I am having this problem right now. My kids made it rain cucumber, pumpkin, and honey nut squash seeds in the garden. I can’t tell what should have a trellis and what needs to be on the ground
Option 1) The honey nut squash vine itself will have a slightly prickly stem, the pumpkin will have a softer hairy-prickly vine skin and the cucumber will have relatively smooth vines (or the most prickly, depending on species of cucumber).
Option 2) Trellis all of it and if you notice any growing into a pumpkin shape, add a sling support tied to the trellis to hold the weight of the fruit.
Option 3) Just let them all ramble around and harvest what seems to be working out.
That’s very helpful, thank you! I’m going to try for option 1 if I can help it, though unfortunately these cucumbers had a pretty prickly stem last year. At worst, it’s all getting trellised. What would you use for a sling support if they are too far along to un-trellis?
Knit fabrics are your best bet, e.g. old pantyhose/tights, old t-shirts, etc that are securely tied to the trellis. Flexible and wont dig into the fruit, but will support a decent amount of weight. Many forms of stretchy-net-knit fabric will work out.
You can harvest obvious cucumbers (tube shaped fruits) fairly young if you notice them, let the others go until fully ripe late summer/fall. Honey nut squash can also be used as summer squash, fwiw, if you identify them and harvest them early (they tend to bulb at the bottom long before ripening).
Since honey nut squash, pumpkins and cucumbers are actually members of separate species within a genus, there’s relatively low chance of them crossing (unless some close neighbors grew other varieties of one of those species), so if you have random clues from previous batches, there’s a good chance they’ll hold for newer ones.
I am having this problem right now. My kids made it rain cucumber, pumpkin, and honey nut squash seeds in the garden. I can’t tell what should have a trellis and what needs to be on the ground
Option 1) The honey nut squash vine itself will have a slightly prickly stem, the pumpkin will have a softer hairy-prickly vine skin and the cucumber will have relatively smooth vines (or the most prickly, depending on species of cucumber).
Option 2) Trellis all of it and if you notice any growing into a pumpkin shape, add a sling support tied to the trellis to hold the weight of the fruit.
Option 3) Just let them all ramble around and harvest what seems to be working out.
What’s next, a cherry pear corn scrub?
That’s very helpful, thank you! I’m going to try for option 1 if I can help it, though unfortunately these cucumbers had a pretty prickly stem last year. At worst, it’s all getting trellised. What would you use for a sling support if they are too far along to un-trellis?
Knit fabrics are your best bet, e.g. old pantyhose/tights, old t-shirts, etc that are securely tied to the trellis. Flexible and wont dig into the fruit, but will support a decent amount of weight. Many forms of stretchy-net-knit fabric will work out.
You can harvest obvious cucumbers (tube shaped fruits) fairly young if you notice them, let the others go until fully ripe late summer/fall. Honey nut squash can also be used as summer squash, fwiw, if you identify them and harvest them early (they tend to bulb at the bottom long before ripening).
Since honey nut squash, pumpkins and cucumbers are actually members of separate species within a genus, there’s relatively low chance of them crossing (unless some close neighbors grew other varieties of one of those species), so if you have random clues from previous batches, there’s a good chance they’ll hold for newer ones.
Trellis the lot of it. What could go wrong?