Why are there no wild pumpkins, cucumbers etc. growing? I never sawanuy of these randomly grow in nature, but they have to have been there.
There is several wild cucurbitacae in the Caribbean, for example you can find this one:
It’s called “Ti konkonm” which mean small cucumber in creole
Apparently the wild forms are native to Mexico and South America, so none growing in Europe or the US. Also, it is one of the earliest domesticated plant families - cultivated beginning more than 8,000 years ago - so the domestic varieties overwhelmingly outnumber the wild ones. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita
C. argyrosperma is not as widespread as the other species. The wild form C. a. subsp. sororia is found from Mexico to Nicaragua.
The origin of C. ficifolia is Latin America, most likely southern Mexico, Central America, or the Andes. It grows at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 meters (3,300 to 9,800 ft) in areas with heavy rainfall.
C. maxima originated in South America over 4,000 years ago, probably in Argentina and Uruguay.
C. moschata is native to Latin America, but the precise location of origin is uncertain. It has been present in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Peru for 4,000–6,000 years and has spread to Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
C. pepo is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, domesticated species with the oldest known locations being Oaxaca, Mexico, 8,000–10,000 years ago.
The domesticated forms of C. pepo have larger fruits than non-domesticated forms and seeds that are larger but fewer in number.This is what a wild cucumber looks like, before domestication changed it through human preference selection (originates from India):
Same with the other (in a botanical sense) fruits, probably.
We tend to evolve wild plants in a way they can’t compete in the wild. That being said I’m not sure how we did that for those in particular.
i can’t tell the early dicot leaves of p much any plant apart 🫣
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.
honey nut squash vine
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?
Not unlike mammals, really (at the same age).
They do have nice leaves.
i’m not pronouncing that cracka crap
I learn so much on here.
eudicots basically.
I’m having flashbacks to parasitology lab. Every damn thing looks the same!
Is it racist to say they all look the same?
Leaves of two, whoop dee doo!
…those squash all look the same, i hope they don’t ruin the neighborhood…/s
