 minutes absolutely delicious.
Posted by Frank Martinelli (P V Farm Stand) on 3rd Jul 2017
I've tried many times to grow traditional zucchini and yellow crookneck squash but I never get more than one or two squash before squash bugs and/or borers kill the plants. Only moschata squash does well where I live because they don't seem to be as irresistible to squash bugs and if grown on the ground, they'll root at every node so even if a section succumbs to borers, the plant doesn't die. I don't have enough garden space to let them sprawl on the ground so I plant them on a tall metal arbor. I sometimes lose a vine to borers, but never lose all of them. Love that the young squash isn't as watery as standard zucchini is and the bulb of slightly larger ones can be stuffed and baked in the oven after scooping out the seeds. Dense and sweeter than standard zucchini, but can be grated to use in recipes for breads and cakes like any zucchini is. My desperation to grow summer squash led me to discovering this wonderful variety that actually produces more than one or two squash for me. Last year I let a couple of them mature to use as winter squash, but haven't used them yet. Letting a couple mature will also allow me to save seed.
Posted by Deb in OK on 23rd Jan 2017
After hearing others complain about their heirloom trombone squash from other sources being delicious but not productive, I'm glad I bought Franchi seed. I am drowning in squash. The vines are huge (25 feet+) and fruit and flower prolifically. Two vines have produced way more than a family of four can eat and preserve. I've been giving a bunch away to very happy relatives and neighbors. They're very much like zucchini, though firmer in texture. The recommendation to pick at 6-10 inches is impossible, though, as unpollinated buds are over 6 inches long, and within a day of pollination, the squash are already basically a foot long. After some trial and error, I found they taste best just when the skin is starting to go matte and thicken slightly--around 2 feet long and 1 to 1 1/2 inches in neck diameter. They're sweetest at this stage and very flavorful but still tender enough to eat raw in salads (they're delicious this way), and seeds haven't formed yet. When picked earlier, I find them a little bland.
Posted by S.P. on 22nd Sep 2016
I tried many zucchini and this is the best tasting zucchini ever and I stop bothering growing other zucchini. It is fresh, green zucchini if you harvest young but it has hint of meaty, sweet, squash taste too. And so easy to grow, produces a lot of male flowers too which I collect, keep in the fridge in the yogurt container flower side up, and once enough, tempura them all. So tasty.
Posted by undefined on 29th Jun 2014
In my sandy-soil neighborhood in NE Kansas, we call it trombone-chini, trying for an Italian roll to the r, and we pass its seed around as gifts. It's prolific and squash bug resistant, so later in the season we gift young squash and then the more mature which serve as great winter squash. This dual purpose plant sports an elegant curvy neck, prettier than an ornamental gourd's, with crisp zucchini flesh when harvested young. Unique for the zucchini family, gifts of its abundance are not shunned. Young plants become spaghetti by use of a spiralizer, a demonic hand appliance resembling an Italian pasta machine. Spiralized tromboni is appealing to gluten free dieters, raw foodies, and small children. Mature trombones go into wonderful hearty soups. Growth pattern typical of other sprawling zucchini types, but the summer/winter squash bonus means you can vary the maturity date to suit your needs. Flesh remains crisp throughout its summer growth, never turning to unsavory zucchini mush. Mature winter flesh has nutty and rich butternut quality.
Posted by Mary Ann - Lawrence, KS on 7th Jun 2014
After spending years fighting squash vine borers, I'm thrilled to have found this variety. It resists borers very effectively, and it's a very satisfying alternative to the much more susceptible zucchinis. The long lived vines need lots of room to ramble, though, and they were somewhat light producers for me. That being said, the large fruit size means that one squash goes a lot further. My favorite cooking method was to oven roast them with a little sea salt and olive oil.
Posted by undefined on 30th Dec 2013
Amazing vine.Beautiful. Rambunctious. Tremendous production. Delicious squash- sauteed, roasted, fried, soup.
It is 12/3 and I just harvested what could be the last of the crop- only because they are forecasting temp in the low 30's. There are still budding zukes left behind.
Posted by JF on 3rd Dec 2013
Give them food, room and sun and stand back! Try larger (2 ft) cut into thumb sized pieces, dipped in egg wash, and rolled in seasoned bread crumbs. Place on oiled cooky sheet in a 500 deg F oven until bread crumbs are lightly toasted. Dip in ranch.
Posted by Larry Lucas on 1st Dec 2013
Tromboncino is nearly perfect! As a moschata variety, it is fairly SVB proof. If you battle the borer every year, here is your plant to defeat him! The fruit is excellent picked young and can be lightly fried in olive oil, breaded and sauced for a parmigiano, or stewed. Let it vine ripen, and it turns into a very nice butternut. The production on this plant is unreal. The only downsides are 1) space - you are not going to grow this in a pot, it goes EVERYWHERE, and 2) sunlight - it needs a solid 8 hours of full sun to do its thing. Without it, it will pout along.
Posted by undefined on 20th Sep 2013
