Can anyone I.D. this fruit/ veggie??

This plant popped up in my front veg. garden about 6 weeks ago. The leaves looked like it was a cantalope plant like the one I have growing in my back garden. I decided to let it grow. The plant sprawls like a cantalope plant, but the fruit is smallish, and yellow (see Pic.).........It smells just like a cantalope, but looks like a cucumber...............What the heck is it?? I have a lemon next to the mystery fruit/ veg. to show size. I have not tasted it yet........but like I said it smells just like a cantalope.

This message was edited Sep 9, 2007 10:02 AM

This message was edited Sep 9, 2007 10:03 AM

One more picture of a bowl of the mystery fruit/ veg......

Don't know. But it reminds me of the vinepeach/mango melon http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/69312/ Other possibilities include some type of Asian crisp melon.

Thanks Farmerdill...............is it safe to bite into it??

Yep, If it is the vinepeach it will be pretty tasteless, but it is a cantaloupe.

It looks like a yellow cucumber but I couldn't tell you which variety, perhaps Sunsweet?

http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/us/es/w_070726

It does look like a yellow cucumber, but after looking at both, I'm leaning more towards the vinepeach.

Farmer dill is right I think,

I grew the asian sweet melon this year, looked just like yours. they do get alittle brighter yellow when ripe, I dind't like the flavor either.

Vine peaches are more round usually. This looks exactly like a chinese yellow cucumber.

It is a Lemon cucumber. Introduced from Austrailer. It is a a heirloom variety. You can get seed from Baker Creek. I'v grown this a couple of years i like it but it is more of a novelty than what I would consider a standared varity. It is called a lemon because of it's shape not It's taste

Joe.

Grow a row for those in need.

Yep, lemon cucumber I do believe. I'm growing them this year. No need to peel just slice and eat, light flavored.

I gotta go with Karen--looks like 'Lemon' cucumber to me. I got some seeds free as a bonus from Baker's Creek last year but haven't gotten around to trying them. Think they are worth the space?
http://taragibbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/lemon_cukes.jpg

Debbie

Hi Debbie,

My sister grew lemon cukes last year, she said they are very prolific and well worth the space, great flavor, too. Very mild and tender flesh. Another DGer told me that she pickles them and they are delicious that way, too.

I'll be growing yellow cukes and the Chinese yellow cukes this year.

Lemon cucumbers are not elongated like that either, they're round.

I'm wondering if it is a cross between a cuke and a cantaloupe or other melon, since the original poster stated that they smell just like cantaloupes.

Looks like a lemon cuke to me. I'm growing them this year in hanging pots.

now you're thinkin' Cajun--excellent idea, since I didn't want to use valuable garden space for this, I think I'll copy you
=)

let it overripen to seedsaving stage & I could tell you, because the vine peach, lemon cucumber & chinese/Indian cucumbers all look alot different at that stage. Vine peach will get darker & rot, lemon cucumber will get like a big with yellow stripes & a cracked cabbage ball look, and the chinese will to a certain degree get to be like a little mini-football - brown with small white stripes where it semi-splits. The cucumbers from India do this massively, I don't think those are them though, because the Indian usually has a little green & brown towards it's tip.

So, if you let it keep going, you'll have your answer. If it does anything else other than what I've described above - it's probably another yellow cucumber or a plant from seed that crossed with something else. Is seriuosly doubt this is a lemon cucumber, they usually have more white mixed into the yellow & are much closer to actually being round - the stem end is on top & flower end on bottom, not on the tips of an elongated end like a green cucumber or this thing. It's almost surely a Chinese yellow or something very, very, closely related. I grew at least 50 plants each last year & about 20 vine peaches the year before (just a fat version of what grows as weeds in the field here in summer). Vine peach has a seed cavity like a melon, not like a cucumber like this thing on the pic has.

LG
Have you ever grown the Sikkum cucumber? I am growing it this year. Got my seeds from Baker Creek. My DGS *loves* cukes. We planted 3 lemon cuke seeds in a hanging pot tonight. I know it's early yet for cukes but since it's in a hanging pot I can bring it in when I need to.

I made my hanging pot from a milk jug. I cut the bottom out and made a small slit up each corner. I folded the edges down about an inch and punched holes in them with a regular paper hole punch. Then I took the cardboard tube off of a pants hanger and bent the 2 end up and put them through the holes. I put a square of landscape cloth in the top ( now the bottom ) of the jug to keep the dirt from falling out the spout. I filled it with compost, planted the 3 seeds in a clover leaf pattern and watered it. I am hoping for the best. It seems to work well so far. Time will tell if the design will hold the weight of 3 loaded cuke vines. I may have to change to just 1 seed per jug.

Yes, it's one of those that turns into looking like a football like I said on the post before. If I remember right, it was the pretty one that was yellow in the middle with brown on the end, unless that was the one I forgot what name it was. Good, mild and crisp - cannot be left an extra day or 2 though, or it will turn into that football looking thing. I'm usually real good remembering the names, I had the seeds & am 80% sure that's the one I'm talking about. But, hurricane Gustav hit us directly and a few I tried for fall got flooded & hit with machine-gun fire green pecans...

Luzianna, I have to agree with you. The pictured fruit does not look like the lemon cukes that I have grown. They are round like a ball.

Well I'll be darned! I let my MIL tell me those were ornamentals, wasn't sure where they came from, and definitely do not eat them.... sigh. They've all been pulled up and culled now. If they ever re-appear, I'll know what they are and will take advantage!

Learn something new every day...