Growing Cucamelons or Mouse Melons
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
- Let's talk about Cucamelons, also called Mouse Melons or Mexican Sour Gherkins.
#garden. #Gardening #Growing #cucamelon
Seeds available at Bakers Creek Seeds: www.rareseeds.com/mexican-sou...
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Ive spent years pulling it out of my front flowerbeds where a bird must have dropped a seed at some point. This year we decided to just let it go and it has sprawled all across the walkway, up the porch steps, and currently climbing the rails. Not something we normally eat except as a novelty but since our pickling cucumbers are about done producing we may try pickling some.
Yea I have read some comments from others that they have found it invasive. That hasn't been my experience (yet) but in the south almost anything can get invasive. I sprout cherry tomatoes like weeds and have celery taking over!
@@JolleanSmith Cherry tomatoes can definitly take over as well! Ive got several volunteers that keep coming back in the jungle of weeds and trees just over my back fence. Always miss picking any because its too thick to notice them without looking and they dont produce till after all my planted tomatoes are done for the year and tomotoes arent on my mind
@@daigledj that to me is a good problem. We would not have that in my hometown in Alberta, Canada. You are just lucky if you get your tomato plants through a summer. Tomatoes as weeds is rather awesome in my books. I also have Cilantro and Dill as weeds, love that too.
Yeah I tried those gherkins for the first time this year. Yours look beautiful! I ended up getting some sort of scale bug or aphid that infested it right when my first few were ripening. What do you do for pest control?
A couple of drops of Dawn Dish soap in a water bottle would probably help with that. We don’t really do a lot for pest control here. We have an army of wild birds and one duck that I think help but other than the Dawn in a spray bottle which typically I only bother with in the greenhouse I don’t use anything else. We kind of share with the bugs and so far it has worked out in balance.
@@JolleanSmith yeah, living in a suburban area of Florida with the typical sugar sand for soil, lots of patchy grass, and pests up the wazoo, it's always a challenge. I'm thinking some neem oil or peppermint oil couldn't hurt. Most pests seem to hate them.
@@roryf.1349 good luck Rory!
I planted 2 vines from the seeds you sent. They were doing well but when they were about a foot tall something ate them down to about 3”. One died but the other is still hanging in there but not producing much. I think maybe I need to water more. The watermelons are doing great! I haven’t checked them in a few days but there were several big melons on the vines. How about an update on the moringa. I have 2 growing that seem to be doing ok. Any pointers?
Water the Cucamelons more and give them some fish emulsion if you have it. And I have had big learnings on Moringa. I killed all but 2. They are now doing better and the key was in the soil. They don’t like retained moisture. Stay away from peat moss based soils is the biggest key so far. I will try to show mine in a video here shortly. It is farmers market season so hectic season may slow me down a tad. Thanks for being here!
I ordered some seeds that say thumb watermelon seeds. It says to presoak these seeds and put the balance like in the fridge in a air type container. My question, do you need to soak these seeds or can I place them in directly into the soils (Miracle grow)?
I have never once soaked my seeds. They germinate rather easy but keep them moist. Have fun!
@@JolleanSmith Thank you so much, I am going to plant a few now. We are in North Carolina, so want to get the seeds started in a grow bag. Thanks again for your help. One last question, should I put the rest of the seeds in the refrigerator for later use?
@@belindataylor3253 keep them out of the frost when it comes they are not at all remotely tolerant of the cold. Not sure when frost hits your area. I don’t typically store my seeds in the fridge or freezer if I plan to use them within two years. Now that is a habit with no science on if my germination rate is impacted by my habit. Many people swear by it and it makes sense to me for long term storage but from personal experience I don’t have any issues with old seeds stored in a dry and cool area of the house.
Mine and my friend should have had fruit way by now and we have nothing! We are trying to see why?
Here are some guesses….you may be heavy on the Nitrogen. Switch to a lower Nitrogen fertilizer to encourage flowering. Heat can impact flower as well. If it has been too hot the plant may be focused on survival. If you get flowers the other issue could be pollination. Do you have a solid amount pollinators? They can self pollinate but no doubt pollinators would improve your results. Hope that helps!
How many can I grow in a pot ?
That entirely depends on the size of the pot. Assuming a smaller pot I would plant 1. I grew mine in mineral bins which are quite large and had three. In a regular bucket I would probably only put one. I am generally bad about putting too many plants in a container as I always seem to over plant. But if you have less plants in a container they don’t have to share the nutrients as much and likely will produce more with less.