Honeynut is the tiny, dark-orange butternut that took the culinary world by storm and instantly became the most talked-about winter squash of the last decade. Bred by Michael Mazourek at Cornell University as part of the same program that gave us Honeycrisp apples, it’s technically a miniaturized, hyper-sweet version of butternut (Cucurbita moschata).
 
KEY CHARACTERISTICS
Fruit: Personal-size, 4–6 inches long × 3–4 inches wide, ½–1 pound each (perfect for two servings). Skin ripens from green to a deep, almost chocolatey burnt-orange when fully mature and is fully edible.
Flesh: Intensely dark orange, ultra-dense, silky-smooth, and ridiculously sweet — often 2–3× the sugar content of regular butternut (13–16% sugars). Flavor is rich, malty, caramel-like with strong chestnut notes.
Days to maturity: 95–110 days from transplant — same as full-size butternuts, but the small fruits finish faster once they start coloring.
Vine habit: Long, vigorous (10–15 ft), same as standard butternut. Needs space or a sturdy trellis.
Yield: Heavy — 10–20+ fruits per plant once it gets going.
Storage: Excellent — 3–6 months after full color and curing.
 
Growing Tips for Peak Sweetness & Yield
Treat Honeynut exactly like Waltham Butternut, because it basically is one — just bred for sugar instead of size. Give it your hottest, sunniest spot, rich soil, and a long season. Transplant seedlings when nights stay above 55 °F. Feed heavily (side-dress twice) and keep soil consistently moist until fruits start coloring, then back off water slightly to concentrate sugars. Harvest when the rind is fully dark orange/brown and impossible to dent with a thumbnail — even one week extra on the vine can dramatically boost sweetness. Cure in the sun for 10–14 days (under cover and out of the elements). A single vine routinely delivers 15–25 perfect little flavor bombs.

Sold in 4" pot containing at least 3 vines.