question about lemon cukes

[Kali]

I thought these were an old straight bred (or whatever you call it for plants) type, but I guess they are hybrids?

saved some seeds from last year - had a great crop until the grasshoppers showed up - and planted a few this year just to see if they would even come up. well they are doing great, huge plant, tons of flowers and WHOA big long Armenian-style (I think) light green ribbed fruits. sweet and delicious, but I sure wasn't expecting that style!

so what are the parent crosses of lemon cucumbers?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Lemon cukes are open pollinated (non-hybrid) - you probably planted

a joke that bees played on you - cukes are easily cross pollinated...any other types growing around? The cuke you saved seed from ended up being an accidental hybrid, likely!

[Kali]

2. no other cukes at all last year

in fact I think lemons are all we have ever planted, but we do have native gourds around (coyote gourds and skunk cabbage) but I thought crosses with them were always bitter?

and the nearest possible garden would be at least 2 miles, more likely 5.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. gourds and cukes don't cross. only cukes cross with cukes....you have a mystery!

only other possibility is someone close by had another cuke growing and a bee visited and brought pollen to your plant....

[Kali]

4. yeah I thought it was very odd (see edit above)

no other gardens within 2 miles, minimum. oh well they are edible - actually quite good! so I guess I will save some of these seeds too and see what we get next year.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. the fun of gardening! A few of the best tomatoes I've developed were either mutations

or started with bee crosses - such fun! (Cherokee Chocolate is a skin color mutation of Cherokee Purple, and Cherokee Green a flesh color mutation of Cherokee Chocolate....Lucky Cross and little Lucky started with Brandywine X Tad (Tad is from a friend and is Tigerella X Old German) - so there was both regular and potato leaf, and red/yellow bicolor, pink, and different stripes all in the mix).

I am kind of a mad scientist in my garden!

[Kali]

6. I have this 6 foot water trough filled with soil that was SUPPOSED to be an herb garden

but I keep putting an odd tomato (or cuke) in there and never getting around to doing the herbs. the husband did a pretty nice garden two years ago but he refuses to do fall prep and it got totally infested with bermuda grass, so this year he didn't plant a thing down there. sigh. there was a young apple tree in one corner and I had the idea to go ahead and just stick a couple fruit trees there instead of a veg garden (fencing is a big issue with livestock and deer around here) but the gophers ate teh roots and killed it, so all food production is in the yard right next to the house this year, and there wasn't much done. next year, right?

[silvershadow]

7. If I can jump in, I was just explaining some of this to my partner today in fact. I would save the

seed and when you next plant them try to keep them isolated a little since you liked the taste. You might be able to get you a little stash of a new variety going with a little luck.

[Kali]

8. heh! I can try,

but as far as I could tell the originals WERE pretty isolated! So we shall see.