Cross Pollination Freak of Nature

You asked how you could stop this from happening....
First thing I would do, is not plant them directly next to each other, this provides for easy cross pollination - contamination of your crop. You might want to plant a buffer plant in between the two plants which can pollinate each other.

reply to post by Ceara
That lemon cuke is cool!
no, mine had the seeds in the middle like a melon.
i got the seeds at a local ace hardware, i live in a rural area in north louisiana.. gotta check the brand.
Oh, i did eat some of it and it tasted like cucumber with a sweet aftertaste, actually really good.



[edit on 19-7-2008 by Fathom]

it looks like someone in the UK is selling something similar to mine.
i wonder what the inside looks like?

www.nickys-nursery.co.uk...

Lol, I planted pumpkins next to my zucchini and now I have pumcchinis! I haven't tried one yet, I'm waiting for them to turn a deeper orange. Lol, next year I'll be more careful.

everywhere i look it indicates that what happened in my garden is impossible.

www.garden.org...

Each vine crop species keeps to its own kind. Summer squash will cross with each other, but not with cucumbers. Cucumbers will inter-breed, but won't cross with pumpkins. Muskmelons will cross with each other, but not with watermelons. Winter squash, summer squash and pumpkins are closely related, and may cross among themselves. Gourds are species unto themselves, but occasionally cross with summer squash.

[edit on 19-7-2008 by Fathom]

I know people mix cucumber and melon for flavors/scent but you created the first real cucumber/melon. O.o If they are good, there could be a market for them. $$

My hsuband used to work with hydroponics, and they would clone plants and make new species. I showed him this thread . He said cross pollination would not cause it, but rather the roots would have grafted together to cause it.

Originally posted by Neaux
I know people mix cucumber and melon for flavors/scent but you created the first real cucumber/melon. O.o If they are good, there could be a market for them. $$

well i can't take the credit the bees did all the work

well... upon reading amatrine's post maybe the bees didn't do all the work...

reply to post by amatrine
I say your husband is onto something.
What I left out of prior postings was that I trying interplanting/squarefoot gardening tecniques.
I had corn, pole beans, crooknecks, tomatoes, carrots, all in a 5x6 plot. corn refused to pollinate successfully,cukes did welll for a while till they got weird on me, same with the crooknecks. Dug them babies up, and they did go to compost. Tomatoes are still going strong and now there are a couple type of peppers right next to each other that I planted in the area cleared of the Frankesteins. What could possibly go "worng"?

so does anyone think this thing has any value? maybe the ebay route?

There ya go! heres a trick. Put it on ebay, and sumbit your auction to craziest auctions website. Gets more hits .

You can sell anything. To prove this to my husband, I had a capsul endoscopy done. You swallow a pill that is a camera and it takes pictures all the way down, and it comes out the other end. I sterilized the capsul and sold it on ebay, and someone bought it,lol

Ama

reply to post by amatrine

good thinking girl!
i may do that.

If you go that route, let us know what it sells for

Ama

reply to post by amatrine

i will post a link to the auction page here when i do it. I think i will auction an entire fruit and not just the seeds...i guess.

I wouldn't sell the seeds yet. I know that there can be problems with reproduction after two different things combine. This happens to animals such as a tiger/lion = liger, yes they are real; Ligers cannot have kids, but I am not sure if this pertains to plants. Anyone know?

After a bit of research I found they already have a "Melumber" A cross between cantaloupe and a cucumber. Not a honeydew however! So not entirely impossible for this to happen.

[edit on 20-7-2008 by Neaux]

reply to post by Fathom


Talk to some botanists at some good universities not too far from you. Or whoever's in charge of the biology department. Biochemists might be interested too. I can bring it up at my university in the fall, but right now I don't know many people in that department.

Originally posted by Neaux
After a bit of research I found they already have a "Melumber" A cross between cantaloupe and a cucumber. Not a honeydew however! So not entirely impossible for this to happen.

[edit on 20-7-2008 by Neaux]

where did you find the "melumber"? do you have a link i can visit?

JohnMike,
that is a good idea, i have some contacts at ULM in the Biology department.
thanks,

Jill

OK, this is awesome! I want to know two things:

Does it keep well like a cuke?

Will the seeds germinate to keep the hybridization?

I think I'm gonna try this next year. I planted my cukes next to my squash and I had noticed the cukes were fatter and rounder than normal. They taste good though!

TheRedneck

Originally posted by TheRedneck
OK, this is awesome! I want to know two things:

Does it keep well like a cuke?

Will the seeds germinate to keep the hybridization?

I think I'm gonna try this next year. I planted my cukes next to my squash and I had noticed the cukes were fatter and rounder than normal. They taste good though!

TheRedneck

Red,
the fruit does keep well i left it on my counter for about 4 days and i bit into a piece and it was still crisp.

i haven't tried replanting any seeds since i wasn't thinking when i cut this thing in half and i threw out all the seeds.

I have three fruits on the plant right now so i will set some seeds aside to experiment with.