Cucumber question

[pepper]

So far my burpee seeds have been what they claim, but you could be right.

It's a rainy morning so I looked into that cucumber multi pack. Apparently one of the varieties in it is Armenian cucumber, and according to wikipedia it's a Verity of musk melon not a cucumber despite it tastes and looks more like a cucumber. It's also not able to self pollinate so there is a very good chance it will cross pollinate with something else. My bet is that is what you have going on.


The Armenian cucumber, Cucumis melo var. flexuosus, is a type of long, slender fruit which tastes like a cucumber and looks somewhat like a cucumber inside. It is actually a variety of muskmelon, a species closely related to the cucumber. Wikipedia.

Found this pic..

 

[Yellowthumbs]

It's a rainy morning so I looked into that cucumber multi pack. Apparently one of the varieties in it is Armenian cucumber, and according to wikipedia it's a Verity of musk melon not a cucumber despite it tastes and looks more like a cucumber. It's also not able to self pollinate so there is a very good chance it will cross pollinate with something else. My bet is that is what you have going on.


The Armenian cucumber, Cucumis melo var. flexuosus, is a type of long, slender fruit which tastes like a cucumber and looks somewhat like a cucumber inside. It is actually a variety of muskmelon, a species closely related to the cucumber. Wikipedia.

Found this pic..

View attachment 99263

Now that’s interesting. The plant itself looks just like a cucumber plant, but I guess all melons/cucurbits looks very similar.

I do have 2 more Armenians growing now, so I’ll see what happens with them. The non-self pollinating part makes sense since I’ve only seen one grow on the vine, so I wonder if these future vines will get pollinated or not.

Thanks for the info and research! I had no idea where to continue on, and musk melon never crossed my mind.

It’s raining here today too (so much that my squash trellis is starting to collapse so hopefully it lasts until I’m out of work and it stops raining). I went to check on it and it seems the rain made the vine heavy enough to break the clip and dropped down to the soil.

I’ll snip it off this evening and give it a taste, and report back

 

[pepper]

Now that’s interesting. The plant itself looks just like a cucumber plant, but I guess all melons/cucurbits looks very similar.

I do have 2 more Armenians growing now, so I’ll see what happens with them. The non-self pollinating part makes sense since I’ve only seen one grow on the vine, so I wonder if these future vines will get pollinated or not.

Thanks for the info and research! I had no idea where to continue on, and musk melon never crossed my mind.

It’s raining here today too (so much that my squash trellis is starting to collapse so hopefully it lasts until I’m out of work and it stops raining). I went to check on it and it seems the rain made the vine heavy enough to break the clip and dropped down to the soil.

I’ll snip it off this evening and give it a taste, and report back

When it comes to plants that don't self pollinate and I see a lack of bees I always play some Barry Manilow and make sweet love to those flowers lol! Seriously though, if you take the male flowers and pick off the flower pedals then use it like a paint brush in the female flowers, it will pollinate them so there is no worry of not getting decent fruit. Also helps to not get cross pollination. A trick I learned from growing Atlantic giant pumpkins. Use fresh male flowers and do it first thing in the am when the females first opens and close them with a string if you want to make 100% sure they don't get cross pollinated by a bee or something else.

 

[Yellowthumbs]

When it comes to plants that don't self pollinate and I see a lack of bees I always play some Barry Manilow and make sweet love to those flowers lol! Seriously though, if you take the male flowers and pick off the flower pedals then use it like a paint brush in the female flowers, it will pollinate them so there is no worry of not getting decent fruit. Also helps to not get cross pollination. A trick I learned from growing Atlantic giant pumpkins. Use fresh male flowers and do it first thing in the am when the females first opens and close them with a string if you want to make 100% sure they don't get cross pollinated by a bee or something else.

Oh I thought you meant it wouldn’t pollinate from its own male flowers (like pear and apple trees). My bad!

Yeah, I know of the hand pollinating method, but when I tried it, I failed pretty good lol. I do have a lot of bumble bees on my back deck, so they shouldn’t have much issue.

 

[pepper]

Oh I thought you meant it wouldn’t pollinate from its own male flowers (like pear and apple trees). My bad!

Yeah, I know of the hand pollinating method, but when I tried it, I failed pretty good lol. I do have a lot of bumble bees on my back deck, so they shouldn’t have much issue.

I was thinking of a plant like a tomato that has both male and female parts in the flower and doesn't really need bees. I probably used the wrong term so it's my bad lol.

 

[YumYum]

9 times out of 10 when I see a bee on my cucurbits or okra, it is a carpenters bee. I don't pay much attention to tomatoes and peppers and other things. There are plenty of honey bees around but I guess they would rather have clover or something.

 

[Yellowthumbs]

9 times out of 10 when I see a bee on my cucurbits or okra, it is a carpenters bee. I don't pay much attention to tomatoes and peppers and other things. There are plenty of honey bees around but I guess they would rather have clover or something.

For me it’s either carpenter bees or bumble bees. The honey bees seem to like the tomatoes and flowers more, at least from what I see.

I was thinking of a plant like a tomato that has both male and female parts in the flower and doesn't really need bees. I probably used the wrong term so it's my bad lol.

all good